The weird, reversed weather pattern continued to haunt us this week; west winds and early morning thunderstorms. And the redfish continue to show up in large schools on the flats.

Monday, I took my new trailer back to Boatmaster for the finishing touches. They were out of stock on the disk brake calipers I was supposed to have and had fitted the trailer with a different caliper. I caused me to have to connect a wire to release a backup valve before I could reverse. They installed the proper parts, and added bracing to the upright guides at the rear of the trailer. We also had to modify the front bunk to allow my trolling motor to clear. All of the people at Boatmaster are great, and will go out of their way to make their customers happy. I highly recommend Boatmaster Trailers.

The following morning I was out with Steve Ladd, from Florida's east coast. We spent so much time hiding from the storms under Keesel's shack, that we turned a half-day trip into a full day trip. We didn't have the stellar day that I'm used to, but we did manage to have a lot of fun. We started out fishing potholes on the low tide for trout and got a few. As the tide flooded we moved to the oyster bars and caught about 10 snook and 3 reds. We also caught a couple of big jack crevelle out of a school that was ravaging the flats.

Later in the week I decided to prefish for a trip with Kevin Grover the following day. Kevin was already in town, staying at South Seas Plantation, so I asked if he'd like to join me on a scouting trip. He did, of course.

I had hoped to find the redfish on the same flat I've been working for weeks, now, but we only found one. I think the reds and snook were there, but had full bellies after eating on the incoming tide all through the early morning hours. They didn't want our spoons.

After catching bait inside Redfish Pass, I ran across to the northern part of the sound to look around. Several times I had to leave my spot to avoid approaching storms before I could determine if there were any fish. As I ran the skinny water north of Demry Key, I saw a school of reds push near a pothole, and decided to go back and see if I could get them to eat. I anchored up and chummed the hole pretty good, and it didn't take long before the redfish were blasting the shiners on top. Time for a hooked shiner. I caught 4 nice reds before I realized I was once again about to be dumped on by an approaching storm. I probably could have caught 20 out of that hole, but I just didn't feel like getting soaked. I finished up the day catching a few trout from a pothole out of the storm's path.

There are a lot of redfish schooled up in the sound. Keep your eyes open as you traverse the flats in your boat. Go investigate any nervous water you see unless your sure it's bait or mullet. Watch for single reds to push in the shallows. Often, when you find a school, the fish won't eat anything live or artificial. Try to stay with them until they settle down, because when they do, they'll surely eat.

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