They're baaacck! Yep, the redfish have made their fall appearance in big numbers. September is still a slow month for most of the guides in our area, which is unfortunate, as the fishing really heats up as we head into fall. I fished three days this week, and they were nothing short of spectacular. Read on.

I made the long drive to Punta Rassa ramp Thursday morning watching lightning flash all around on the horizon. The wind was blowing to beat hell at a good 25 knots straight out of the south, and gusting higher. Although this was my first trip with Marty and Nancy Dietz, I knew a little about Marty just from talking with him for a while on the phone. I knew he loved to fish more than just about anything. I knew he was a retired law enforcement officer, and was probably tough. I knew he was a hard-core fisherman, and would want to fish in spite of the conditions. Nancy, a labor relations attorney, was the unknown.

As Marty and I shook hands and did our introduction, he asked, "Well, Capt. Butch, what do you think?" I told him and Nancy that it would be wet going, wet coming, and the wind might make fishing difficult, but the fish would EAT! Marty told Nancy, "I really want to go!" The beauty of her smile and the twinkle in her eyes in the dim dawn light told me she'd say, "Let's fish." And, she did.

We managed to get plenty of bait at Foster's Point, and get to the flat I wanted to fish early. The hard south wind had the low tide at high tide level already. It was hard to find what I though would be the first of several holes we'd fish that day in the dirty, dimly lit waters, and I was on a hot drift in the strong wind. By the time I saw it, I was almost on top of it, and afraid I might have blown what fish might have been there. Damn! This might be tough!

I prepared the first baits and sent them flying. Boom! Boom! They were eaten as soon as they hit the water. And, for the next four plus hours it was an absolute feeding frenzy. It barely mattered how far, or where we threw the baits. They barely had a chance to get wet most of the time. It was a veritable multiple fishgasim! All morning Marty kept commenting in disbelief that he never dreamed any fishing could be this intense. But, it was. We had an absolute blast. And we were the only guide boat that left Punta Rassa that morning. By the time we called it quits at noon, we had boated as nearly as we could count a total of 50 or more redfish, and around 30 snook. We left the fish still biting like crazy.

It was an incredible morning of fishing, but what made it really fun for me was Marty and Nancy. Marty reminded me a lot of my friend Jim Turek who fished in early August. He enjoyed each fish as much as the next. Nancy was a blast, a lovely woman who loves to fish, and a very good fisherman. You're a blessed man, Marty. I think Marty and Nancy will be tough, if not impossible to beat for Angler of the Month for September, and will be serious contenders for Angler of the year.

The next morning my best bud Capt. Mark Bess, and I were both working. Mark was running his second trip with Jack Crozier, who I had referred to him earlier this year, and I was fishing with Monty and Mason Seyer, who had already missed their first fishing date with me because of bad weather this past winter. Mark and I had plans of going right out there and repeating the day before, but the weather was once again threatening.

We once again got bait quickly, and were off to the races. As we made the ride to the first hole the weather began to look real serious. We'd no more than gotten situated on the first hole and the bottom fell out. Monty, Mason, and I elected to run to Tween Waters Inn on Captiva, which was about the closest available shelter. Mark and his party of three elected to tough it out hiding under the mangroves. I was reasonable sure the threatening looking clouds would start spitting lightning before it was over, and I was right. I'm not at all keen on being under any kind of tree for that.

We drank a few cups of coffee, chatted, and watched the weather until we figured it was safe to try it again. As we approached the flat I could see Mark set up on the hole I'd told him about from the day before. We poled in to another hole not far away. As I approached the chosen area, I saw redfish boiling on bait and finning all over. I pitched some chum to keep them interested until we could get things ready, and from the first cast, it was again off to the races. Mark and his crew soon joined in the fun, anchored not more than 50 feet off my starboard, and together we committed redfish genocide, so to speak, catch and release style! The action was so fast and furious that I couldn't keep up with the count, but I'm certain we boated nearly 50 redfish. Mark and his crew did keep count, and they gave up counting at 60 redfish in the boat! We had more fun than the law allows, hollering and teasing back and forth with each other about the size of the fish, the time it took to land the fish, or because someone broke one off. What a gas! We once again left them biting at around 12:30 PM.

At around 11:55, Monty had a redfish snatch the rod right out of his hand on the hookset. After I cautioned Monty that it was a $225 rig, he decided he go wading and see if he could find it. I told him his chances were slim to none, but since we were about worn out and ready to call it a day, he decided to cool off at the same time. As he walked straight off the bow, he ran into fishing line about 40 ft. out. He followed it back toward the boat, and damned if he didn't find the rod. Once he got it out of the water and started reeling he was shocked to find the fish still on the other end wondering what was going on. He landed the fish. Can you believe it?

Although it had been a stellar day of fishing, it had not been without problems. As we got to the flat that morning, the rear bait pump went out. We set up a fire bucket brigade and moved all the bait to the front well, but still lost a lot of bait. Later, my trolling motor literally went up in smoke, and I was left to maneuver with the pushpole.

After a quick rebuild at Smith Marine I headed home. Once there, I was anxious to retrieve my email before the approaching storms arrived. As I was about to plug my computer in, sparks jumped from the wall socket and the power went dead! Lightning had struck far away, traveled down the lines, and we found out later, blew out a switch on the stove, blew up my modem, and blew up the transformer on the power pole outside.

It was an intense electrical storm when it finally arrived. Lightning popped and snapped all over the place. As Mark and I sat on the rear screened porch watching the weather, lightning struck a tree not a hundred feet away, engulfing it in a fireball. It scared the pure shit out of us! It was spectacular, but we knew that at least for that day, we were untouchable.

On the way to the ramp Saturday morning, I knew the great run was probably over. It was Saturday on a Labor Day holiday weekend, the moon was almost full, the wind was east and least, and the skies had cleared. It was bright out, and I knew the fish would have full bellies come morning. Fishing would likely be tough.

Although our day would have been great by most standards, Monty and Mason managed only 8 redfish and 4 snook. Nothing like the day before, but we had had a great two day run.

If you have any questions or comments, or you'd like to book a trip, please email me at capt@barhoppr.com.