I had planned a four day work week for this week, but due to some very unfortunate news for one of my customers, it became a three day work week. I also hit a new milestone this week.

My friends David and Chris Bernot were back for another outing on Monday. We had an outgoing tide, which I really dislike for fishing the flats. It's been my experience over the years that the fish have full bellies after eating on the incoming tide are aren't interested in anything except taking a nap on the outgoing. Also, if you spook fish on the outgoing tide, they'll just leave you, whereas, if you spook fish in the shallows of an incoming tide, they'll settle down and go back to feeding before too long.

We got plenty of bait at Foster's Point, and were off. I decided on a creek where I'd found some big reds last week, since the water was leaving the flats. We managed to catch a couple of redfish and a jack crevalle there. I headed north looking for likely potholes. A couple of areas I wanted to fish already had boats on the flats, so I passed them by. I stopped at a flat north of Demere Key, and found a nice looking pothole. After a little chumming, we had some action, and after missing the first several hits, finally put a couple more real nice redfish in the boat. We also got a snook and a catfish out of that hole.

The highlight of the trip was when I lost my balance and was forced to bail out of the boat. That was my new milestone. I've never fallen out of my own boat before. Yes, I have walked out of friends' boats after forgetting what boat I was in. The big, wide, rectangular BarHopp'R decks will quickly spoil you for conventional Vee-hull type pointed decks. Of course, I had wallet, burglar alarm, etc., in my pockets and they all got drenched. David said he saw me doing a dance and thought I was goofing around. He said he could have extended a hand and stopped me from going over, but didn't realize I was really about to fall out. Needless to say, we had a good laugh, and if I wasn't wet enough from sweat, I now looked like a drowned rat.

We finished up the day at the Waterfront Restaurant enjoying great food and great conversation. We even got back to the dock in perfect time to meet David's beautiful wife. David is one of my favorite folks. He, like most of my favorites, just loves to be out there fishing, and takes life however it comes. He makes no unrealistic expectations or demands, and we always have a great time. Chris is always a pleasure to have along, and is going to be quite a fisherman at a young age, thanks to his dad.

I went from the ramp straight to Smith Marine. I'd been smelling the odor of gas for some time in the bilge, but it wasn't strong enough to find where it was coming from. I had noticed the smell getting stronger today, and was concerned about safety. After some investigation, Ronnie determined that it was probably coming from the sending unit on the top of the fuel tank. Upon further investigation, he found that there is a crack around the filler neck in the top of the tank. That means the deck has to be cut and raised, and BarHopp'R I will be out of commission for a while.

I had set aside Tuesday to meet with a long lost teen sweetheart of mine. We had lived next door to each other on Main Street on Sanibel when I was 16 and she was 14. I hadn't seen her since I was 19. That's 35 years, folks. It was really strange getting together with someone after so long. We had a great visit. She brought along pictures of many of the kids from the islands, some of whom were killed in Viet Nam, and it was neat to see those. We drove out to the islands to see if we could find the old homestead, and we were amazed to find that both houses were still there.

My scheduled trip for Wednesday was with Chris Caldwell, of Orlando. I was very sad to receive a message from him that his Mom had passed away over the weekend, causing a total rearrangement of their vacation plans. I think Chris is still a pretty young man, which probably made his mom around my age. Very sad, indeed.

My Thursday trip was with Pete and Patty Cohane, who were over from Jupiter, Florida. Pete's primary mission was to start learning about flats fishing. We had some good storms just offshore of the islands first thing in the morning, and I was concerned about the weather. We could hear it rumbling as we caught bait at Foster's. We were also treated to one of the most spectacular sunrises I have ever seen. Pete and I were facing west on the easterly breeze that was feeding the storms offshore, when we heard Patty exclaim, "Oh, My God!" We turned around not knowing what exactly to expect, and were just stunned at the sight of this sunrise. We all took pictures of it, and I assure you I will have to find a place for it on my website. Pete and Patty both said their day was complete at that point right there. Anything else that happened would be icing on the cake.

Well, we fished our hearts out that morning. The storms eventually fell apart and weren't a factor. But, we never put a fish in the boat. We missed probably around a dozen good hits, most of which I don't think they knew had happened. Pete would bring his line in and the bait would be scaled around mid-section as only a snook can do. A couple were peeled as only a redfish can do to a bait. But Pete said he couldn't feel the hits. Actually, I think he was right. I've seen days when the fish would make instinct strikes although they weren't hungry. When they do that they let go of the bait, usually before you can even think about setting a hook. I call it the "pop and drop" or "hit and run". We had an almost identical tide to the days before; outgoing all morning, and I think the fish just didn't really want to eat. I, of course, was worried about getting fish into the boat, but Pete kept assuring me that he was having fun, and it wasn't important. Actually, I think Pete was having fun watching me sweat!!

Pete and Patty were wonderful folks, and we did have a good time, even though we didn't get a red or snook to the boat. Pete assured me he would be back for another go at it. I can't wait, cause there's a lot to teach once the fish is on the end of your line.

