The first trip of the week, with Barry Bloom of New York, was a trip, indeed. Barry was a character, and a lot of fun. He wanted to mix fly fishing with bait fishing. He's my kind of fly fisherman. He wants to catch fish, and will go to the spinner and live bait to do it.

Once again there was lightning dancing on the western horizon. After Friday gig, I was afraid we might wind up running from the weather all morning, again, but it didn't work out that way. We caught bait up at Foster's Point. By the time we were done, the storms had pretty much burned themselves out.

Barry had another goal. He'd caught a snook, but never a redfish. He wanted a red, no matter how we got it. We started in a spot that usually has both on it, with Barry on the Sage. No hits on the fly, so I put out some live baits. We had quite a few hits, but the fish were once again in this "pop and drop" mode. They wouldn't hang on to the bait long enough to get a tight line.

I moved to another spot. We started on the fly again with no results. Live bait got no hits either. I moved again to another flat nearby. I was almost sure I could chum up the redfish there. I went to work chumming with live and dead bait. I put out a shiner under a popping cork, one nose-hooked, one tail-hooked, and one dead on the bottom. The bait under the float was blown out of the water almost immediately, but with no hookup. I kept chumming. The bait under the cork was hit again, with the same result.

Finally, as if someone had flipped a switch, the redfish began to eat in earnest. Right off the bat we had a double, and I don't know how many we missed due to break-offs, outright misses, and just not being able to get to the rod in time, but I would estimate nearly 20 fish. Barry did boat some beauties up to 11 pounds, and there was a lot of grunting and groaning going on. He also got one snook, one trout for the Slam, and broke off a big stingray.

We were almost out of bait by 12:30, and headed for the Waterfront for a celebratory lunch. By the time we were back at the ramp and ready to head home, that weather I was concerned about earlier, was seemingly coming from everywhere.

Tuesday was a scheduled office/computer day. Can you believe I didn't even come out of the office until that evening?

Wednesday was yet another reminder of why I love this business so much. Bob Celentano, his lovely wife Derrell (hope I'm spelling that right), and his newly graduated eighteen year-old son Wayne, drove down from Sarasota for a day of fishing. Bob and family were down from Huntington Station, New York, visiting friends in Sarasota, which they've done for years. They had been on several guide trips in Sarasota and Charlotte Harbor, but this was the first time with me, or in Pine Island Sound.

We arrived at Foster's Point for bait just in time for another spectacular sunrise. Clouds all the way over on the east coast were parting the rising sun's rays, creating a sunrise that was almost a religious experience. Bait started off slow, but finished well, with lots of big, beautiful baits; more than I've seen in some time. We were ready to go fishing!

I decided that since there was practically no wind, it might be a good time to go outside and check the beach. The snook should be there in to September. Our biggest problem would be that we were fishing on the morning of a full moon. The fish would have full bellies after gorging all night long on the light of that moon. It was calm, but with swells, and my crew had a hard time getting their sea-legs. We did manage to catch 2 or 3 snook, several trout, and several redfish. Actually, Wayne let a couple get away at the boat, but did land one red on the beach.

At around 9:45 we headed into the Sound to see if we could scare up some big redfish like I had done Monday. It was brutally hot, with almost no air moving, as it had been most of the morning. In fact, Derrel began feeling sick to her stomach, probably from too much heat. The little bit of air that was moving was coming from the southeast. I chummed hard with live and dead bait. The first hit on a float rig was another speckled trout. We had several hits on the float rigs that Bob found very exciting. Any of you that have ever seen bait trying to get out of the water, then seen a redfish swirl and blow up right at the float, knows how exciting that can be. It's the same excitement you get with topwater fishing. We had a number of missed hits, and quite a few blow-ups that didn't actually take the bait, then Bob put one away. He landed a beautiful 7 pound redfish.

Then the wind started playing tricks on me. The one thing you have to be able to do to chum the reds on the flats effectively is stay on your chum. If the wind changes and blows you off the chum, you've got a problem. That's exactly what happened. Right when the fish were beginning to eat, the wind turned right into our faces. I made a couple of adjustments with the boat, chumming as I went, but was never able to get the fish going again. Yes, we had a few more hits, and caught a big speckled trout, but I just couldn't get the reds fired up again.

We headed home around 12:30. Derrel elected to pass on the Waterfront lunch because she was not feeling well, but Bob promised we'd make it part of the next trip. The Celentano's were as nice a family as you'd ever want to meet, and I really enjoyed the day with them. They told me that we'd caught more fish than they had ever caught before, so they made my day. I can't wait to get them out there on a really good day of red and snook fishing.

Thursday was son-in-law day. My very talented son-in-law Roland Valentino, of European circus fame, and his friend Steve Miller, next door neighbors in Deerfield Beach, came over for a day long get away. Roland is new to fishing, and I'm glad he's getting in to it. Steve has been fishing for most of his 30 years. I knew it would be a tough day with the full moon and the absence of any wind.

Bait wasn't as nice at Foster's Point as it had been the day before, but we got plenty of good bait. The Gulf was flat so I decided to go and take another look at the outside. I don't know what's up with the fishing outside, but the fish just won't eat. Roland and Steve both missed two or three snook, caught two mackerel, and a couple of catfish, and that was it. I didn't see any other boats even hook a fish. I took off at 9:30 for the flats.

