I know we've had periods of hard fishing in years past, but boy I'll tell you, this past week or so has erased the memories of previous episodes of lockjawed fish. Several cold fronts in a row with no reprieve in between, an absurdly high barometer, very cold water temperatures, and depleted stocks of one of our go-to winter species, speckled trout, have combined with very poor tides toward the end of the week to matters even worse. I'm not trying to run you potential customers away. This too, shall pass. But, if I'm going to accurately report on what's happening here, then I have to tell it as it is, and right now it's very tough to catch anything other than sheephead and the occasional black drum, or perhaps ladyfish. Yet, as tough as the catching was this week, the fishing was fantastic, and I've ironically had some of the most enjoyable days on the water with my friends and customers that I can remember.

First up this week was Andy Mount, and his daughter Rachael, who I first fished with around this time last year, along with his other daughter, Stephanie. We had a great day of big trout fishing. That day had started out slow, and then turned hot. This day would start out slow, and remain slow. We left the dock at 7 AM armed with a variety of artificial baits, and the knowledge that with the water temp in the 50's we were in for a hard day.

At our first stop, normally a wonderful place to be in the dead of a southwest Florida winter, Rachael caught the only fish. And, and a nice one it was. She scored a fat, 5 pound trout on an Exude RT Slug. Surgery at the ramp later revealed that part of it's weight and big belly were at least a dozen mojarra in its stomach! Usually, when you find one big trout like that, you will find many, but we couldn't buy another strike. After working the area over well, we moved on.

For the next few spots the results were the same. Nothing would bite. So, now fighting the clock and the tide, I decided to take Andy and Rachael grouper fishing. Often, they will eat when nothing else will, and they fight like gangbusters on the light gear. Getting them out of the rocky homes is a real challenge.

Once at our destination, we were greeted with a bite. It wasn't a hot bite, but a bite, and Andy and Rachael managed 6 or 7 nice gag grouper that were averaging 17 to 20 inches. The best part was that we did it without loosing a single rig or fish in the rocks. We thought we'd finally lost one on the last fish of the day, when Rachael got slammed, and was then immediately stuck in the rocks. She was sure she had been hit, but it had been instantaneous. I explained that her grouper was in the rocks with it's gills flared, and that we would not likely get it out. I pulled and pulled on the stuck line and could tell there was a fish on the other end, but nothing would give. So, we pulled anchor and moved over the rocks, where I was able to put the rod down into the water and get a different angle on the fish. I still expected to just break the line or leader, but all of a sudden the fish let go and out it came. Rachael seemed amazed, and it was a bit of a small victory on a tough day.

We ended what had nonetheless been a fun day with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant before heading home to clean our fish. It had been great to share the boat with Andy and Rachael once again.

Tuesday, I would finally get to spend a day with my good friend Dr. John Hitt, who has many of you have notice has been conspicuously absent from these pages since last June. He's healthy and looking great and once again able to fish, and more than ready for some time on the water.

I met John at his dock at around 9 AM. We had talked, and he knew things would be tough. Although it was cold, it was a good looking weather day, and a nice day to be on the water. But, with a water temperature of around 58 and a barometer at 30.30, I knew we were going to work hard for what we caught on artificials.

John and I decided we'd go to the Sanibel side and check on some of our favorite winter potholes. For as long as I've fished them they consistently give up outsized speckled trout, and plenty of them. Well, upon arriving at our destination, we were surprised to see the water so clear, that if it weren't for the glare from the sun, you'd swear there was no water there! Another strike against our cause.

We worked the area over well, moving from hole to hole. I did finally see one nice trout as it bolted from the edge of a hole after we had fished it. So, we knew there were some fish present. They just weren't eating. But, upon reaching the last hole we were still without so much as a hit. We had eliminated that spot from our list of things to do on our subsequent trips later in the week.

We had spent a lot of time working those holes, and now just wanted to try to catch something. We opted for Long Cut, which is usually slightly warmer. It's usually full of winter visitors who are sheephead fishing, but we just fish around them. They're usually on anchor, and we're usually on the trolling motor until we find a good trout bite.

