Man, did I ever enjoy my long weekend off. The four day weekend I manufactured for myself became a five day weekend when my charter for Tuesday had to cancel. I wasn't too upset as I really needed some time off the water and out of the heat.

I felt kind of sorry for my Wednesday charter, Charles Ruston, being the first victim of the week after I'd been off so long. Charles is originally from Pine Island, and has a brother, Don, who lives in Lehigh Acres. Charles is a marketing director for Conoco Oil over in Poland. He doesn't get stateside much. Although Charles only gets to fish the flats a time or two a year, he absolutely loves being out there, and the mission on this trip was to bring his lovely wife Debra, and hopefully have her discover why he loves flats fishing so much.

I picked Charles and Debra up at the Sanibel Harbor Marina, since they were staying right next door. We headed up the sound in search of bait. We had a lousy tide to deal with, and I suspected it would be a tough day. I stopped at The Hump and at Keesel's and chummed for bait. I didn't see the first piece. Definite cause for concern. I decided to take the Easter Egg hunt to Foster's Point, which has been pretty reliable all through the summer. Bingo! The bait was beautiful! Before long we were off to our first stop.

As we moved the boat up on the first hole we were treated to the sight of reds pushing everywhere. As you might imagine, they weren't particularly interested in eating, but we had fun throwing baits at them, and Charles and Debra did manage to boat four of them. Debra quickly learned how thrilling it is to see your fish as you fight it, and what beautiful music is the sound of a screaming drag. She did a lot of squealing and giggling as she played each of her fish. They added 6 snook, and 2 trout for a double West Coast Slam.

Of course, we wrapped up a perfect morning at the Waterfront Restaurant. There Debra assured Charles and me that she now truly understood Charles' passion for fishing the flats, and couldn't wait to do it again. I think she's properly hooked and won't get away. We had a wonderful lunch, and great conversation. The Rustons are super people, and anyone who knows me well, knows I love to fish with people who really have a passion for fishing. Charles is right there. He's a no pressure guy, and just loves the total experience; as it should be. I'm glad to say I have Charles and his brother scheduled for a trip next week.

I feared weather would be a problem Thursday morning as I drove to the ramp watching lightning dance in the distance. I also ran through some rain. I met Mike Montano, and his pals Frank and Joe, who were eager to get out there for their first flats fishing experience. I headed into the darkness figuring we'd get wet before we got to the bait. I was nearly right. I was forced to stop at Chino for bait, as we could see a large storm sitting just to our north over North Captiva and Foster's Point, where I wanted to catch bait. We managed to get bait, but not as nice as at Fosters. With an eye to the sky we headed to the first hole of the day.

Before we could turn around Mike had broken off three nice fish! Probably reds. Predictably, the boys had a hard time with wanting to set the hook too quickly, and on a line that wasn't tight, even with my constant reminding, and missed their share of fish. They commented that they felt like they were back in school and learning how to fish all over. By 9:30 AM we were forced to run to Tween Waters Marina on Captiva, and hide from a nasty looking storm. We just made it. We were there waiting on the weather for an hour or more.

Once I thought it was safe to be out, we headed to the second spot of the day, where we all had a great laugh. These were great guys, and a lot of fun, anyway, but when Joe walked off the port side of the boat for no apparent reason, we all lost it. The look on his face as he stood there in water barely over his knees was priceless. Joe was the first person to voluntarily walk out of the BarHopp'R, and only the second angler to wind up in the water accidentally. Now, there have been several of my anglers run out of the boat after big snook at my direction, but Joe was the first to just walk out. Actually, what happened was that I was about to cast his line out for him, and thinking he was in my way (which he wasn't) he stepped aside. Problem was he stepped right out of the boat, as if he'd meant to. We all had a great laugh. And, believe it or not, we even managed to catch a few fish. The boys boated 1 nice redfish, 6 snook, 1 trout for the Slam, 2 nice founder, 1 snapper, and a catfish.

I couldn't talk the boys in to lunch at the Waterfront because they still had so much food left at their condo. Even with the weather interruption we had a great time. I hope we can do it again.

Weather continued to be a problem on Friday as my best bud Capt. Mark Bess and I tried our best to make a good day for one of my favorite customers, Russ Hubbard, and his Dixie Plywood gang from the east coast. It was blowing like hell, and there were squalls all around. We were forced to stop at Chino looking for bait. The bait was small, and as soon as the weather cleared out of North Captiva, me and my gang Russ, Mike, and Jeff, were off to Fosters to see if we couldn't find some bigger. We eventually did get some bigger bait, but Mark reported that nice bait finally showed up for him, and they got plenty.

The weather dictated that we fish the east side of the Sound. Most of our fish came early. We hit quite a few holes that I hadn't fished probably since the last time it blew like that. Mike broke off a big snook. Jeff caught the world's smallest snook, and Russ came through with a nice 7 pounder. Through the course of the morning the boys landed 5 redfish, half dozen snook, a trout for the Slam, and a catfish. It was a tough day, but I've seen tougher!

It certainly wasn't as tough as it was for one of my friends, who had his boat capsized quickly and without warning as a freak wave turned their world upside down as they fought a tarpon in Redfish Pass. Most of his tackle was lost, and his brand new Mariner was ruined. That's a shocking reminder of how the water can turn on you even when you are an experienced guide. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

We wound down the day, and the week, at the Waterfront Restaurant with a great lunch and a lot of laughs. It's always great to see Russ. I wish things could have been better this time around, but they can't always go the way you want. Looking back at what happened, we had a pretty good day.

Yes, I know. This report is a week late! You may have already received an email explaining my move to Mindspring. That was an ordeal I'm glad to have behind me. I think the site is working pretty well, now, but would appreciate hearing from anyone who finds a broken link or missing image. By the way, many of the pages have been revised somewhat, colors changed in some instances, pictures added to AOM and testimonial pages that were missing. So if you have been featured on one of those pages you might want to go and check yourself out, again.