The big story this week is again wind. It's been blowing for the better part of two weeks, now. Looking at the beginning of the week, I had three trips to run. However, by the end of the week that was down to one trip.

My first trip on Monday was to be with a couple of gals from the east coast. The girl that booked the trip apparently copied my address down wrong, and sent her 1/2 of what was to be a $100 deposit to the wrong address. She again sent it via Fed Ex, and I received her $50 on Saturday. However, I didn't receive, and still haven't received the deposit from the other lady involved. On Sunday night, it was looking like it might be very windy on Monday. Because one of the ladies involved was in her 90's, I send an email letting them know we could reschedule the trip if they had another day they could go.

I didn't hear back from her either via phone or email, so I was up Monday morning, spent my hour and a half getting the boat ready and in the water, and then waited. They didn't show up. I waited until 9:30 before pulling the plug on them. By the time I had the Talon cleaned up and put away, I had done the better part of a day's work.

Late that afternoon I got an email from the younger lady saying she had emailed me, but it had come back to her. She sent a copy. The copy quickly showed she had sent the email to the wrong address. Well, folks! I'm a reasonable man. I was quite willing to reschedule the trip. But, her error cost me a day of income and nearly a day of work. My position is that she forfeits her deposit, and I want to see the other $50 that was promised to have been in the mail. I have yet to receive it, so obviously, it wasn't.

As you might expect, she is less than happy, and I am the bad guy in her mind. So, what do you readers think? I am perfectly willing to have a court of my customers tell me what THEY think.

Tuesday was a fantastic day. It was my first trip with a really great 26 year old young man from Chicago, named Wesley Davis. it was Wes's first ever guided fishing trip, and he had been wanting to fish with me for some time. I wanted Wes no only to have a great day, but wanted to give him a sample of the different fish and techniques that we use here. I brought a full rack of Shimano Stella, just to put some icing on his experience.

We loaded the Talon with bait in four throws at the Marker 34 bar, and were ready to begin his day. There was a boat on the flat where I had planned to fish first, and I didn't feel I could get to where I wanted to fish without disturbing the anglers there, who were on the pushpole, so we moved on to Plan B. At that stop we caught snook, gag grouper, and trout. A good start.

As things slowed there, we elected to move on to another snook hole. There we caught lots of small snook, a jack, and a ladyfish. A couple of the snook were descent size, but no keepers. We hit another spot without much action and then switched gears to redfish. We had a great mixed bag of fish to our credit, but we needed the red for a Slam, and I wanted Wes to experience the dogged pull of the bronze torpedo.

We got to our redfish spot not long before the top of the tide, and it wasn't long before we had the first fish on. Wes was thrilled with the pull, and ultimately, the size of the 9 pound red. Wes caught 3 or 4 more, plus a nice snook at 26 inches, and ended the day with a nice blacktip shark to the boat that was nearly 4 feet long. It had been a great day with more than two dozen snook, the reds, the shark, 3 gag grouper, a couple of big ladyfish, a jack, and a trout or two caught.

It was a busy week, with seven trips scheduled, and six trips to report on. For the most part it was a windy week, as well. It made things tough at times, but my customers enjoyed some pretty good fishing.

The first victim of the wind was my good friends Pat and Ron Kolata on Sunday. Although Ron and I were scheduled to fish together on Wednesday and Thursday, Pat decided she'd like to take Ron, and her friend Doris, out on the boat for a day of leisure, and let Ron do some fishing. But, after battling the winds all day on Saturday, and knowing it would be as bad on Sunday, I suggested we cancel. I couldn't imagine the ladies would be very comfortable in the rough waters that would accompany the wind.

My customer for Monday was Earl Millett, and his good friend of many years, Pat McCarrick, of White Plaines, New York. It was our first trip together. We headed to Chino Island where bait had been great the week before, to find none. I worked for more than an hour without seeing a shiner. Frustrated, I headed up to Keisel's, where I had been seeing bait everywhere every time I was in the area. Sure enough, with just a little chumming we had bait everywhere, and were soon loaded up.

We concentrated on snook and redfish, first. We had a tide with good height, but little current flow, and I anticipated a slow bite. It was slow, but steady. We picked away at the fish, and as it turned out Pat had the hot rod for snook, boating 6 to Earl's 1. The boys also boated 4 nice redfish. Later in the falling tide we caught lots of trout. It had been a good day, all in all, and Earl and Pat were great guys, and the three of us had lots of fun.

Tuesday, I had my first trip with Paul Fasano, of Carmel, New York, along with his brother-in-law. Still on an early tide, we left the dock at 7 AM, and headed straight to Kiesel's flat. Bait came easily in a couple of throws.

I picked a spot I hadn't' fished in a while to begin the hunt for snook. Man, the snook were there, along with some redfish. We spent the whole morning on this one hole, and had lots of action. The boys boated 12 snook, but they had at least twice as many hit their baits that weren't caught, lost several big fish, and boated one nice keeper. Along with all the snook action, they boated 7 big redfish! It was a great morning of fishing, and all in the same spot.

Wednesday, it was time for the first of two trips with my old friend Dr. Ron Kolata, of Cincinnati, Ohio. I was to fish with Ron on Wednesday, then join Ron and Pat, and all their friends at their condo on Sanibel for dinner that night, then fish again on Thursday. I brought Pat a bottle of Crystal hot sauce for her to use in the wonderful stonecrab dip she makes, and couldn't wait to get into it.

Ron and I were facing a very windy day. A cool front had passed, and although it brought no rain, it brought wind and high pressure. But, in spite of a big northwest wind, the fishing was very good. We got bait at Kiesel's once again, and from the time we arrived at the first stop we had great action. We were targeting snook, but I usually put out a couple of cutbait rigs for redfish when I'm doing so. It paid big for us. We had immediate action, and the first fish was a red. Ron caught 7 big redfish in all, along with 20+ snook, a small barracuda, and a blacktip shark about 4 ft. long. It was constant action, and we never moved more than 50 yards from where we began that morning. We had a blast.

Thursday, it was nearly as windy as it was on Wednesday. Worse, the wind direction forced us to look into the glare of the sun on the water all morning, and apparently the pressure was up, as the bite was way off. Even bait was hard to catch. But, we managed. Ron is a great angler, but more than that just loves to fish, and take what comes with a grain of salt. We had to work hard at it compared to the day before, but Ron managed to boat 7 or 8 snook, 6 redfish, and one trout for the Slam.

It was a great two days with Ron and Company. It's wonderful to renew old friendships each year, and that's exactly what Friday and Saturday were all about, as well. My friends Alan and Pam Warren were back in town for two days of fishing, and the occasion was their anniversary.

Friday was a pretty nice day for Alan and Pam, and me. We still had a breeze, but nothing like what we'd had for the past several days. The tides were getting a little better each day, as well. Bait was getting tougher each day, though. We really worked for it.

We were getting started right at the bottom of the low tide. It was time for trout fishing in the potholes while the water was low. Some of my favorite holes are home to big snook as well as big trout. At the first hole we had lots of snook hits, but couldn't connect with one. They were hitting to kill, rather than to eat, apparently. Allan and Pam did catch several large trout before we moved on, though.