Shortly after arriving, we caught a nice snook! I couldn't believe a snook would even be in 58 degree water and not be comatose, say nothing of be willing to eat something. I suspect the lure hit him on the head and he struck in retaliation! Who knows! But, it certainly was an unexpected twist in the fishing. John soon got a very nice trout, and for a fleeting moment, we thought we might even encounter a bite, but it wasn't to be. We had some bumps, but the fish just weren't interested in actually eating. The only other fish caught was a ladyfish.

We went home with our one nice trout having enjoyed a great day on the water feeling a small sense of victory.

Wednesday was my second trip with Paul Davey, of Wantaugh, New York. I fished with for the first time last year during this same time, as I had Andy Mount. Last year, it had been Paul and his wife, Lisa. This year Paul was with his two daughters, and today it was nine year old Jessica's turn. Last year Paul, Lisa, and I had a fantastic trip. It wasn't until I looked back at last year's fishing report out of curiosity, that I realized we fished last year at this time in 75 degree water! On this morning our water was around 60 degrees. That 15 degree difference alone can shut our fishing down. Say nothing of the other factors that are always involved. \ I picked up Paul and Jessica at the Waterfront Restaurant at 11 AM. I told Paul that when you take kids fishing, you have to fish for the kids, and he understood what I meant. After evaluating all the options and the weighing results from my trips and those of other guides, I decided the best thing to do was to take them sheephead fishing. At least they were likely to bite to some degree. Paul was good with that, and had even brought a rod and reel for Jessica to use out of concern that she could loose one of my high-dollar rigs over the side should a big fish attack her bait.

I was armed with a well full of nice hand-picked shrimp, and it was only a matter of minutes before we were anchored in Long Cut dunking shrimp pieces on the bottom for Sheepies. It took Jessica and Paul a while to get the hang of sheephead fishing, as it's almost an art form, but once they did, they caught plenty and had fun. I did most of the casting for Jessica, as the line was heavier than we typically use for such fishing, and hard for her to cast with just a split-shot and a piece of shrimp.

Early in the fishing, I had an opportunity to demonstrate my well honed casting skills with Paul's rig, which is shorter than I'm used to using. I made a cast for Jessica and smacked Paul on the head with the float, and then hooked his hat and simultaneously snatched it off his head! Geez! Fortunately, it wasn't a hard cast, and Paul was still standing. My record of never hooking a customer is still perfect! Paul assured me he was OK, and we had a good laugh. But, I removed the float rig, which was quite long, in favor of the split shot rig. I had only gone with it because I thought it might make it easier for Jessica to see a bite. But, it wasn't working, anyway.

After several hours, I could tell Jessica was winding down. From the sheephead we went to see if the grouper would bite. You can probably anticipate the answer. Nada! I asked Paul if he'd like to go try to find a redfish, also telling him the chance were slim, but he was game to go for it. So, we were off to a place where the redfish are usually cruising this time of year if there's water enough on the flat. The water there was gin clear, and the fish could probably see us coming a mile away. We never saw a fish. We drifted across a part of the flat casting our gold and silver spoons as far as we could, hoping to reach fish we couldn't see. But, we never had a hit. But this time, Jessica was ready to go home, and we headed back to the Waterfront. It had been a good day for Jessica, and after all, that's what it was all about.

I met John Hitt again at 10 AM on Thursday. After telling John of the fishing for the other days in the week thus far, I advanced an idea that we go spend a relaxing day anchored up sheephead fishing. I had tried to reserve some live hand-picked shrimp for our efforts, but the shrimpers still had not delivered by the time we reached the ramp. So, we opted for frozen shrimp and sandfeas, some small hooks, and slide sinkers, and sheephead fishing we went.

Driven by the north wind, the tide was still going out when we arrived to claim a spot in Long Cut. Nothing would bite. Finally, when the water began to turn around, we caught a small snapper. As the water got moving in earnest, we caught a few sheephead, but the pickings were slim, and the fishing had indeed gotten tougher and tougher as the week had progressed. The water was bouncing around 62 degrees.

John did have a chance to demonstrate his advanced angling abilities when he landed a sheephead of not more than 3 inches in length. You've got to be good to do that. Even though the bite was very slow, we were in no hurry to take off. We were having a great time relaxing, enjoying the beautiful day, chatting and catching up on things. It was a truly no pressure day, and very enjoyable.

