Well, this week it was pretty much more of the same tough fishing as the last couple of weeks. I made some great new friends this week, and we did catch some very nice fish, but the fish are just still in a funk, and don't want to eat.

Monday saw some of the worse fishing of the year, and Jerry Stanley and his cousin Allan had the luck of the draw. Jerry and Allan own Transportation Structures, Inc. in Tampa, and are currently working on a project on Pine Island.

The whole day was about as tough as it gets. Bait was tough, but we got a mixed bag of small to big shiners up at Foster's Point. The wind was out of the southeast at 15, and I knew the beach would be rough, but it was still probably our best shot at some snook. We made the trip only to find a non-existent bite. Two other boats joined us, and for the whole time we were there, four snook were caught from three boats, and Jerry caught two of them. Allan lost one other, and that was it! Lockjaw city!!

I left early and headed inside to see if we could scare up any action in the shallows. The snook wouldn't cooperate on the inside, either, so I switched to redfish. I had a couple of my Daiwa Emblems spooled up with some new Damyl ultra-fine line made by Dam, in Germany. It was supposed to test at 11 pounds knot strength. This stuff was incredibly thin and casted better than my Ande 8 pound line. But, we quickly figured out that the line was either mislabled, misrepresented, or had laid in a hot warehouse somewhere for the last year and deteriorated, because once I got a few reds to bite, we broke every one of them off on that line. On such a tough day, a few nice reds would have gone a long way. By the time I realized there must be something wrong with the line, and gave it a few pull tests, the bite was over. We ended the day at the Waterfront Restaurant with only two snook in the boat, and several reds broken off. You can be sure that I stripped the new Dam line off those reels and replaced it with my Ande Envy Green 8 pound, which is incredibly good stuff. That almost seemed like a lesson in "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!"

Tuesday, Scott Fraser, Tour Supervisor at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, in Ft. Pierce, was over to get a dose of our normally hot snook action. I called and reached him while he and his friend Ken Grono were on the way over, and told him how slow the action had been. I was glad Scott decided to go ahead with the trip, and I think that early into the trip, Scott was too.

Bait was tough again, and there wasn't much of a breeze. It was a brutally hot day! I hoped for some fish that would eat. We hadn't been at the first stop long when one of the rods we had just set into a rod holder with a bait on it got slammed. Scott grabbed the rod, and I went into the coaching mode. We knew it was a good fish. Fortunately, her first run was away from the heavy cover that would have meant sure freedom. But, she was far from done. Scott got her turned and coming toward the boat, but that snook was all over the place. Between the two of us, we finally subdued that snook, and it was a beautiful 13 pound fish. Thank God all the knots and the Ande 8 pound line held together. It was Scott's biggest snook. After pictures and some serious resuscitation, we watched her swim away as good as new. I think Scott may have a new picture for his brochure.

Scott and Ken boated only half a dozen snook, but lost probably twice that many. Ken lost a good one in the trees that was probably as big as Scott's. We had caught some quality snook, and four more than the day before. Scott said that 13 pound snook was worth the whole trip, and I'm sure it would be for most anyone. We gave the reds a try on the flats late in the morning, but outside of one missed hit, there was nothing doing.

It was good to finally meet Scott. I encourage anyone who is in the Ft. Pierce area to check him out at the Institute. It sounds like a neat place.

Wednesday I spent getting my physical and drug test for the renewal of my Captains license, and running other supply type errands. I thought getting the physical and drug test would be an all day ordeal, but things went pretty smoothly and quickly. I kept wondering if things were back to normal on the water.

Thursday turned out to be a pretty good day on the water. Barry Fitzgerald (Little Bear), President of American Neucleonics, Inc., out in California, was in town with his friend Barry Langstaff (Big Bear), who now lives in Statesville, North Carolina. I believe they're both originally from New York.

