Well, the extremely hot weather, morning winds out of the west, and continued fresh water intrusion have combined to create a very loud sucking sound! That's the sound of the fishing, folks. It's very poor, at least for most of us fishing in the Sound. We're river fed at each end, which is giving us more than our share of fresh water coming in from each end. Because of the unusually mild winter and above normal starting temperatures, and so many weeks of unusual onshore winds, our water is just cooking, and is some three degrees above normal.

My friend Mike Howard was first up on Monday. I picked up Mike and his best friend Carl since age eleven, , at the Waterfront Restaurant at six o'clock. I warned Mike and Carl that the fishing would likely be very tough, and Mike was quick to acknowledge the problem, saying he hadn't been having much luck on his own. Mike has his own boat here at his place in St. James City, and fishes nearly every day when he's down visiting. He's in the process of learning how to throw a bigger castnet, and catching bait isn't easy for him. Of course, there are many days when it's not easy for any of us!!

After an hour catching bait, we were off to the Stickbeach. We had the place all to ourselves all morning. Mike and Carl boated 12 snook to 5 pounds, along with 3 trout, and 3 mackeral. It was slow, but steady. We headed inside to see if we could scare up a couple of reds at around 10:30, just as a big center console rig showed up. He was a bit late. The bite was about over. Back in the Sound we managed to catch 3 redfish before quitting time. We were all ready to head to the Waterfront for a cool-down and lunch a little early. Folks, it's just brutally hot out there. Our 92 to 95 temps feel like 105 to 110 with the heat index.

We had a great lunch and had a chance to talk quite a while before we parted. It was good to see Mike again. He's a great guy, and a good customer and friend.

Tuesday, I had another friend who has a place on Pine Island, J.J. Johnson, his dad John, and John's friend of some 30 years, Dick. John has a boat at his place in Flamingo. J.J. also has a flats boat, but hadn't brought it down this time. They were also aware of how tough the fishing had been.

Bait took a turn for the small at Fosters Point. We only got a couple dozen good sized baits. The snook don't seem to care about the size, it's just harder to cast the small baits, and you're forced to go to smaller equipment. What we had would have to do.

We decided to spend a couple of hours snook fishing, then try to find some redfish. J. J. was interested in learning how to catch them on the flats. I explained that they may be tough to find, but that was the plan. At least he could learn how. We only managed 7 snook, 2 trout, and 2 mackeral before it was time to switch to the reds. My good friend Capt. Mark Bess was spending the morning fishing nearby with his young son, John, and they weren't having much luck. We all headed to some different stomping grounds together. Along the way, Mark's boat developed fuel problems, and we hung around to make sure he didn't get stranded. Hey, Mark has saved my butt on more than one occasion!

Once we got to our destination I and my crew went after redfish. Mark and John fished a different area for snook. I did a lot of chumming and moving, and I don't believe we had the first strike. The fish were there, as I could see them push occasionally. They just wouldn't eat. I chummed them with live and cut dead bait, but to no avail. Mark and John rejoined up at the end of the morning, and had boated a big snook, and cut one off in the sharp stuff.

We finished the day at the Waterfront Restaurant, where I had those wonderful peel and eat shrimp. Even though the fishing had been slow, J.J., John, and Dick assured me they'd had a good time. I certainly did, as J.J. and John are always fun, and so was Dick.

I had a two boat trip with planned for Wednesday with Capt. Tommy Stephens. Tony McKey and his family were coming down from Sarasota to snook fish. But, at the last minute, because of the poor fishing here, and Tony's tight schedule, we decided to let Tommy take Tony on a night snook trip there in Sarasota, where he's been doing very well. My main concern was to give Tony as good a trip as possible, and that seemed the best way to do it. If the fishing wasn't so off here, it would have been a done deal to bring him south. So, I wound up with an unexpected day off.

Thursday was my first time out with Scott Dyer, of Carterville, Illinois. Scott manages ten Taco Bell Restaurants in that area. I can hardly pass up a Taco Bell! BarHopp'R II hadn't been wet in a while, so I pressed her into service for this trip. I had no idea how tough a day it would be as we left the dock in darkness that morning.

The wind was west at a pretty good clip. I knew the beach would be borderline rough. Bait was really tough. There just wasn't anything bigger than about three inches. I spent extra time trying to find bigger bait, but it just wasn't around. I kept some grunts, pinfish, and had maybe a dozen big shiners. Everything else was small.

We arrived at the Stickbeach after a rough ride, only to find everything covered with seaweed. It was so bad you couldn't get a bait into the water without it becoming snotted up with weed. It was obvious we weren't going to catch anything on the outside, and it was too rough to stay around with a slow/no bite.

We headed inside, and in spite of my efforts to get something going, we didn't see a fish until around eleven o'clock on the east side of the sound. I finally found a hole with some fish that would eat. Scott's first two fish were pretty good snook. He missed them both. He did land two others on the small side. Then he got a redfish, which was followed by a trout. The first three fish on that hole gave Scott his West Coast Slam! We finished with only four fish, but we were both very happy to see them.

We headed to the Waterfront to cool down and celebrate not getting skunked. We stayed there for nearly two hours talking. Scott was a genuinely nice guy, and I really enjoyed his company. We finally headed back to Punta Rassa ramp, and then spent another hour or so chatting there. We finally broke it up around four o'clock. I went home smiling, knowing I'd made a new friend.

Well, I know these recent reports haven't been the high action reports you're used to reading, but we're in a real slump, and I can't gloss them over just to make things sound better. I think, and hope, that as the heat begins to moderate, we'll see the fishing get back a little more toward normal. I can't wait.