As we were preparing to head home, I told John that given the almost total absence of a bite, and the worsening conditions as the week went along, that I wouldn't mind if he wanted to opt out of our trip on Friday. After considering that we'd had two very relaxing days on the water, he decided he could indeed put the day to good use at home.

I met Fraser Dougall Saturday morning at the Waterfront Restaurant for our second trip of the month. Our first one had been tough enough. I had arranged for him to fish the day before with another local guide because I had been booked with John Hitt. Fraser told me they had used live shrimp for bait, and only caught two fish. He didn't really have to tell me. I would have bet on as much. This was my first time with his two good friends, Wally and Hume, and I knew it was going to be tough to get anything going. Again, I had waited around at the ramp for the shrimpers to deliver their live shrimp to Shack Baits, but eventually had to leave before they arrived, if they ever did. So, we would be fishing artificials only.

We headed up into the Sound to our first stop comfortable in the knowledge that we had a beautiful day to be out, and that Fraser is a man who knows all to well that sometimes the fish just don't bite. I really wanted to make something happen for the boys, especially since they'd had one tough day the day before, but it just wasn't in the cards. One of the boys hooked a nice trout at the first stop, but didn't get it to the boat. We never had another hit there.

But, it didn't take me long to realize that I had a bunch of great, fun guys in the boat, and that I was going to have a fun day regardless of the fishing. With the bite so slow I had time to give the boys my "BarHopp'R Casting Clinic", and then had fun nagging them about doing what I'd taught them for most of the day. We laughed and joked and carried on, and had a grand time. We managed to catch one grouper after that trout, and that was it. The fish were just absolutely lockjawed! Fraser, Hume, and Wally took it in stride, and kept on fishing, ever optimistic that something would bite on the very next cast. But, that something never did, and finally arm weary from a day of casting, we tossed in the towel.

But, if there was a better way to end a week of no bite, I can't imagine what it could be. I had more pure fun and laughs with Fraser, Wally, and Hume than I've had in a long time. I'm glad we went, and sure enjoyed sharing the boat with such a great bunch of guys.

Monday was the only descent day of the week, weather-wise. It blew like crazy the rest of the week., and the only day I fished was Monday.

I stopped at Shack Baits Monday morning and bought a few dozen hand-picked shrimp, just in case the fish didn't want to eat plastic, again. I also decided to see if I could catch a few shiners at the causeway, even though I wasn't carrying the right net for the job. The bait is very small right now, and anything less than a 1/4 inch mesh will gill all of it. I had very little time to work on bait before picking up my customers at the Sanibel Boat Ramp, and didn't hit any bait in the short time I had available. Capt. Kelly Kiminski was nice enough to give me a scoop of bait, so I'd have a little bit to play with in addition to the shrimp and lures we'd be using.

It was already pretty breezy as I ran along the causeway to the ramp to pick up Rick VandeWater and his friend Tom, of Wexford, Pennsylvania. We were just ahead of the front that would cause all the wind for the rest of the week. I hoped we would see a good bite.

We headed on up into the Sound to our first stop. I was looking for snook, and the place was full of them. It always is. It's never a question of whether the fish are there, just whether they'll eat, or not. Of course, this great spot also holds inshore grouper and jewfish, winter trout, small redfish at times, jacks, snapper, and sometimes even small tarpon. But, on this morning it was the snapper that wanted to play. I didn't take us long to burn what shrimp we had, as well as some of our shiners, on the hungry mangrove snappers. I'd say the boys caught at least a dozen along with a nice gag grouper. We kept three, I think, as Rick and Tom wanted to feed three folks that evening. But, the snook just weren't interested, probably because of the slow moving falling tide. After working the area over really well, we moved on.

It was time to see if we could catch a few redfish, and I knew just the spot to be on the falling tide. I had to maneuver against the wind to get to the part of the hole I wanted to fish, which is where the reds usually hang out. Once there, I saw a number of reds n the hole, and one even swam within 15 feet of the front of the boat in the tannin stained water. But, like the snook, they just weren't interested. I had two shrimp offerings out, and alternated with a live shiner. While the boys fished the live baits, I tossed an Exude jig. Oddly, I was the one that got the hits. I had three redfish and one snook hit my jigs, but they were not interested in eating. They were just curious, and wouldn't take well enough to get a hook set. They never even looked at a live bait. After an hour or so it was obvious the fish weren't going to eat, so it was time to move on, again.