Up at Foster's, bait was plentiful, but small. I don't think we had more than a couple dozen big pieces of bait. No matter. You can cast the small bait just fine on 8 pound test, and the snook will eat it just as quickly, perhaps more so, when they're eating. Well, we finally had a bite on. It wasn't the high intensity bite we usually see, but certainly enough to let Big Bear and Little Bear cut their teeth on their first snook.

The real treat came when a big snook slammed Little Bear's bait, and took off for parts unknown. Again, we got a big break when she headed first for the open water of the Gulf, instead of into the trees. Unlike most big snook, she jumped out of the water twice during the fight, and we knew we had a great fish. After lots of commotion, hollering, and hooting, and some rod passing, the fish was at the boat, and we did more of the same. We had a beautiful snook of almost 17 pounds to celebrate. That's no easy feat on 8 pound line in the trees of the Stickbeach. I was really proud of Barry for landing that fish. Most people have never caught a fish like that in their lives, and Barry landed his first one, first time out.

It would be hard to top the excitement of that snook for the rest of the morning, but the team of Bears did boat around 20 snook and a trout. We capped off the day with lunch and cool-down at the Waterfront Restaurant. As we left the restaurant we realized we had a big, dark cloud between us and the ramp, and decided we'd better make a mad dash for it. I don't run the BarHopp'R fast very often, but decided to make an exception. Fortunately, there wasn't yet any lightning, and we were able to skirt around the cell of heavy rain without getting very wet. By the time I got the boat on the trailer all hell was breaking loose!

Friday morning, as I sat listening to the radio waiting on my party Dave and Patti Latimer, and their fourteen year old son, J.D. to arrive from St. Petersburg, a van pulled in next to me with a nice 17' Polar in tow, all rigged for the flats. I waved, and wondered why they weren't launching, but soon found out it was the Latimers. They were going to fish on their own on Saturday.

I had been encouraged by the action on Thursday, and hoped it would be even better for Dave and Patti, today. I decided to stop at a couple of other areas that should have bait to see if I could find bait bigger than we'd gotten at Fosters on Thursday. There was a guide boat already at the first stop chumming when we arrived. I gave a greeting, but got no response. The Latimers were quick to pick up on the fact that the guide wasn't at all friendly. It's unfortunate that our customers have to make observations like that. Anyway, after a couple of throws of the net that yielded only small shiners and a ton of jellyfish, I decided to move on and let the guide have it all.

I'm glad I didn't waste any more time there, because arriving at Fosters early allowed us to quickly catch some of the prettiest bait I've seen in a while. We were loaded up in no time. While we were catching bait, we were chatting, and I found out that Dave has been in the lawn care business for the last ten years. Patti, who is absolutely beautiful and has a million dollar smile, is a dental assistant, as is my wife. It was fun to compare notes with Dave and Patti, and I learned that they apparently teach all dental assistants the phrase, "Just floss the ones you want to keep!" in dental school. Boy, have I heard that line a few times. My wife has that same million dollar smile, too. It must have something to do with their profession.

I took the Latimers straight out to the Stickbeach to show them how to fish it successfully. The snook weren't as eager as the day before, but we did manage to boat around 15. Patti quit fishing after 2 fish, and took up station with the video camera. J.D. got the best fish of the morning with a 7 pound snook of 27 inches. Once the bite was over on the beach, I took the Latimers inside to the flats and gave them a quick tour of a couple of areas, showing them where to fish on Saturday for redfish. We finished the day with lunch at the Waterfront.

Back at the dock I gave Dave enough of my Purina chum to catch bait, and an extra "Shiner Shooter" I had in the van as a spare. I was very happy to see that Dave's boat was still in tact, and nothing was missing. Even the pushpole was still there. I heard from Dave this morning, and he said that they got 2 nice reds on fly from the area I showed them. Way to go, guys!

Well, that's it for this week. Sometimes when the fish aren't biting and it's so hot you can't even catch your breath, you wonder what in the world you're doing out there. I think this report may have answered that one.