It's Friday morning. At 4:00 AM I check the local weather radar on the computer. Clear. I was afraid I'd see more storms offshore like the morning before. I left the house thinking there was nothing to worry about. But, as I drove the 30 miles to the ramp I could see some pretty active lightning crank up almost due west. I figured it would fall apart before it could affect me.

I met Noel Pfiffer, his lovely wife Mikie, and his two very cute boys, Mike and Ryan at the ramp. They were over from Miami and staying on Captiva, and had been fishing quite a bit, catching mostly catfish and some jacks. The boys said all they wanted was one snook each and they'd be happy. Normally, that order would be easy enough to fill, but we had no idea what was in store for the rest of the morning as we left the dock.

The quest for bait started off slow, and was sparse and small. That one cell of weather I had seen coming in was growing into something quite large and ominous looking. I wondered if we'd even get bait before we'd have to run away from it. We made a move, and Noel put his chumming expertise into high gear. Pretty soon we had good bait coming and filled the Jacuzzi sized well of BarHopp'R II with several hundred baits. It wasn't a minute too early, either, as the weather was almost on top of us, and we were again hearing thunder.

I headed south toward Blind Pass to try to drive from under the weather, since the apparent movement was southwest to northeast. We had gotten away from the immediate threat, but I could see a large area of rain moving right at us. It was black! It was raining on us pretty good. We agreed we'd try to fish as long as there was no threat from lightning. I tried desperately to pole the boat to a hole where there are almost always snook of all sizes. I knew there was no point in anchoring because the wind would be all over the place until the storms passed. Noel and his boys only managed to make a few casts, and I believe it was Mike who brought back one bait that was peeled in the classic redfish fashion. He said he felt something, but he had too much slack in his line. We soon saw lightning, and I made a quick decision to vacate the area. Safety is my first concern out there, and I felt the level of safety was deteriorating quickly.

We headed across the Sound toward McKeever Keys. I had a good spot there that should have fish on it, and should be accessible with the current wind direction. We watched the weather quickly move in behind us as we made our escape. I positioned the boat at the first stop on McKeever, and we managed to get three lines out for maybe five minutes before here it came again. This time, it really looked bad, as there was no point on the horizon that wasn't black. The first crack of thunder sent us scurrying once again. I headed for the safety of the Waterfront Restaurant. It was only 9:30 when we arrived.

Owner J.D. Hollway and his great staff welcomed us as always, although they don't open for biz until 11:00 AM. They put on a pot of coffee for us. Yes, the place was like ice to us, because we were soaking wet from the rains. We drank coffee, chatted, and watched this really ugly weather move in as we worked on getting our core temperatures back to normal. It was obvious we would be there for a while. I ate a peel and eat shrimp plate around ten o'clock. Noel and the family finally broke down and had lunch after they officially opened. The fishing trip was a bust at this point, but we'd had fun in spite of it.

We finally were able to get under way at around 12:30. I headed to an old trusty snook hole thinking I'd get the boys their snook before we got run off the water by the weather, again. No hits! I decided to take the party back to the dock where we'd be safe if the weather blew up again. There are always snook hanging around the ramp docks because many of the guides come in and dump all their bait right there. I'd probably be hanging around there, too, if I was a snook. There are also lots of catfish because of all the fish entrails that get dumped from the cleaning stations. Most of the boats were off the water because of the weather, so I didn't think we'd be in the way anchored just off the long pier, and didn't figure we'd attract too much attention.

The first bait I tossed toward the dock was blasted immediately. I was using my new ABU Garcia Sovern reel which I'd just showed to Noel at the last stop. We had fiddled with the settings, and I'd forgotten to set them back to where they should be. The big snook pulling against a loose drag had me in the dock and cut off before I could gain my composure. I think the next two or three baits that went into the water resulted in break-offs on the pilings, too. But we got dialed in, and soon we were feeding the boys rods with nice sized snook attached to the business end of the lines. It was Mike, I believe, who got a nice snook on, and it ran to the other end of the boat toward the pier. I knew it would break him off if he didn't react quickly and get to the bow, and I also knew he didn't know that, so I grabbed him by the britches and he and I made a quick trip to the front of the boat. It was just in the nick of time, as the snook went under the bow trying to make her escape. She was pulling so hard, I think she would have winched Mike right off the bow if I hadn't had hold of his pants. The rod was bend double under the bow, but Mike held on, and he got a nice snook and a giant wedgie out of the deal.

I'm not sure, but I think the boys landed 7 or 8 snook, a big jack, and a catfish before the tide slowed and killed the bite. It was the first time I'd ever done anything like that, but I was determined to get the boys some snook, and do it safely. We did manage to attract quite a bit of attention from incoming boaters running from the weather. We had a grand time right there at the docks. The boys were thrilled to get their first snook, and I was delighted with getting to know the Pfeffers. I hope that next time they come over, it will be under better weather conditions.

Well, there you have it. It was a tough week, but a week filled with great people and lots of fun. In the end, it's hard to ask for much more than that.