Since Rick had really enjoyed the fight of that gag grouper, so I decided to go after grouper next. It was obvious the snook didn't want to eat, and we haven't seen much in the way of trout yet this winter, presumably because of the big kill from the red tide last year. But, much to our chagrin, the grouper were also lockjawed. We only managed to catch one. That was really surprising because they're usually one species that is willing to play when the others aren't. But, sometimes Mother Nature has her own ideas, and doesn't care what you want.

Since I hadn't done so in a while, I decided to check on trout. I've kept hoping we'd get a good migration of trout in here to help us fill our winter fishing days. I decided to begin our hunt at what is normally one of m favorite spots. It's not a spot I particularly like to fish on a falling tide, but that's what we had. It didn't take long before we had our first trout, and it was a very nice one. A trophy! We caught two or three more, and then it was over. But, they were all nice fish, and very good to see.

I moved to another spot not far away that is typically full of trout, though not as large. They have been nowhere to be found thus far this winter. But, they were there now. We caught trout after trout, all below the slot. We changed our jigs to Bass Assassins, just to match our baits to the size of our fish a little better. We didn't care the fish were small. We were catching on nearly every cast, and just having fun. We stayed with them until they were done.

It was another short work week with just one trip. And, being the day after a big cold front it was a tough one. Cold and windy was the order of the day.

My trip was a repeat with Dale Grantman, a great guy who's just 78 years young, and lots of fun. Dale winters here from Urbandale, Iowa. His friend Brad was again along for the trip.

Knowing we were going to be fishing in some tough conditions, I made my first visit to Saltwater Pro Tackle Shop on San Carlos just before you get to Fort Myers Beach. I was looking for pompano baits, and after some calls, found what I wanted there. I found them in the phone book, and they were the only ones who answered their phone. They're in the plaza where the Goodwill Store is, which I've passed a thousand times without ever noticing it.

The store was being tended by the owner's father, Ralph, who was a really nice older fellow who was very helpful and fun to BS with. I bought pompano rigs and some cooked sandfleas and a bottle of sandflea juice to soak them in. Supposed to be a killer pompano and sheephead bait. I was ready. My plan was to stick close to the ramp and fish in the lee of the big wind as much as possible, and target pompano.

Dale was all for fishing pompano, as he loves to eat them as do I. But, once we were out there and rigged, we soon found that the pompano weren't in the least bit interested, and that even in the lee the mangrove shoreline offered little protection from the wind. We were drifting sideways to the wind at a pretty good clip, but once the wind really kicked water was splashing over the side. It was time to try something else.

Wanting to find some action out of the wind, I opted to check out Long Cut for some trout. It's usually a sure thing for trout on a cold, blowing winter day. Once we arrived at our destination I found fish popping bait in less than a foot of water along the very shallow edge of the cut. We had fun throwing topwater plugs at the fish, and it was a perfect dark, overcast day for it. We had some interest from what I'm sure were snook, but only managed to catch a few ladyfish and a nice jack crevalle one the baits were over deeper water. Once the tide began to move we drifted on it, casting jigs for trout. We only caught a couple. Everything was absolutely lockjawed.

Dale did get his catch of the day there, and the laugh of the day, as well. The best part was that I saw the whole thing. Dale wound up to cast his jig, and as he did he hooked Brad's hat and snatched it right off his head, sending it out into the water. Until Brad and I began laughing, Dale didn't realize what he'd done. But, it was so perfectly executed it seemed as if he'd been practicing that maneuver. I was glad, though, that it was a jig instead of a topwater plug full of treble hooks. The result may have been different, and ugly.

We moved on. I decided to return to the scene of some very nice redfishing a few weeks ago, in a favorite pothole of mine. And, boy! The fish were there. I saw several big trout and a number of nice redfish. The fact that we could get close enough to a big trout to see it in clear, shallow water tells you that the fish were laid up and not eating. They didn't even want to move.

It was now afternoon, and we had fished hard with little success. Brad's jack was the fish of the day. By now, our appetites were getting the best of us, and we succumbed to lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant. I introduced Dale to their wonderful fried oysters. Brad ordered their steak burger, which I defied him to finish. Well, he did manage to eat half of it!

