We began the week knowing that hurricane Georges was out there steaming toward us like a Russian nuclear sub, not quite sure of her final port of call. We knew well that if she held her course that it would certainly be somewhere in Florida, almost sure to affect our weather later in the week.

I had the good fortune to have the same angler, Mr. Dick Witherow, of Upper Arlington, Ohio, for three days of fishing. Dick is a bank vice-president in commercial lending, and at six feet five, I'm sure he commands respect in the boardroom. Well, Dick is one hell of a nice guy who just loves to fish, and appreciates every fish that comes to the boat. And, we practiced catch and release all week.

Monday morning, I decided to see how the bait looked at Chino Island, and it turned out to be both plentiful and beautiful. While we loaded up the rear well I noticed a lot of activity on the water a ways off. I knew it could mean jacks, ladyfish, or trout, or all three. We went to check it out, and were treated to some fast action on mostly jacks and ladyfish, with an occasional trout. We fished this bite until I sensed the tide had started to move. I had hoped to catch the first of the incoming tide at one of my favorite spring and fall snook holes first thing that morning, so we were quickly off to give it a try for the first time this fall. The snook were there, and although it wasn't a fast bite we did get a few, including Dick's biggest snook to date, a seven pounder. He was thrilled with that fish.

Later in the morning we tried to put some redfish into the mix. Dick was having trouble with the hookset, as most people do who are new to our brand of light tackle fishing. When you've got a lot of light line out with a bait on the end, you must be patient, and strike a tight line. Dick was in a bit of a hurry to go for the hookset, and missed a lot of fish, but hey, he had two more days to work on it and get his adrenaline under control. We ended that first day with about a half dozen or so snook in the boat, with about ten fish missed, another four reds missed, several trout, and the jacks and ladyfish. It had been a beautiful, still, and hot day. We called it quits when the incoming tide quit.

Tuesday morning started out as a repeat of Monday. Bait at Chino, then moved out on the flat to catch the jacks and ladyfish that were on a real good feed. It was fast action until around 9:30, when we left them biting to search for snook and redfish. Our snook hole from the day before only gave up about three fish. I think the fish and wildlife were already sensing that mother nature was about to act up, the barometer was down below 29.90, and the fish just didn't want to eat. Dick did catch a beautiful snook that probably went 8 to 9 pounds in a hole north of Demere Key, but we didn't get pictures of her, as she shook the hook at boatside. We finished the day up with around half dozen snook, a couple of trout, and the several dozen jacks and ladyfish from early in the morning.

Wednesday morning, we knew that hurricane Georges was definitely going to visit. I figured it would be the last fishing day until the next week sometime. I really wanted to put Dick on some nice redfish. The tide was low at about the middle of the morning. It was dead still and hot; the calm before the storm. I knew it would be perfect conditions for finding some tailing redfish. But we'd have to wait on the tide. In the meantime, we caught our bait, then did the jackus attackus routine for the third time. This morning, they were really feeding, and we caught countless jacks, ladyfish, and trout until it was time to go looking for the redfish.

I headed north and turned into 40 Acre Bay. Redfish were pushing everywhere in the skinny water. We stopped, and by the time we had the motor trimmed up and the pushpole out, I could see redfish tailing all around us. Dick took lots of shots at the fish, with not so much as a follow. We moved on to a flat north of Demere. There were redfish pushing everywhere. We tried fishing them with artificials, shiners under popping corks, on the flats and in the potholes, and couldn't get one to eat. These fish had lockjaw. In frustration, I resigned to run to the west side of the Sound and see if we could find a hungry fish there.

I poled into a large oyster bar east of Buck Key. Redfish were once again pushing all around. Do you think they'd eat? Heck no. We did catch a couple of snook out of a nearby pothole. I told Dick I was going to go back to my very favorite spot, where there were almost always redfish this time of year. Once there, I hadn't moved the boat 50 feet and we were on top of a big school of reds. We flipped shiners right in the middle of them and I just knew they'd be eaten, but they weren't. The school spooked, and I had to find them again. This time, Dick got one to eat. He fought it nearly to the boat, and she twisted off the hook! Damn! Soon, we were back on the school, and Dick was hooked up solidly on a nice redfish. I gave him my favorite quote, "Dick, if you miss this one, I'm afraid I'll have to kill ya!" Dick masterfully brought the fish along side in a few minutes, and I don't think you could have found two guys any happier to see a redfish than Dick and me. She was a beautiful dark bronze fish of ten pounds. Dick worked with her for a long time before she was finally ready to return to the school.

We'd lost the school by this time, so I doubled back on my favorite spot, stopped, and tried to chum the fish in. They just weren't going to play, so we finally called it a day at around 3:30. It had been a fantastic day of fishing opportunities, but a tough day of catching the glamour fish. It had been fun. Back at the dock, Dick, who has been out with a number of other local guides, gave me some very kind words that I greatly appreciated. He was a great guy to spend three days with, and I'm looking forward to his next visit.

Back at the office that evening, I found the inevitable message from my Thursday party, Joe Dowdell, of Key West. Yes, he'd had to scramble back to the Keys to try to batten down the hatches before the storm hit. I sure hope he made it OK.

Thursday and Friday were days of preparation. I had loaned BarHopp'R II to my friend Capt. Kevin Chamberlain, who had blown a second powerhead on his Evinrude this year. Couldn't see him missing trips when I had a spare boat sitting here. He took her back to Sarasota to fish, so I didn't have to worry about getting her back home for the storm. I brought BarHopp'R I back with me, and parked both of them along with several other boats at my friend Capt. Al Shank's house. He has a large yard with no dangerous trees that would be a sure problem if the hurricane hit us with high winds. My yard, although large, is a small Sarasota Jungle Gardens with threes everywhere. Not the place to leave something sitting during a bad storm.

Now, it's Friday night as I write this report, and we know that we've dodged another big bullet. Georges clobbered the Keys, but has kept a safe distance from us, and we're just getting strong winds and squalls. Our worst problem is that of flooding from rain and the tide surge that will come as the storm moves north of us and the wind switches around to the southwest.

It will probably be several days before the winds subside and things start to get back to normal. I hope that once they do, the fish will be hungry.