If I had to describe this week on the water in one word, it would be "tough"! Man, it WAS a tough week. I spent the holiday weekend in Delray Beach visiting my daughter, and didn't know we were receiving copious amounts of rain over here. Actually, the whole southern end of Florida was deluged with rain for several days. That has created some problems for us when it comes to fishing. First, the combination of high rainfall here and the millions of gallons of water being sent down the Caloosahatchee River from the east coast has nearly turned the water in the Sound fresh. The water is the color of strong tea. This drop in salinity can cause bait to become tough to find, or disappear completely. It can also outright affect the fishing. Compounding the problems for the week were some lousy tides early in the week, and a very high barometer. Also, without any other complicating factors, the fishing can take a day or two to settle down after a busy holiday weekend of heavy boat traffic running all over the flats. So, you see, we were all in for a tough week.

The first to challenge these tough conditions were Lee Bingham, and his good friend Gary, who were over from Deerfield Beach, Florida. I think Lee and Gary had a pretty good idea of what we were up against. Although bait wasn't all that hard to catch, it was hard to keep alive once confined to the baitwell. We had to settle for less than the usual several hundred pieces of bait to make sure that most survived. We headed outside.

I couldn't believe that the water on the Gulf side was tea colored just like the bay. But, it was. Man, that's a lot of rain water intrusion. Even more unbelievable was the fact that we didn't get even the first little nibble on the beach, where we should normally see nonstop action as soon as the baits hit the water. I hadn't figured on a total shutdown, but that's exactly what we had.

We headed back inside to try to find something doing on the flats. Things were pretty dismal there, too. Not the first snook. So, I decided to see if we could get some redfish to play. I chummed heavily with live and dead shiners, and finally we got some action going, but it was short lived. We had 5 good redfish hits, but only got one 6 pounder to the boat, as well as a big stingray, and 2 catfish. Fortunately, Lee and Gary were very understanding of the whole scenario, and we had fun in spite of the tough conditions. The boys also told me they had learned a lot, but much of what I would like to have taught them is best taught with a snook on the end of your line. We capped off the trip with lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant.

My Wednesday trip was booked on short notice, and filled a last minute cancellation. It is very important to me that every trip be a good one, but I was anxious about this trip because my customer, Stan "The Man" Priest, of 93.3 FLZ, in Tampa, was referred to me by Capt. Mel Berman, the very popular host of the Capt. Mel Berman Fishing Show on AM 970, WFLA, in Tampa. According to Stan, Capt. Mel had given me high accolades, and I knew Stan was expecting the usual high intensity action we're accustomed to this time of year. Stan brought along Leslie, his girlfriend of several years, who is a bright, witty, funny, pretty redhead, and likes to fish. What a gal!

I picked Stan and Leslie up at the Waterfront that morning at 6 AM. Before they boarded, I told them about the conditions we faced, and even though I was in the water, and had come to St. James City to pick up, wanted to give them a chance to back out if they wanted to. I'm really glad they were up to the challenge, because it was a wonderfully enjoyable trip for me, and hope for them as well.

Bait was pretty easy, and we had a good mix of small, medium, and large shiners. I didn't even entertain the idea of going outside for snook, because I was sure the conditions would be the same, and there would be no fish to catch. We would have to get it done on the inside. I headed to a spot that has given me lots of nice snook over the years. Within a couple of minutes of anchoring on the first hole, Leslie's bait was attached by what I knew would be a good fish. During the first few seconds of showing Leslie how to pump and reel the fish on light tackle, Stan had a great hit, and the fun was on. I had seen both fish, and I knew they were nice snook. After lots of excitement both fish were at boatside and ready for pictures. Leslie's was a 9 pound snook, and Stan's was slightly smaller at around 8.5 pounds. We got some great shots of the double. I'm pretty sure there were lots of snook there, but I think all the commotion of catching those first two fish blew most of the fish out. We managed to catch a couple of other small snook, and that was it.