All in all, it had been a great day of fishing earmarked by tough catching. We'd had a blast fishing the topwater plugs, and with each other. We were scheduled to fish Tuesday, as well. I knew it would be another tough, windy day of few bites. As badly as I needed to work, my customer has to come first. I advised Dale that we postpone the trip since he will be here until April. I wanted to at least have a shot at a great day of catching on one of our two days out. That meant that Brad wouldn't be able to join Dale, as he was returning to Iowa soon. But, Brad agreed that it was a good plan. So, look for Dale to rack up some great fish on a trip this coming spring. It will be his first live bait trip, and it should be a good one.

Geez! This is getting tedious. This was to be a busy week. but in typical November fashion, big cold fronts and big winds claimed most of the week. I managed to get out Friday, only. And, what I though would probably be a stinker of a day turned out to be a good one.

My trip was to be with my friend John Howell, of Winter Springs, Florida, and John's daughter Kate and son-in-law Jimmy. I was too meet them at the Waterfront Restaurant in St. James City, on Pine Island., at 6:30 AM. After not fishing for three weeks, I was restless and up very early. I was at the ramp early, and the fishing reports I heard at the ramp weren't good.

The ride to the Waterfront was a bit brisk, but I had wrapped myself in long-john lowers, and heavy long sleeved tee-shirt, socks, and a heavy jacket. The high was supposed to reach into the mid-70's, but I had serious doubts.

I arrived at the Waterfront as it was getting light. John told me there had been a change of plans; that Kate and Jimmy hadn't made the trip because one of the babies was sick, and that it would be him and his wife Jennifer. Although I was looking forward to getting reacquainted with Jimmy and Kate, I'm just crazy about Jennifer, and was glad she was coming.

We were off! I had reviewed several years worth of fishing reports the night before, and knew just where I wanted to be on this low outgoing tide. I was sure we'd get into good action there. In fact, I told John that I had never been there this time of year, fishing bait or lures, and not done well.

I should know better! We worked the large area over well for a couple of hours and never got a hit. We were tossing an Exude RT, a Rattletrap, and a DOA Terroreyez. Nuttin, Honey! After braggin on the spot, I felt like the village I D 10 T! Frustrated, we moved on north into the Sound, and hit two more spot that ALWAYS produce nice trout and good action this time of year. Again, Zero, Zilch, Nadda darned bite at the first spot, but Jen did get the smell of the skunk out of the boat with a pretty jig-caught redfish. But, that was it. We couldn't' get another of the fish that were surely there to eat. Geez!

The tide was getting quite low, now. Land and seaweed were showing everywhere. I decided to fish a large pothole that I used to fish often years ago. It had fallen from favor as traffic and pressure on the area increased. I had fished in about a month ago, for the first time in a very long time, and was pleased to see quite a few snook and redfish in the hole, as well as some trout.

As I made the final approach to the hole, I had second thoughts about whether I could get in there, or not. The water was very skinny, and there was grass showing in places. But, I knew that the turtle grass was usually pretty tall on this flat, and that the bottom was very soft. I went for it. We didn't even touch going in, but John and Jen both admitted that they were pretty white-knuckled as we skimmed across mere inches of water.

Once settled in one end of the hole, I first anchored and tied on different lures. We were now tossing two different types of jigs, and a hammered finish silver spoon. On the third move in the hole, we struck pay dirt. A pretty little redfish ate the silver spoon. I told John and Jen that we caught one more on that spoon, we were tying on more spoons. And, it wasn't long before we had another red on the spoon. I tied on another spoon; gold.

Finally, we had a bite going, and it was a pretty good one on lures. We caught a good 8 redfish of varying sizes, and more importantly, lost and missed just as many. Jen also caught a couple of nice trout, and John caught one beauty on a jig. By the time the tide got dead low, we were pretty much surrounded by land. We weren't going anywhere for a while in anything less than an airboat. The Talon is the next best thing to having an airboat, but...... So, we relaxed and had some snacks, and waited on the tide.

Our schools of redfish were trapped in the hole with us, and I fully expected to have a better bite once the tide began coming in. But, that didn't materialize. But, it certainly wasn't for a lack of fish. Before we left the hole, I moved us to the edge where we'd been fishing, and we were all amazed to see how many redfish and sheephead there were there. They were thick as thieves! They just weren't eating.