The next stop was a snook stop. The fish didn't want to eat. We really worked to put 6 snook into the boat, but did get a keeper of about 30 inches. We decided to chase redfish later on the tide, and made our move. I put out live chum and cut shiners and pinfish, to put the smell of blood in the water. Nothing was happening. The fish didn't want to eat, but I knew I was on fish. We did catch a fish or two, as my friend Capt. Butch Boteler joined us on the flat, but they just wouldn't turn on.

Boteler finally moved on to parts unknown, but we stayed. I learned long ago that fishing reds is almost always rewarded by patience. You have to keep at it and believe, especially if you KNOW you're on fish. Finally, it happened. Not long after we were joined by a couple of weekend warriors in a yellow Key West Stealth, the bite began. The reds really turned on, and Alan and Pam had a blast catching some 15 of the bronze torpedoes, all while the couple who had parked not more than 50 yards off my starboard caught nothing. They were content to watch in amazement.

I had stayed late on the flat waiting, hoping, and knowing I would eventually get a bite. Finally, it was time for us to go. I offered our left-over bait to the fishless couple, and they were happy to have it. They had shiners, but no pinfish, and the reds were eating pins. Along with the bait, I gave them a few pointers, and we left hoping they would be able to catch a few redfish. We did leave them biting! What a day it had turned out to be.

We all went to dinner at the Matlacha Oyster House that night. Pam is a lean, mean, crab eatin' machine! We had a great dinner, and a great time. I love to be able to spend time with my customers off the water.

I wondered as I arrived at the already hectic ramp on Saturday morning, how I had let Alan talk me into fishing on Saturday. It was obviously going to be a busy day on the water. It was just after 7 AM, and I got one of the last remaining parking places. Worse, the wind was really blowing right out of the southeast. A sure sign that a change in the weather was imminent. As Pam, Alan, and I rode the Talon to Kiesel's for bait, I wondered what the day would bring.

Bait was tough. We got almost no shiners at the first stop in about 4 ft. of water. My buddy Butch Boteler was also on the water, out a little deeper, and was getting a handful per throw. I decided to move shallower, and it eventually proved to be the right move. It took some doing, but finally the bait came, and once it did, we caught tons of it. As we caught bait I had decided not to entertain even crossing the Sound in that wind. I was sure it would be ugly.

We began with trout and snook fishing in the potholes, but even once the tide began coming in hard, there was only a poor bite, at best. Oh, we had plenty of snook hits, but only managed to hook one. We brought many baits back to the boat with that classic scaled center section that can only mean snook. We caught a few nice trout there, as well, but the big surprise was that we Slammed in that spot with 2 redfish to the boat!

Once the bite slowed we moved on to another spot that gets great water movement on a descent tide, and I like to fish it while the water is low. We quickly had jack crevalle crashing our baits, and had a good time with them. Pam also caught a ladyfish. Alan was surprised and pleased to boat a 21 inch gag grouper, but it managed to get away from him and back to freedom before we could get a picture of it. We also managed a half dozen or so snook, including a nice 28 inch keeper for Pam.

From there we went in pursuit of redfish, again as the tide began to cover things, and we did manage to get a few to eat. Alan missed several great hits on pinfish under the old Cajun float, but he also caught a 9 pound red, and Pam caught a number of small puppy-drum on shiners, as well as a snook or two.

I think we were all pleased with the results of the day considering it had been a very windy Saturday, with boats everywhere. More than that, it had been a great two days renewing our friendship, and even nurturing it deeper. The Warrens are great folks, they're fishing people, and I love to fish with them. They decided to make the October trip an annual thing to celebrate their anniversary.

And that's how it went. It was a very busy October that followed a very scary August and September. But, as if by design, there's not a whole lot going on in November. The reports will grow short, once again if something doesn't happen. Stay tuned.

It was a week of very poor tides and more new manatee zones, made great by an equal mix of wonderful old friends and great new customers.

The week began with John Zedde, of St. Claire Shores, Michigan, and his brother Jerry Zedde, of Chicago, Illinois, whom I fished with about this time last year. We started the day at 9 AM, and headed to Chino Island for bait. Bait is plentiful there right now, and it wasn't long before we were off to the first hole.

We were at the bottom of the tide, and once we get to the low tides of October that signal the changing of tides to the winter pattern, that means pothole fishing for trout and snook. It also means that the big winter trout begin to show up. As soon as the water began to move, we had a bite. John and Jerry caught lots of speckled trout, and managed one snook.

Once things slowed down there, we were off to chase redfish. It has been difficult to put together big redfish days in the Sound this year, probably because of increased fishing pressure and more boat traffic running over the flats. I've been on good redfish schools consistently this year, but it has been nearly impossible to put together days of more than 15 redfish. Fortunately, it doesn't take many redfish to make most folks happy, because they can wear you out in short order if you're into big ones. The spot we were fish usually gives up big reds in the 9 to 12 pound range, and this day was no exception. John and Jerry boated 6 of the bronze brutes. It had been a tough, but good day of fishing. The boys got the Slam, and it was great to renew old friendship.

Tuesday, I met my good friend Dr. John Hitt, of UCF, in Orlando, at his dock at Harbor Isles. We were going to take John's new Coastline 22 out and see how shallow we could run her. We would find out if we could get her into some of the potholes that represent a bonanza of winter fishing.

We headed to Chino for bait, where I was delighted to throw Johns 8 ft. net, that was very easy on my back. With John chumming, it only took three or four throws of the net to put plenty of bait in the well for the two of us. We were off to challenge the first trout hole with the new boat.

John gave me the helm, since the water is still very dirty with tannin, and the holes are hard to find. As we approached the shallows I trimmed her nose down and raised the engine until the water pressure gauge began to bounce. We were trimmed as shallow as we could trim. To our delight, the Coastline scooted across the shallows and into the hole with ease, and seemed to be floating in about a foot or less of water. We caught some nice trout in the first holes, and once the bite slowed we began hopping from hole to hole, catching more trout at each stop.

It was a very windy day, blowing hard from the west. We decided to stay on the east side of the Sound. Crossing would be nasty. As the tide flooded the flats and began to cover things, we headed to a redfish/snook hole, and managed to boat one of each for the Slam before it was time for us to begin the long trek back to John's dock. As always, it had been a fun day with John. While he cleaned the boat, I cleaned the fish.

Wednesday, my long time friend and fishing buddy Bob McGuire up for a day of BarHopp'N. Bob, like John, and most all my very favorite fishing friends, just loves to fish, and it doesn't matter for what. He's a fisherman, and a good one. Seems no matter what the conditions, we manage to make something happen and have a ball.

It was another windy day out of the north/northeast. Not a good day for crossing the Sound. We headed to Chino for bait, and were quickly loaded and ready to fish. Again, we were at the bottom of the low tide, and it was time for trout fishing the potholes. We got into some very nice trout at the first stop, with the largest going around 5 pounds. WE caught plenty of nice fish before things slowed. As the water rose, we changed our search to snook and redfish. We didn't find many that would eat, but Bob did get one big and one small snook, and one nice redfish for the Slam. Again, Bob and I had enjoyed a great day on the water, and Bob had plenty of fish to take home for all the family.

I looked forward to Thursday with great anticipation, as it would be the first time I'd seen Dr. Dave and Ann Kerschner, in a couple of years. Back when we first began fishing together, they quickly became among my favorite couples to fish with. They're great folks, fun to be with, and enthusiastic fishermen.