The reds were on my chosen flat. Steve really got excited when he saw the first big one push as I poled BarHopp'R II toward my target area. I staked out, and began chumming. We put baits out under popping corks. When you have no breeze helping you get a long cast with a free-lined shiner, weighted popping corks will help you get the distance you need to get to the fish. We could see reds pushing around in front of us. We had several swirl under our baits. My good friend Lew Joseph in the Lady G moved in on the flat and joined us. Pretty soon, we had the first redfish on. Steve was loving it. We quickly put our two keepers in the well. The fish just wouldn't turn on and really eat, but I guess we caught 6 or 7 of them before the boys tossed in the towel (thank God). We were just dying out there. The heat was horrific! Steve and Roland said they didn't understand how I could be out there in that every day and live to tell about it. Actually, I don't either. I'm as old as the two of them added together.

I told the boys they could catch some nice snook back at the dock while I was cleaning the fish. Steve obviously thought I was BS-ing him. But back at the dock, he soon found that I wasn't. We quickly broke off several fish, and landed several nice snook. Steve and Roland were loving it. Steve couldn't believe the snook were right there at the dock. Well, they're there because they get fed all the time. They're welfare snook!

It had been a great day. We got my son, Roland, his first redfish. I had lots of fun picking on Steve, who was an absolute hoot. You know, you gotta pick on the professed experienced fisherman when he misses a fish. He was a good sport, and a lot of fun. This guy lives with two women, so he must have something on the ball! He wants to bring his dad over when it gets a little cooler. Roland said he's anxious to do it again, so I think he's got the bug.

I listened to the weather forecast for as I drove to the ramp Friday morning. It was calling for a heat index near 110, and no winds. It promised to be even more miserable than Thursday. Worse, the best part of the tide would be after mid-day, when the sun is at it's hottest. It was stacking up to be a tough morning of fishing. My customer was Patrick Gramling, a native Floridian from Tampa, and his best friend of many years, David, who now lives in Hotlanta. Patrick's primary mission was to learn what he could about flats fishing.

His lesson started at Foster's Point with how to catch bait. I loaded the well with pretty nice looking bait, and we were off. We were almost to the bottom of the low tide, so I thought I'd introduce Patrick to pothole fishing while the water was down. I ran across the sound to the area north of Demere Key, and as we headed north, I ran into a large aggregation of redfish all over this flat. I shut down right in the middle of them, hoping they wouldn't all vacate the area with the leaving tide. I chummed with live and cut bait, trying my best to call the reds back around the boat. The water was super clear. We put several baits out rigged under popping corks, freelined, and cut. We had quite a few hits and blows on the bait, but the fish just didn't want to eat. They would let go before you could get to the hookset. It was exciting for Pat and Dave to see all those fish, and to see them blowing up baits, but at the same time frustrating not to be able to hook up. They wound up with three trout.

I moved to a pothole in the Flamingo area for the first part of the incoming tide. We had redfish there, too, but it was the same story. They wouldn't eat, and all the boys caught was trout and catfish. At around eleven o'clock I headed to my final destination. I'd been catching reds here all week, but not big numbers of them.

It was more of the same there, too. We chummed two different areas, normally reliable for catching redfish on the incoming tide, but all we got were short strikes, skinned baits, and missed hits. I stayed about as long as I though any of us could stand the heat, knowing that we probably wouldn't see any fish after the noon hour. Patrick said more than once he felt like he was going to pass out, and I sure as hell felt the same. But we stuck with it.

Finally, we called it a day and headed for the Waterfront Restaurant for food and hydration. We didn't get there any too soon. We were all in rough shape. The heat had really taken it's toll on us. Patrick and Dave both had the cheeseburger, which has to be the largest burger in existence, and certainly one of the best. Dave, who said he's a connoisseur of great burgers, said it was the finest burger he'd ever had, period. Once we felt we'd regained some of our strength, we headed for the ramp. I told the boys they could catch a few snook there while I was cleaning the trout and snapper we'd kept.

We got back to the dock right at the top of the high tide, and there was no water movement. So, we had to wait a while for the snook to turn on with the water movement. Patrick struck first with a nice sized snook, but somehow managed to give it slack, and it got away. I got a good look at it, though. Then David boated two nice snook, and we got some pictures of him with his first ever snook. I guess I should have taken the boys snook fishing that morning, instead of redfishing. But, they wanted meat for the cooler, and snook are out of season. Dave was thrilled to have gotten his first snook, and really impressed with the fight compared to the bass he catches in Georgia. I'm afraid Patrick ended the day frustrated that he had not managed to get a snook or red into the boat. It really wasn't his fault, though. The fish were just really tough. I talked to another guide at the ramp, who's party of three had landed 2 reds and 2 snook, and he said they hadn't missed any hits at all. So, we actually had a lot more potential action.

Patrick and David were great guys to spend such a miserably hot day with, and great sports to hang in there the way they did. I don't think most would have lasted as long. We had a good time in spite of the conditions, and they both really enjoyed seeing so many fish, as well as the other wildlife that abounds out there on the flats. It was still a good day.