But, it mattered not. We'd had a good day on the last of that falling tide, and we were all happy. John, who tires easily because of a stroke he suffered four years ago, said he'd had a blast and was worn out and ready for the dock. So, with motor up and flaps down we went charging out of the hole and across the grass to the deeper water and home. Of course, deeper water around here is 4 to 6 feet!

And, that's how it went. It was a wonderful day with some of the very sweetest people I know. And, that's what fishing is really all about!

Weather was once again a factor in getting trips run this week. We've had deluge after deluge since Thursday morning, and there's lots of water standing everywhere.

I had a fun trip with one of my favorite fishing buddies, Bob Brockway, over from Parkland, Florida, on Monday, for his annual 4th of July vacation week at the Pink Shell. Our normal MO is to fish lures, and to show Bob new areas to fish. In planning the trip I decided it would be good to should him areas that are closer to where he stays, rather than way up in the Sound. So, the plan was to stay in the general area of the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River and Matlacha Pass.

I met Bob at the Pink Shell at six o'clock Monday morning, and we got away from the dock just before dawn. We headed to some small keys near the mouth of Matlacha Pass that get good current flow when the water is moving. Our problem for the day was that we were fishing a very slow moving falling tide. A tough tide to fish.

We both began the morning with topwater plugs, but I chose a very large one to target big snook. Bob hit the first fish on one of his first casts, and put a speckled trout in the boat. His second fish was a small snook that threw the lure close to the boat. Later, after a lure change, he boated a nice slot redfish. He had nearly put a Slam in the boat on his first three fish. My large lure selection wasn't attracting attention, but I wasn't concerned. I stuck with it.

Our next stop was a beautiful area up the river that is home to snook, redfish, cobia, big jacks, and sometimes big black drum. We fished it hard to no avail, and never had a hit. We moved on. We worked our way down a long shoreline toward Sword Point, again with no results. We did see a lot of life, though.

Our last stop was in Punta Blanca Creek. I tied on a Rattletrap. Bob noted that he'd never done much with Rattletraps, but it's one of my favorite baits for winter fishing in deeper holes, cuts, canals, etc., and dittos for the dog days of summer. I struck first blood and somewhat redeemed myself from the failure of my topwater lure with a nice redfish on the Rattletrap. Bob tied one on in short order. Although we didn't hit another red in that place, Bob did catch a couple of snook and another redfish a little farther in, and I hit a ladyfish.

It hadn't been an easy day of fishing, but it was indeed fun, and about as good as we could have expected on such a poor tide. And, Bob did get his Slam.

I was to have my first trip with Tom Sciascia Thursday morning. I was awaked to the sound of heavy rain at around 4 AM, and soon afterward the rumble of thunder. I checked two radars on the computer, finding a large area of storms stretched south into the gulf beyond Naples. It appeared to be moving north, and I hoped that by the time 6 AM rolled around it would be cleared out.

But, that didn't happen. When I arrived at the ramp several guides were waiting put their boats into the water. There was a lot of lighting and thunder approaching, and even in the dark you could see the silhouette of the big storm approaching. Soon there were several boats hitting the docks in the darkness just in front of the storm. The rains were heavy, and virtually all of us canceled our trips and went home. Don't you know the weather pulled back to the south and stayed there all day, and we cleared out at around eight o'clock. It was beautiful until late that afternoon.

Tom only had Friday to fish. Fortunately, my friend Eric Smith, who is local, was nice enough to reschedule to later in the month for our trip. I met Tom Friday morning, Maverick at the ready and needing exercise. Although there were a lot of clouds building onshore, it looked like the weather would hold. We headed across the river and joined Capt. Max Stanford to catch bait. The bait came quickly, but once in the confines of the baitwell, it became obvious that the red tide was in the water. My bait was dying quickly. By the time Tom and I could idle our of the manatee zone, almost all of it was dead. We would have to start over.

I stopped on the flat along the main channel in front of York Island to see if we could catch bait. In half a dozen throws we again had a full well, and were off to see if we could find some action for my first time customer. The bait was happy, which meant the water was good.