We left the dock at 10:00, and headed to Chino for bait. Why change what works with either the bait, or the fishing? Soon we were at one of my favorite trout holes, and the bite was on. We caught tons of nice trout up to 3.5 pounds. We missed some big snook hits, too. One hit so hard it made the Stella 2500 scream with delight as it ripped line from her spool. The hook pulled! We definitely missed some nice snook, but Ann finally got revenge with a nice keeper snook at a later stop. Finally, just before it was time to call it a day, Dave brought the first redfish to the boat. That was the icing on the cake for Dave and Ann, who love to take fresh fish back to the motel and have different restaurants cook it for them each night. They had the Slam for dinner. It was a great day.

Friday and Saturday were devoted to Mike Tierney, of Grapevine, Texas, and his brother, David Tierney, down from Arkansas, and their friends. Mike was to be married here on Saturday at 6:00 PM. He wanted to get in some fishing with some of his friends and family before the ceremony. So, on Friday we had a two boat trip with my best friend Capt. Butch Boteler as the second guide. I had Mike and his best friend of twenty-five years, Matt Featherstone, of Irving, Texas. Boteler had Mike's future father-in-law and brother-in-law.

We had one of the toughest tides of the week; falling all day long. My plan was go get bait as quickly as possible once the sun was up, and head to a good redfish flat and try to catch some reds as the moved off the flat with the falling tide. The problem would be getting them to eat, as they would be leaving with full tummies. I knew we wouldn't have a very big window of opportunity.

We left the dark in near darkness at 7 AM, and headed to Chino. We got there first, and established a chum line in close to the island. Boteler parked about 100 yards away once he arrived. Matt and I had shiners all around the boat in a matter of mere seconds. There were tons of bait everywhere! What a beautiful sight. We were loaded and ready to go in two throws of my 10 ft. X 1/4 in. Caloosa net. Great, because it's a net you don't want to throw more than a couple of time a morning! But, my Bud Butch wasn't having the same luck just a few yards away. So, we called him in to our position, and helped load them up with bait, so we could all go fishing.

We ran silently for some distance on the trolling motor and a light northeast wind to our first spot. I began chumming with live shiners, and cut shiners and pinfish. Within just a few minutes, we had the first two big redfish on. Mike's was 10.5 pounds. I thought I had succeeded in getting a bite going, but those were the only two redfish we caught on that flat. We headed to a different neighborhood.

We visited quite a few spots in that neighborhood. At the first stop we found 3 nice gag grouper, nearly big enough to keep, along with jacks and a snapper. Mike and Matt missed several snook, but did boat another redfish. Later on in the tide at another spot, we got into the trout to finish the day. The boys didn't get the Slam, but got a lesson in snook humility. Matt had missed one, and Mike about five. They're not easy. But, it had been a fun day with a couple of real characters, that I will long remember.

To my surprise, Saturday went a little better for David Tierney, and his friend Gary Rhodes, of Bedford, Texas. Mike had told me that David had become a finesse fisherman in the clear waters of Arkansas, and that he thought Dave might do better with the snook than he had. That was actually pretty insightful.

We began the day at first light and quickly got bait in two throws. We were just loaded to the gills, and I couldn't see the bottom of the Talon's livewell. I ran straight back to the flat where we had caught our two big reds the day before in hopes that we would catch more on this day because the tide was almost an hour later. It was howling like hell out of the north, and the Sound was nasty. Even in the Talon it was a nasty ride, but not nearly as much so as in most flats skiffs. Ultimately, it was worth the trip, as Dave and Gary got 4 big reds, and 3 big stingrays. No, we don't fish for stingrays, but sometimes they will be attracted to the chum I use for the redfish. Hooking a big stingray is kind of like hooking several big reds at once.

Once the reds had quit, we turned our attention to snook fishing. It's funny how things work out, sometimes. Dave and Gary fishing right next to each other, casting just feet from each other, and Dave has the hot rod, and Gary's is cold. I chummed our first snook hole with lots of bait, and moved down along it periodically. We only managed a few blasts on the chum, but we did get some fish to bite. Dave and Gary both missed fish, but Dave was determined to get it right, and soon was hooking his fish.

Once that spot slowed down we headed to a favorite area that gives up snook and trout. It always has big snook, and I knew the boys would at least get a shot or two at a monster. Dave's rod continued hot, and he finally hooked the snook of a lifetime in a narrow trough that connects two potholes. Fortunately, the big female showed herself completely a couple of times, and even some nearby boats heard all the ruckus. I was coaching Dave to be much more aggressive with the big fish, as I knew the leader would not last long if the fish was hooked deep inside that bucket mouth that's lined with the equivalent to a course rasp. But, the sense of urgency necessary to land a big snook on light gear is the single hardest part of the whole technique to teach. The leader parted with the fish just out of my arms reach at the side of the boat, and we all watched her swim away.....free to frustrate the ambitions of yet another snook fisherman. But, Dave had gotten what he'd come for. He'd gotten to feel the JUICE of that big snook.

Dave finished the day with a good half dozen snook in the boat, and we got into trout as well, for the Slam. Gary never got his snook, and only got a couple of hits. But, we all agreed that it had been a great time, and the promised to come back for a rematch with the snook.

So, as you can see, all in all, it was a great week. We fished in tough conditions and made it work. I renewed old friendships, and began new ones. It's a great business. Next week, the tides improve, and I expect the fishing will, too.

This turns out to be the tale of two fishing days. I thought there would be three days to report on, but a Wednesday trip with one of my best friends, Capt. Mark Bess, didn't work out.

The first day out was Tuesday, and it was the first trip with Eric Fairfield, who recently moved to Cape Coral from parts north, but who is originally from the Homestead area. Eric wanted to learn how to catch redfish, and was referred to me by my friend Capt. Ben Chancey, who's specialty is river fishing for snook. Ben had given me a high recommendation, and the pressure was on to not only teach, but produce.

I met Eric and his step-son at the ramp at 6:30, and we were on our way through the darkness to Tarpon Bay for bait. We were there chumming before the bait was even awake! But, it didn't take long and we had shiners, threadfins, and pinfish all over the place, and we were soon loaded and on our way.

Although the conditions weren't right, I took Eric to a great snook spot just to show him the kinds of things to look for in a good snook hole. We managed to catch one snook and missed several others. Then, we were off to pursue redfish, which was our main target.

I began to get itchy when after three stops and a lot of chumming, we hadn't had a take down. How could this be? We were on the new moon. The weather was good, the tide was perfect. Yes, the water was black, but it seems the fish have gotten used to that.

Well, the fourth spot was the charm. I decided to visit one of my favorite spots on the east side of the Sound. The wind was not right for fishing it, but I felt sure the reds would be there, along with a snook or two. I made a long quiet approach, and put out lines and chum. It only took a moment before a big red had gobbled one of our live pinfish dangled beneath a Cajun float. The bite was on. We had a steady bite until the tide was over, and the boys managed to boat at least a dozen of the 16 or so big reds that ate our baits. They also managed a couple of trout along the way, giving them the Slam.