I asked Stan and Leslie if they'd like to try to catch some reds, and they were agreeable. We headed for a different area. Some chumming got the redfish interested. This is in no way prime time for redfish, and we weren't going to see the big numbers of reds we catch in spring or fall, but I was sure glad to see the reds that showed up for the party. Stan learned a new way to fish for redfish, and he and Leslie put 6 or 7 nice redfish and a trout in the boat for the Slam, and broke off a big stingray. We missed a few, too.

It had been a beautiful, but hot day, with frankly more action than I thought I'd be able to produce. Stan and Leslie were really great folks, and seemed to enjoy every fish as much as the last. Once we'd had our fill of sunshine and were about out of bait, we headed back to the Waterfront for lunch. We must have spent at least a couple hours there chatting and cooling down, and I hated to see the day end. I just hope the trip lived up to their expectations.

As I hit the road for the ramp at 4:30 Thursday morning, I was treated to the sight of lightning all around. Not something I expect to see on a July morning. I wondered if we had a rainout brewing. When I met Bill Byers and his son Brett at the ramp at 6:00, there was still lots of activity south, west, and north. I've fished with Bill several times before, and he's a cool guy, and I didn't figure he'd let the threat of bad weather spoil our fun. We ran into a squall before we got to St. James City, but were able to skirt most of the rain. I wondered if we had made the right call. But, by the time we had loaded up with bait, the storms had pretty much dissipated, and we saw no more until late in the morning.

We had a good 15 knot southeast wind blowing, and I knew that would make fishing on the outside very uncomfortable, if not impossible. We'd have to find fish on the flats. The snook had other ideas, and we didn't see a snook, nor get a snook hit. So, we switched the hunt to redfish again, and with some chumming got some fish to eat. My friends Capt. Mark Bess and Lew Joseph had joined us nearby, and everyone had some action, but the dark, tannin stained, dirty water make it tough. Bill and Brett had a half dozen reds in the boat, when the thunderstorm cells started quickly firing back toward the east, right where we would have to go to get home. We decided it would be prudent to head in a little early, to try to beat the building storms, and cut the trip about a half hour short. It was good to see Bill and Brett again, and I hope they were able to catch some fish later from their own boat.

Friday, I was finally going to meet and fish with Danny and Stacey Mello, from Orlando, who I'd referred to my good friend Capt. Kevin Holley last year because I was booked. Kevin put them on a tarpon. This year, the Mellos had booked Kevin for tarpon on Thursday, and me on Friday for snook and redfish. It was unfortunate that the conditions weren't better, but what are you going to do? Kevin had picked Danny and Stacey up in Bokeelia and fished the north end for tarpon. The tarpon wouldn't play, so they settled for a few snook and jack crevalle. I picked up the Mellos, who are quite a good looking couple, at the south end at the Waterfront Restaurant. I could tell in just a short time that they were every bit as nice a couple as Kevin had told me they were.

We got beautiful bait. There were millions of pinfish, some ballyhoo, and other stuff mixed in, but the shiners were nice. We had all sizes, but lots of big bait. We had lots of snook at our first stop, too, but only managed to catch 4 of them. We switched to redfish, and Danny was quite surprised to see how effective was my method of chumming up the reds. We had at least 10 fish that were broken off, or outright misses because of early strikes, but Danny and Stacey did put a half dozen in the boat. The biggest was 10 pounds. They're both very good anglers, and I was really impressed with Stacey's casting. Danny thought it was pretty cool that we could get that many redfish going when it wasn't the proper time for redfish. He had he boat along for the trip, and I imagine that he's out there trying his luck with my technique as I write this report. I know he'll be trying it over in Mosquito Lagoon next weekend. I hope to see the Mellos again next year, but if Danny perfects that redfish technique, I may be out of a job.

Well, I said at the outset it was a tough week. There you have your proof. You know, even though it was a tough week for catching, it was still a great week of fishing and making great new friends. It's tough to be that.