As I made the approach to our first stop we were treated to something I have never seen happen in the Sound. There were hundreds of snook thrashing baits in the spot we were going to fish. The were running, jumping, slicing, and dicing bait. It was really cool to see. It's fairly common to see the snook on the beaches do that behavior in July, but to see it on the flats was a first for me.

I couldn't' wait to get a bait into the water, and it was immediately smashed. As Tom fought the first fish to the boat, I tossed two more baits and put the rods into the bow rod holders. They were also immediately crushed. Yes. I wanted to keep Tom as busy as I could for as long as possible. Ironically, in the middle of all those snook, that first fish was a nice redfish. Well, for the next couple of hours Tom caught fish after fish, pretty well mixed redfish and snook. He must have caught 6 or 7 keeper snook that ranged from over 27 to 29 inches. It was a great bite, and Tom had never experienced anything like it. He said that it was the best fishing he'd ever done.

But, as the tide came to a stop, so did the bite. It was pretty abrupt. We knew there were tons of fish there, and I figured we had a good shot at another bite once the tide began to move out. We had to wait the better part of an hour for it to move, and once it did we caught a few more fish, but with full tummies, the big bite was over for the day.

We moved on to another area not too far away, and again got into some snook action. A couple more stops produced nothing, and we knew it was over for the day. It was around 10:30, and the weather appeared to be building all around us. We had missed some heavy rains earlier, and had see lightning in the distance. Tom said that in light of what a great day it had been, we could just head in to safety. I thought that was a good call. It had been a great day with a great guy, but might be hard to top in the future.

By the time I got home and got things cleaned up and put away, the bottom fell out. We had a heck of a good storm and heavy rains. If we hadn't come in a little early we surely would have been caught in that mess!

It was a week of very poor tides. Because I always give my customers the prospects as I see them based upon tides, those tough tide days sometimes don't book. That's OK. There's always plenty to do when I'm not on the water.

The only half way descent tide was on Monday, and that was the one day I worked. Of course, yet another late season cold front passed through on Sunday without bringing any rain. The water is still crystal clear everywhere you go, and there is still bait by the zillions everywhere, as well. Those factors seem to be the topic of conversation at the docks, and consensus is that's what's making catching so tough, right now.

I was on the water before 6 AM catching bait, and the bait was good with the mix leaning toward shiners rather than threadfins. I was back at the dock by shortly after 7 AM, and my customers Don Battles Jr. and Sr. arrived shortly thereafter. We chatted as we made our way through the causeway slow zones, and were off.

We had a pretty brisk breeze out of the north/northeast, and I thought it might be a good morning to stop somewhere in Ding Darling while we were waiting on the tide to swing to the incoming. With the north wind I figured the noseeums wouldn't be a problem.

As we approached I could see there was one other boat present, but he was messing around on his trolling motor presumably trying to figure out where he would fish. He finally settled on a spot and began chumming, as did we. We did have an occasional pop on our chum way back in the mangroves, but only managed to catch one gag grouper. Well, at least the skunk was out of the boat. A couple of boats came and went while we were there, and we didn't see another fish caught.

As the tide was about to get started, if you could call it that, we moved on into the Sound. The tide would be a nice high one by around 4 PM, but it was starting from an already high point, and the strength of the tide was very poor. It wouldn't be easy fishing.

For the first couple hours of the tide we were only able to get two snook to commit and bite a bait. I say that because virtually every bait we tossed out got scaled by the wary snook. The sign a bait when they mess with it, just as you'd sign your name. The snook is the only fish in our waters that can knock the scales off a shiner and not break the skin, leaving a band, or bands of scales missing roughly half inch wide. They'll make you crazy when they're doing that, and they've been doing it routinely, lately, because they're full!

As the water began to cover things well, we turned our attention to redfish. They are the only reasonable prospects for taking home dinner, as most of the big trout are now off the beaches to spawn, and snook season is closed.

We worked an area hard, knowing the fish were there. I just had to prove it to the Battles. Finally, the first red ate, and Don brought one to the boat. It went into the well. As I recall the second fish was just short, but a while later Don Jr. managed a flurry of two more keeper fish.

I would have kept them out there for the rest of the incoming and the first hour or so of the falling tide, but the boys had a commitment they had to keep, and we had to head in. The Battle Boys were great guys. It had been a fun day with Don and Don, although we had surely worked for our fish. But, they had enough redfish to feed the fish lovers in their group that evening.