We finished with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant, where the boys gave me the best compliment they could possibly give. The both agreed that of all the fishing they had done, they're trip with me was the most fun of all. Well, it was a great day for me, too, guys.

Thursday I was back on the water with my great friend Russ Hubbard, and his guest Tom Baldwin. We left the dock at 7:30 for Tarpon Bay, and quickly had a well full of bait. While we were catching bait, we frequently saw trout popping shiners and mackerel jumping in the distance. Russ loves to trout fish, so we decided to begin the fishing day right there, with shiners under popping corks. We caught trout after trout for about an hour, and kept a couple of nice ones for the table.

We decided to give snook a look while it was early on the tide, and at the second stop managed to catch half a dozen small fish to 24 inches. I've been seeing a lot of yearling snook in places I haven't seen them before, and believe we had a great spawn summer a year ago. That's good news.

From the snook grounds we headed in search of redfish. Nothing pulls quite like a big red in the shallows. The first stop was the last stop, as we had a bite right from the start through the end of the tide. It wasn't a wild bite, but a pace of hooking up about every ten minutes, or so. We'd get done with one fish, catching, pictures, revival, and soon after we'd have another fish on. Russ and Tom had a blast with the big reds that were mostly running ten to twelve pounds. They also managed another snook or two, and of course, the redfish gave them the Slam. They finished with 13/14 big reds. It was a great day of fishing capped off with another great trip to the Waterfront Restaurant.

My God, it's good to be home and back on the water again. I had a wonderful time touring southern California, but really missed my native waters, and the fishing. No, I didn't get a chance to wet a line out there! You can bet I won't make another trip without taking fishing gear and arranging for some fishing for whatever there is.

It was to be a five day work week beginning on Sunday with my old friend John Hitt, but my party for Thursday had to cancel at the last minute because of illness in the family. So, there are four days to tell you about.

I met John Hitt at his dock Sunday morning at 6:30 in the drizzle from a remnant of TS Henri. We didn't think it would last long, and it didn't. By the time we cleared the manatee zone in John's new Coastal, it was about over. John put her on plane at 40 MPH, and we were quickly at Tarpon Bay chumming for bait. It only took three or four throws to get all the bait we wanted; a nice combo of pinfish and shiners. We were off to the first spot.

I don't know who was more anxious, me or John. Neither of us had fished since our last trip in August, before I went on vacation. We had a slow moving, nearly high tide all morning. I wasn't sure how the fish would react to the high, slow water. The wind was howling out of the west feeding Henri, and I thought it would be best if we could score fish on the east side of the Sound. I decided to return to where I'd been doing very well with the redfish before I left, and sure enough, the reds were there. When things slowed there, we moved about a mile away to a spot I hadn't fished in some time, but have had good days at, and the fish were there for us, too, for a while. The tide was done before noon, and by that time we had caught a good dozen redfish to 27 inches, and had a grand time. We decided to head in so John could get an early start at getting his boat ready for storage.

Monday morning the wind was still blowing pretty well out of the west/northwest for my friend Willie Vandervorst, of Belgium. I incorrectly stated he was from Austria last year, and Willie has been on my case about that one. Willie brought along his friend Paul, who works for him at Federal Express, and speaks very little English.

We headed straight to Tarpon Bay once again for bait, and were quickly loaded up. I thought staying on the east side was still a good plan, so I began at what is usually a great snook hole when the water is right. The water was a bit high, already, but we did find fish there. In fact, we Slammed at that first stop, catching a keeper trout, a couple of mangrove snapper, a couple of small snook, and several redfish.

At subsequent stops we caught more redfish and a couple of big stingrays. I usually discourage fighting the stingrays, especially if they're big ones, but Willie wanted to battle them. On the first one I showed him how to put more drag on the fish with his left index finger on the skirt of the spool, and he broke the ray off. Later on the second on, he had a protracted fight, and got it to the boat. Our redfish total for the morning was around 8 or 9.

I had not taken Willie to the Waterfront Restaurant in the past, so we ended the day there. We'd had a good day, and Willie is always fun, as are his guests.

Tuesday belonged to Russ Hubbard, one of my best friends and customers, and his customer Scott Stevens. It had been a couple of years since I'd seen Scott. We had a better looking tide, but the wind had finally switched around to the north as the high pressure built in behind Henri. Bait was once again very easy at Tarpon Bay, and we were off quickly to the first stop.

We went to one of my favorite snook holes on a low tide with a north wind. It's mostly a fall, winter, and early spring spot, but the snook were there. On the fourth cast, Russ banged a beautiful 31 inch snook, and quickly put her in the boat. Snook don't stand much of a chance with Russ! We had a few other half-hearted hits, but that was it.

We hit a couple of the spots that had been giving up redfish earlier in the week without a bite. I was afraid that the north wind may be shutting down the fishing. I mentally surfed through my database of low, incoming, north wind spots, and decided to cross the Sound to a flat that is almost always good to me under those conditions. I hoped it would be, again.

I made a long, quiet approach on my new MinnKota 74 pound thrust RipTide, and PowerPoled us into position. I began chumming with live and cut shiners and pinfish, and put out four rigs; two with small pinfish under Cajun floats, and two with sliced and diced pinfish on the bottom. The reds quickly sniffed out our chum, and we had a bite going. It was a good bite, with some very nice fish to 12 pounds, and before it was over Russ and Scott had boated some 22 big redfish. Scott had trouble getting the hang of things, and Russ caught most of the fish, but we had a blast. We finished the day with another great visit to the Waterfront.

Wednesday was my first trip with Dr. Joe Sandza and his lovely wife Helen, both of whom love to fish. The Sandzas hale from St. Louis, and have recently bought a home in Bonita Springs. Joe has fished all over the world and has a boat here, and was interested in learning about fishing the local waters. Although the fishing had been pretty good all week as the full moon approached, we were now right on the full moon, and I wondered if the fishing would hold. Bait at Tarpon Bay was certainly easy!

The wind was now around to the northeast; perfect for one of my favorite snook holes. The tide was just about perfect, too. Along the way, I thought I'd introduce Joe to pothole fishing. The water was fairly low, but not as low as it needs to be to push the fish into the holes. We had a couple of trout hits, but didn't catch anything. So, it was on to the snook hole. The water began moving well not long after we arrived. We had a couple of nice snook on, but boated only about 6 juvenile fish, along with a trout, and a redfish, for the Slam. It was Helen's first redfish, and snook.

But, we didn't have the action I was looking for there, and I decided it was time to go back to the spot we'd had some much success with the day before. I knew the reds would be there. And, they were, but they didn't want to eat. We kept with it, moving up the length of a cast once in a while, and managed about 8 nice redfish to 12 pounds. In fact, Joe had a 12 pounder blow up the St. Croix rod he was using! Broke it like a matchstick! He landed the fish with what was left of the stub. As the tide came to an end, I moved to another flat about a mile away in search of snook, and we managed to catch another 3 redfish fairly quickly. We finished with a dozen or so reds.

Once the bite was over it was time to introduce the Sandzas to the Waterfront. It had been a good day with good fishing, and I had made some new friends. That's what it's all about, and I guess that's what I missed the most while I was gone.

I resolved some time ago to take the month of August off because it's some blazing hot and the fishing really slows down. I know a couple of other guides up and down the coast that do that, and it seems to make a lot of sense to me. We're back in a reverse weather pattern once again, with onshore winds giving birth to coastal showers and thunderstorms in the mornings.

My good friend Dr. John Hitt and I did manage to get out for a few hours in his new Coastal 21 center console. He'd just finished his 20 hour break-in period, and it was my first ride. We were uncertain about leaving John's dock Friday morning, as storms were already upon us. We decided to wait a few minutes, and see how things looked. Once the storms passed through, we decided to take a chance, and off we went.

We headed down the river and across San Carlos Bay to Tarpon Bay for bait, and got plenty of shiners, and some pinfish, but none were in the 2 - 2.5 inch range that I like for redfish under a popping cork. So, we decided to head to Chino Island flat, which is almost always full of small pins. But, before we could even get there the weather was looking iffy. We did manage to get some small pinfish, and headed to the first stop for redfish, but the weather was beginning to look threatening. We quickly hit a snook, then two nice redfish within a half hour or so, which was fortunate, as the weather seemed to be closing in around us. We were seeing lightning in several directions, and John and I decided as he put it, not to try and prove we were lightning proof. So, were took off, hoping we could get back up the river to safety before the storms hit.

Talk about being chased by a storm; we were! We had to run right at one, but we were pretty sure it was moving away from us. It turned out to be the right call as we got away from it as we rounded the corner at York Island, but the one coming onshore behind us seemed to be gaining on us, and we were running over 40 MPH. It was growing uglier by the minute, and we hit John's dock with just enough time to get the boat situated on the lift so that he could leave the livewells running on the bait and fish.

Weather has been the story this weekend, delivering record rainfalls up and down the coast of southwest Florida. I have two remaining trips for August, on Monday and Tuesday. Right now, I don't know if the weather will even let me do those. Here's hoping.

If you want to be able to continue to fish Florida waters please follow this link, "Manatee Zones: How You Can Help" and please take the time to become involved, even if you don't live in Florida. Let the politicians know WHY you come to Florida on vacation!

I've had many great trips with many, many wonderful people, most of whom I fish with every year, or more frequently. But, this week will go down as one of the most fun weeks of my career, bar none.

Monday and Tuesday I had two-boat trips scheduled with Alan and Carmen Hodgson, of New Jersey, their friends Tom and Nancy Callinan, of Melbourne, Florida, and Tim and Lynn Brose, of Clearwater, Florida. I had arranged for Capt. Sean Middleton and his Lake and Bay to be the second boat. Sean, like myself, is a native Floridian, and grew up fishing these waters.

At the dock Monday morning, the gang announced that they would split up into male/female groups, and I quickly volunteered to fish with the ladies. I love to fish with the gals for a number of reasons. They're always fun. They always listen to what you tell them and execute, and therefore catch more fish than the guys. And, I just like fishing with the fairer sex.

So, we were off to catch bait, and have a little friendly competition between the guys, Alan, Tom, and Tim, and the gals, Carmen, Nancy, and Lynn. Bait didn't take long, and we were off to the first fishing spot. The Hodgson gang wanted to try to stay together, or close, if possible. It's not easy to fish two boats and six anglers in most of our fishing holes because they're pretty small areas for the most part, and it's shallow water fishing. We chose an area where I'd been doing well with snook, but it didn't produce for us that morning. I decided to turn my attention to redfish at a nearby flat, and Sean and the guys moved to another flat nearby.

We found out later that Sean and the boys were almost immediately on a school of several hundred redfish, and chased them on the flat for some time. But, the fish were spooky and nearly impossible to catch. I opted for slightly deeper water where I knew the redfish should be from experience, and chumming them to us. It didn't take too long to get the action going.

I believe it was Lynn who struck paydirt first with a big, beautiful redfish. I don't remember how many redfish we caught there, because we were having so much fun, but there were several. The girls were just thrilled with the fish, and were convinced they were outfishing their husbands. They wouldn't let me call Sean and the boys in on the action. They were going for the jugular!

Finally, the action slowed there and we took off for a spot that had been producing well for me since the week before. The tide was right. The fish were there. The girls couldn't stand it anymore, and Nancy called Tom to brag about their fish. I think at that point they had boated one redfish; perhaps two. She told the boys that we were again on fish, and Sean and the boys soon showed up to join us about 50 yards away. There was lots of hollering, bragging, and bantering going on after they arrived, and Carmen quickly added insult to injury when she hooked what turned out to be a beautiful 30 inch snook, which she landed. The girls caught several redfish in rapid order, and the boys took off for parts unknown. They didn't want to stay and watch their wives have so much fun.

The heat was intense, the bite was over, the girls were happy and confident they had stolen the day from their hubbies with lots of nice redfish and one big snook, and we headed to the ramp a little early. We figured we could get our fish cleaned and be out of the way by the time Sean and the boys arrived to clean their fish. Of course, once the guys arrived, the girls were relentless in their rubbing it in. Alan told me the next morning they heard about all the fish the girls caught well into the evening! They were just too funny.

Day two. The girls made it clear at the ramp Tuesday morning that they were keeping "their Captain". Of course, I was happy and thrilled they felt that way. I wanted to stay with them, as well. They were too fun. Sean and I had decided we would go back to the same areas because there were plenty of fish there. So, after catching bait at Kiesel's, we were back at the scene of the previous crimes.

As it turned out, Sean didn't do any better with that big school of reds, and our fish wouldn't eat. We had one big redfish strike, which was missed. Lynn did catch one nice snook! But, during the time we were on the flat chumming the redfish I kept seeing tarpon rolling and finning on bait off in the distance. It hadn't occurred to me that the girls would be interested in chasing tarpon, but as we trolling motored off the flats toward the deeper water, I asked them it they'd like to jump a tarpon or two.

My God! They were so excited at the prospects of catching tarpon, I couldn't believe it. So, instead of going for a much needed cool-down ride, we stayed to fish the tarpon. They were literally everywhere; rolling and finning all around the boat, and as far as the eye could see. We only had our snook/redfish gear, but it didn't matter. The first jump or two is the thrill of tarpon fishing.

Nancy struck first gold! From out of the six foot depths rose a beautiful 100+ pound tarpon a good 10 feet into the air. I knew we were going to hook up, and had my new HP 720 camera on the console at the ready. As soon as Nancy got the take I grabbed the camera and hit the video record button. It was too slow, and by the time the green video on light appeared, the fish had already hit the water. I forgot the camera was on, as the big fish took off and eventually broke Nancy's line.

Nancy was on an adrenaline high the likes of which I'd never seen. She was wild. The best part is that the camera still in my hand but forgotten in all the mayhem, caught some great adrenaline action. It was just way cool. Nancy had never in her life experienced anything like that, and she was just overwhelmed. And, I accidentally got it on chip!

This will go down as the worst week of my guiding career. Oh, the fishing was good, but for a variety of reasons including black, fresh water, poor tides, bright nights on the full moon, the catching really was poor. Unfortunately, most everyone I talked to was having the same poor fishing. I booked three trips for the week. The tides for Thursday and Friday were so poor, and so late in the afternoon, that it made no sense to be out there. Also, three days in this intense July heat is about all I can handle, anyway.