I've got a full week next week, and the tides are going to be about as good as they get this time of year. Be that as it may, we still have mucho bait and clear, clear agua! Stay tuned.

I am happy to report that my friend Tom Ashby was able to sell his Release and conclude the deal last week with some great folks I've fished with a number of times. My congratulations to them on a great purchase.

I spent most of the week in Sarasota, again this week, and managed to get out on the water twice.

I met my old friend John "Wolfgang" Franck for breakfast Monday morning, before hitting the water at around noon. We had no water moving in the morning, and the tide in the afternoon wasn't a strong one. We also had a front coming, and I hoped the fish would be willing to cooperate on the slow tide.

We launched the Maverick from the ramp at Turtle Beach, which is a nice facility. There's a pretty long idle out of the area to the ICW, but it beats doing a lot of running if you're going to fish south. We decided we'd fish from Midnight Pass area down to South Creek, where John lives. We were going to target reds and snook on spoons.

I tied on a silver hammered spoon, and gave John a gold spoon. I figured the silver would be more attractive to snook, and the gold more attractive to reds. As luck would have it, I parked right in the middle of a school of big ladyfish. We caught them until we got bored with it, and moved on. I stuck the first target fish in the first hour; a very dark green snook on the silver spoon. The next fish was a red that managed to twist itself off the hook before John could land it. Not long after that I caught a nice redfish of about 6 pounds, again on the silver. John had a couple of swings and misses.

The next fish was a snook from a pothole, again on silver. Not long after that I hit several more snook in a depression near the ICW. We had seen several redfish that were laid up and apparently sunning. We had thrown baits all over them without a bite.

At the next flat I tied on a 1/4 oz. silver spoon for John. I had seen quite a few schools of glass minnows, and thought the smaller spoon might look more like the available bait. But, by this time we were nearly at the top of the tide, and the bite was slowing. John hooked a lost a snook and a redfish before we called it quits.

John and I go way back to my beginnings as a guide, and he is a very special friend. We have a lot of fond memories of days spent fishing, and crazy things that happened to us on the water. It was great to be able to get out with him, and we had as much fun as we ever did.

Tuesday morning I met my friends Captains Tom Stephens, and his son, Capt. Tommy Stephens, who together are now Top Notch Fishing, in Sarasota. Tommy is the absolute best guide in the Sarasota/Bradenton area, and Tom, who was a great offshore guide in the Panhandle area, is fast learning. Tommy hadn't been able to join Tom and I last week, and it was great to get to wet a line with him. We hadn't done it in years. It's funny how fishing guides love to go just fish for fun, and not have the pressure to produce. I dare say most of us love to toss plugs, rather than opting for the numbers producing live bait that we typically use when we're guiding. It's certainly the case for the three of us.

I decided to go south, again, thinking we'd be able to at least match the results of the day before, since the front was right on our doorstep. But, the fish had other ideas. They weren't nearly as willing to eat, but we did catch more reds. Tommy had the hot rod, and I think he caught 4 or 5. He was tossing the gold spoon, and I the silver. I finally hit a nice red late in the day in an area I'd never fished. Tom spent the day tossing jigs. I think he tried everything in his tacklebox, and he seemed to be having as much fun trying all those lures as he was with the actual fishing. Oh, yes! That's definitely part of the lure of lure fishing. I've had countless days of big numbers of snook, redfish, and trout on livebait, yet for my own fun I'd rather trick one good redfish on a lure than 30 on livebait. I've often said that one good red can make your day.

Toward the end of the day we got on a school of ladyfish not far from where we were catching the reds. They're always fun, and are essentially like catching small tarpon. They are actually known locally as "Poor Man's Tarpon", and have probably rescued more tough winter trips than any other fish. As we worked our way to the other end of the flat we ran up on some huge redfish in the crystal clear water. They were really big to have inside during the winter. Apparently, they had all spooked out, as we never got the first hit. It didn't matter, though. It's always cool to see fish like that in their habitat.

It was getting late and the weather was rapidly deteriorating. What I thought was rain turned out to be thick sea fog. We decided to head in while we could still see, so after checking the lights on the Maverick, we took off. It had been a great day with Tom and Tommy, and fun to share the boat with such great fishermen.