Monday I ran a trip for my good friend Russ Hubbard, of Dixie Plywood, in Royal Palm Beach. Russ couldn't make it so I was fishing with two of his co-workers, Steve Wrains and Dewey Evans. I had fished with Steve a couple of years ago, and it was a great trip. What a different day this would be.

We headed to Kiesel's flat for bait, and loaded up with pinfish and small shiners without much problem. But, that was the end of our catching for the day. We fished hard! We went outside to the Sticks, and fished great spots on both sides of the Sound, and never had a real bite. Late in the morning as we neared the noon hour, we finally got a couple of half hearted nibbles that may have signaled something was about to break loose, but the weather also began to bust loose, and we elected to get closer to home. We headed to the Waterfront Restaurant to rehydrate our wilted bodies and lick our open wounds. Not a bite! I cannot remember a day in my 15 year career that I didn't have a bite.

I drove to the ramp Tuesday morning to meet David Entler and his lovely wife Cathy with great apprehension. Could we possibly have two such days in a row? Was there something I could do differently? Was it me? Was this happening to our other guides? Dave and I have been talking via email for a year, now, about boats and fishing. He recently earned his Captain's license, and hopes to someday operate a tourboat operation. I really wanted to show him a great trip.

Dave was down from his home in Clermont (Orlando area)with his 22 ft. Florida Skiff, and has been vacationing here for about four years. He was very interested in learning as much as I could teach him about how and where to fish for reds and snook. So, the logical thing to do was to catch bait at Kiesel's, and spend the dead part of the tide riding, looking, and teaching. We worked our way north up the east side of the Sound, and then down the west side. We saw loads of redfish everywhere we went. Virtually every flat we visited had lots of fish on it. The lack of catching activity certainly isn't for the lack of fish.

We finally settled in an area to try for snook, and managed to miss one nice one, and boat two. We moved a quarter mile or so to another spot to work on the redfish, and got a bite going late in the tide. It wasn't a great bite, but the Entlers caught 5 nice reds, and missed one before they quit. We were about overheated and ready to quit, too, and headed for my favorite watering hole! Dave said he was happy with what he had learned, and with the catch. The Entlers were a great couple to spend the day with, and I look forward to our next outing.

I teamed up with Capt. Rey Rodriguez to take my old friend Tom Terranova, his son Tom Jr., Rob, and the rest of the gang on a two boat trip with six anglers. Tom has been out with me several times, and has seen how good it can be, and has seen it slow. But, not this slow! I told Tom on the phone how bad the fishing had been, but this is a fishing family, and they understand that it's not always about catching. I had hopes of that between Rey and myself, we could find some good redfish or snook action.

After catching bait at Kiesel's we moved a bit farther north to where large schools of ladyfish and trout were working the surface in about 6 feet of water. The action wasn't what you would have expected with so many fish busting on top, but we wanted some ladyfish to use for redfish bait later, and wanted some easy action. The boys did manage to put a couple of ladyfish in the boat, as well as some speckled trout, a big Spanish mackeral, and a couple of catfish.

Hindsight is always 20/20! We should have stayed there and caught ladyfish and trout, but we were anxious to get on to redfish and snook. We fished snook first for about an hour, and didn't catch a fish. I went to where I had caught the fish the day before, knowing they would be there again. I began the chumming routine, and just as Rey arrived from a trip to the Redfish Pass for snook which was also fruitless, Rob got hammered by the first red. Rob was out of practice, so I had fun busting his chops while he was fighting the red. I figured the bite was about to begin, and we did get three or four other hits shortly afterward, but that was it. The one redfish and mackeral were the big fish of the day!

By one o'clock we were chasing several small schools of redfish up at Fosters Point, and dying in the heat. The water was so trashy you couldn't present a clean bait, and the fish were spooky as hell. We tossed in the towel and headed to the oasis that is the Waterfront Restaurant. Ah, what sweet relief when that Talon got the air conditioner going. We finished the day with the eight of us at the round table enjoying a great lunch and great camaraderie. Yes, it was a tough day, but good people make it a good day.

For the first time in a while, weather wasn't a major factor this week. It was a week of high, but not very strong tides, and we managed to do pretty well with the redfish on the four trips that I ran.

My old fishing buddy Russ Hubbard was first up on Monday. One of the customers he had planned to bring had to cancel at the last minute, so his son David was able to join him, instead. We were also joined by Ed Weaver, who works for Stephens Industries down in Naples. I've been fishing with David since he was about six, and haven't seen him in nearly two years. I was shocked at what a fine looking young man he has become. He's also turned into a very skilled young angler thanks to his dad Russ, and maybe me to a lesser degree.

We began with bait up at Kiesel's flats. After hearing over the weekend that bait had disappeared, I was concerned that we may find none, but it was there. It was just a bit harder to get. I kept plenty of pinfish, too, in case the reds showed a preference for them.

From bait we went right to snook fishing, and were greeted by some nice snook. The boys caught 10 or so, including fish of 7, 8, and 9 pounds. The last big one was caught after we had turned our attention to redfish, and were fishing with cut pinfish. She hit a big pinfish head, and put up a great fight. The boys also caught 10 or so nice redfish, to round out a very nice day of fishing. As usual, we finished the day with a terrific lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant.

Tuesday's trip came with great anticipation, and some trepidation. You see, it was my first trip with my friend Floyd "Bubba" Baker, whom I've been talking to on the email for some 5 years. We met years ago at the Punta Rassa ramp after a day of fishing, and have been in contact ever since. I felt like I knew Bubba, and he has been wanting to fish with me for a long time. In fact, he has booked a couple of trips, and his employer caused him to cancel, by canceling his vacation at the last minute. Bubba is in law enforcement in Broward Country, and has been knee deep in homeland security stuff since 9/11! This was the day we would finally get to fish together, along with his best friend Terry Minor, and I was just a bit nervous. I hoped that the fish, and I, would live up to his expectations.

Bubba and Terry were coming from Don Pedro Island, up north of Little Gasparilla Island on Gasparilla Sound. It's only about 35 miles as a crow flies, but quite another story by car. The boys were a bit late because the ride and traffic are hard to predict. We headed straight to Kiesel's flat in search of bait, and although tougher than it had been, we got plenty.

I decided to head north from there in search of snook. We found a few small fish, but not a great bite or anything big. We moved on. At the next stop things were better, and we caught some nice snook. Bubba lost a monster snook at boatside because he didn't pressure the fish enough. I was trying to coach him on how to kick the big snook's butt, but he was just reluctant to put the pressure on the fish that I was telling him to put. As it turned out, the fish was on the leader (hook inside mouth), and it rubbed through just as it was about to the boat. I almost had my hand on the leader, and Bubba got a good look at the beg female, but she wound up swimming triumphantly away, showing us her backside in defiance. Bubba wasn't a happy camper!!

As the tide flooded the flats we turned our attentions to redfish, and were able to get them to come to the chum. We got a good bite going, and Bubba and Terry had a blast all day long bashing each other as they missed fish. They certainly kept me entertained. Of course, I got some bashing, as well. Even with the misses, the boys managed to catch quite a few nice reds, but I don't know the number, and finished with somewhere between 12 and 15 snook. It was a good day. Both the boys agreed that it was more of either species than either of them had caught in a week of fishing by themselves. I was happy that they were happy.

We finished the day at the Waterfront Restaurant, where we recounted the day's fun, and made plans for my visit with them at San Padre Island for July 4th. I was very excited about that.

Wednesday, I was with my old friend Howard Salt, of Algonquin, Illinois, who loves to flyfish, and fishes all over the world. Barring the pure professionals like Chico or Flip, Howard is the best flycaster I've ever had the pleasure of watching. But, with the water near coffee black, I knew sight fishing opportunities would be non-existent. Also, it had been pretty breezy for most of the week, thank God, as it had kept us from disappearing into our own stewing juices. But, I knew it could complicate fly fishing if it kicked. We caught bait at Kiesel's with the intent of establishing the presence of fish with it, and then trying the fly. Although bait was there, it continued to thin out.

We took our shiners and went to where I'd been doing pretty well on snook all week. I knew the fish were there, but we had a slack tide. After catching several I suggested that Howard blind cast along the shore with his flyrod, hoping we could trick a snook or two. The wind had kicked enough to make handling the boat with the pushpole difficult, but Howard is such a great caster it didn't bother him at all. We fished a pretty good stretch of snooky cover without a take, but with several follows, and then turned our attention to redfish with bait. The plan was to try to get the reds going with cut bait, then switch to fly if we got a good bite going.

We did get a bite going, but not long into it a squall blew up, and seemed to be coming on shore right to us. We decided to head to the Green Flash for cover, as it was only a few miles away. We had caught a half dozen or so reds at that point, and the fish were eating pretty well, but safety is always first. We enjoyed a great lunch there, and decided to head on in afterwards, as the weather was looking pretty unstable. We hadn't slayed the fish, but we got several snook and some nice reds, and Howard got to wave the longrod for a while, and nearly tricked a few. I look forward to his return in the fall.

Although Thursday began as a tough day, it turned into a great day for my new customers Jeff Cantin, and his beautiful wife Cheryl, and their eight year old son Max. We had a dead tide for most of the morning, so I decided to gamble with bait, and begin later in the morning at eight o'clock. I figured that the tide would be about ready to move once we had finished catching bait. The Cantins were a half hour late, as they were coming from Port Charlotte, and didn't anticipate the heavy traffic at that hour of the morning.

We were at Kiesel's flat by around 9, and I threw the 10 foot Caloosa 1/4 inch net until I was blue in the face. No shiners! My good friends/customers John Hitt, from Orlando, and Bob Brockway from Pompano Beach were also on the flat, and weren't fairing any better. John was enjoying his second day in his new Coastline 22, and Bob had been here for most of the week with his 18 foot Hewes. So, the long and short of it is that we didn't get any shiners, and not even one large pinfish. All the shiners were tiny, too tiny, and the pinfish were very small. I was wondering what I would do.

We had spent over two hours trying to catch bait in several different places, all with the same results. The tide was moving as well as it was going to, and it was getting late. We didn't have what I considered to be descent snook bait, so I decided to go right for the redfish. With no baits large enough to cast very far, I decided to present the small pinfish with a few slices in their sides under a Cajun float. The slices would give me some scent in the water to go along with the chum I was throwing, and the floats would give me the distance to the fish. Frankly, I didn't know if the redfish would eat those tiny pinfish, but boy did they! At the start it was mostly me and Jeff that were fishing. I had cautioned that Max was kind of small to have the strength and motor skills to handle the big redfish. But the first few we caught were puppy drums of around 22 inches, so we got Cheryl involved with a rod in her hand. I cautioned her to hold on tight to my expensive Shimano Sustain/Stella combos, as there were fish out there that could jerk a rod right out of her hands if they began feeding aggressively.

The reds were even chasing the small pinfish to the top and blasting them. Very cool, and exciting. It didn't take long for me to be proven correct, when a big redfish damned near jerked Cheryl and my equipment right off the bow of the Talon. That fish hit so hard that it straightened Cheryl's arms, and all but pulled her right out of the boat!! She screamed bloody murder, and tried to get one of us to take the rod, but Jeff and I refused, and I went into the coaching mode. Cheryl managed to get control of her adrenaline, and before you know it, she was pumping and reeling that big redfish like a pro. Eventually, she landed the 10.5 pound fish, and was she thrilled. She promptly let Jeff know that she would be joining him on fishing trips more often.

Well, I guess the violent strike of that redfish, and watching his mom almost leave the boat kind of spooked little Max, as once we were hooked up to another smaller redfish that we thought he could handle, he didn't want any part of it. We coaxed and pushed and prodded, and finally got Max to take the rod as Jeff got the fish near the boat, but he just wasn't sure about the whole thing. Can't say I blame the little guy.

I guess we had landed around 15 nice redfish when the weather began to get our attention. We had storms brewing all over the horizon, and we could see lightning and hear thunder. We decided not to become fishing martyrs, and headed for the Waterfront Restaurant. We figured we could keep our eye on the weather there as we had lunch reasonably close to our final destination.

Even though it had been cut a little short, it had been a great day of redfishing for the Cantins. One they won't soon forget. We sent them home with a limit of fish to feed their gang with, and I have some great pictures to send to them.

Thursday evening my honey and I met Bob Brockway and his neighbor Vince and their wives at the Green Flash on Captiva for dinner. It was a great evening, and my first time to meet their wifes, who were both quite lovely. Bob is a comedian of the first magnitude, and Vince a great straight man, and they kept us all laughing as we recounted past fishing trips. Thanks, Bob, for a great evening!

Friday, after having to deal with some network problems, my sweetie and I headed to San Padre Island to celebrate the 4th of July with Bubba Baker and his lovely wife Barbara, and their kids, Shelby, Dan, and Kyle. Bubba's daughter Shelby is the youngest, at eleven. But, she is already a hard-core fishergirl with an IGFA World Record trout under her belt. We spent the late afternoon watching her throw her little 6 ft. castnet for bait, and then fishing for snook in the surf, as Bubba caught more bait for her. By the time the sun was setting and it was time to watch the myriad of fireworks all around us, Shelby had caught no less than 7 snook, and Kyle 2.

It was one of my most memorable and relaxing July 4th's ever. It was so much fun watching this young female angler catch her snook, and helping her take them off the hook. I kept wondering what she might be doing by the time she's 20! My thanks to Bubba and his family for a wonderful Independence Day holiday that I will never forget.

Stayed tuned, and tight lines.

The week began with five trips on the books, but weather and an unexpected motor problem took two days away. I was still able to run four trips by moving one to Saturday, so fittingly, my good friend Dr. John Hitt began and ended the week..

Monday morning the breeze was light and the gulf flat. I knew John and I would be able to go outside and partake of some of the great snook action on the beaches. I met John at the marina in his condo complex at Harbor Isles, on the river, and we headed straight up to Keesel’s shack for bait in John’s 17 ft. Maverick. John had been nice enough to suggest we take his boat so that I wouldn’t have to endure the Memorial Day zoo at the ramp. After a little chumming, we loaded the boat in two throws of the TrueSpread net. We were off quickly.

We were the first boat to this particular area, and I parked right on a big wad of snook. It was fast action from the first cast. It was just me and John and our new ladies, two new Shimano Stella 4000's, and we had a blast catching snook. By the time the action waned, we had put 30 or more snook in the boat.

We headed inside and took up residence on a nice snook hole and began chumming with live shiners. Soon we had the snook blasting them, and were back into the action. By the time it was over we had caught another dozen or so, putting our total well into the 40's. It had been a great day!

Tuesday was another great day with some really great folks, Mark and Lisa Shofner, and their 9 year old son Seth, of El Dorado, Arkansas. Mark had brought his 22 ft. boat all the way down from Arkansas with him, and wanted to learn something about how and where to fish for the rest of their week.

We headed straight to Keesel’s flat for bait, and John Hitt pulled in right after we got the boat set and had began chumming. The bait came quickly, and before John could get things going, I had enough bait for two boats in four throws. We were off to fish the beach.

But, the beach had other ideas, at least at first. We fished what had been a very hot spot and only managed to catch a half dozen or so snook. The fish weren’t wanting to eat. We went to another nearby spot, with the same results. I decided to move down the beach, or go back inside in search of action. A half mile or so down the beach my best friend Capt. Butch Boteler and I corralled a big school of snook that were up on top thrashing bait. I have actually seen the whole beach in a froth from snook in a feeding frenzy, and it’s quite a thing to see. When they’re doing that, they’d eat a beer can with a hook on it. Butch and his customer, and Mark, Lisa, and Seth caught snook just as fast as we could bait hooks for the next couple hours. It was impossible to keep track, and we stopped trying at about 60 snook. One thing is for sure, Seth was a great little fisherman, and so were his Mom and Dad. They caught on quickly, and didn’t miss very many fish.

Once we were sure it was over, we headed back inside to show Mark around a bit, and give him some ideas on where to fish. Once the tide was done, and Mark missed one redfish in a big school we had found, we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for a great lunch. We had fun recapping the fun and action of the day, and I know I’ve made some great new fishing friends.

Bad weather began approaching the area during Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, and the radar looked bad for John Hitt and I to get out again that morning. I called John, and he checked the weather channel, and we made the decision to reschedule to Saturday. As it turned out, the weather wasn’t all that bad Wednesday morning, but we would have definitely gotten wet.

Thursday morning it was raining when my good friend Russ Hubbard arrived from West Palm Beach. I had heard thunder rumbling through the early morning hours, and was pretty sure we were going to rain out. But, we were willing to wait on the weather, and got the boat ready. While fueling the boat, I kept hearing something running intermittently, and noticed the Yamaha bouncing to the noise. Turned out to be the trim motor running in short bursts. I fiddled with the switch, and it popped inside. We figured it was shorted, or perhaps wet. After messing with it, it seemed to be OK for a while, but soon began acting up again. Russ pulled the switch out while I was doing other chores, and didn’t find anything wrong. We headed to the ramp. We found many of the other guides sitting with boats on trailers waiting on the weather, as well. Most of the tarpon guides had canceled. Around eight o’clock Russ and I decided to go get coffee and check the radar on the computer. When we came out of the house to clearing skies and ready to go fishing, the Yamaha was all the way up on the trim motor, and the motor was running full blast. I couldn’t even get it to come down, or stop, and had to turn the power off. After waiting for a couple of hours on the weather, our day was shot in the butt.

I headed up the road to Venice to see my old friend Craig Wildasin, who has built all my motors for many years, now, and takes very good care of me. I told him what had happened, and he said he’d have it ready in a few hours. He always delivers what he says he will, and I was on my way home that evening.

Friday morning was my second outing with Ed Mahoney, and his good friends Mike and Tom, who I’d fished with last spring for the first time. We had put some 40 redfish in the boat last year, and I knew that was going to be hard to top this year, as the wind was roaring out of the west, and we wouldn’t be able to get out to where most of the snook are. We’d have to get it done in the flats.

I thought about it as we headed out to catch bait, and decided that one of my favorite winter snook holes might be a good place to start after the passing of a late season front. I had never fished this particular spot in May before that I can recall. I figured I was worth a shot. We had bait caught quickly, and were off to check out my idea. We fished our way in to the area, as there are lots of good hidy-holes for snook, but had no hits. Once in the target spot, I threw out some chum, and it was immediately crushed by big snook along the shoreline. We were in business. For the next couple of hours, we had snook going crazy. Ed had the hottest rod, and Mike the coldest, but everyone caught snook. Several were lost to the mangrove roots, and the boys missed more than they hooked, but that’s typical. The boys landed a good dozen snook at the first stop, but had twice that on the line.

At the next stop we managed a few more snook, and decided to try for some redfish before the tide stopped on us. I went to one of my favorite flats and found a big school there, but they weren’t about to eat. We moved on to another great redfish flat, and it was the same story. We couldn’t buy a redfish. So, we ended the day with 15 or 16 snook and several trout, and couldn’t put together the Slam. But, Ed and the boys, who live here in Florida, and fish here and in the 10,000 Islands often, said it was the most snook they had ever caught in one trip. We finished the day at the Waterfront Restaurant, which we all love.

I met John Hitt at his condo marina Saturday morning at 6:15. He was just getting the boat off the lift, and we were quickly on the water. It was looking like the beginning of a beautiful day. John and I mused at how wonderful it was to be on the water first thing in the morning, as we zipped along at 40 MPH in his Maverick, not a worry in the world. We were soon at Keesel’s flat, and had bait in about three throws of John’s 8 ft. TrueSpread net. But, the wind had kicked once again, and was blowing from the west/northwest hard enough to keep us from going out to the beaches.

Of course, knowing the snook were so willing at my first stop the day before, I couldn’t wait to get John to the spot. The first bait was tagged as soon as it hit the water, and the bite was on. We hadn’t been there long, and had straightened out two hooks on big snook. I told John that in all my years on the water, I had never straightened out two hooks in one outing. We missed our share of snook as well, as you always do when you’re snooking. But, we caught around 20 snook and 4 nice trout for the cooler, there. John also missed 3 or 4 redfish, which would have given us the Slam in the first hole.

Once the action slowed there we moved on to the number two snook hole, which oddly didn’t produce more than a fish or two. We moved to another hole not too far away. It’s a small key with a trough at one end, that often holds lots of snook in the trough. The snook were there on this day, and John and I had fun with them. John missed another red or two, but did catch a nice 25 inch redfish there, as well. We ended the day with 30 or so snook, 4 trout, and 1 red in the boat. A great day of snook fishing considering most of the snook are on the beaches, and a day made even better because it was spent with a great fishing friend.

After five days of vacation, it’s five days of work. It was a pretty good week.

Monday’s trip was with one of my best fishing friends and longtime customers, Russ Hubbard, of Royal Palm Beach, and his customer Tim Rice. It was a still morning. No air moving. Slick water! We headed straight to Keesel’s for bait, and were quickly loaded.

Russ loves to trout fish, and I knew the trout were thick on the beaches of North Captiva. So, I took Russ and Tim straight outside to see if the trout were still there after my five day vacation. They were! They were there thick as thieves. We caught speckled trout two and three at a time up to four pounds, just as quickly as we could throw baits into the water. We didn’t keep a count, but we caught a boatload.

Once we bored with that, we headed inside to see if we could scare up some redfish. But, the conditions on the shallow, clear flats were tough with no air moving. There were reds literally everywhere! Hundreds, if not thousands of them! Yet, they were so skiddish we only managed to catch 4 of them.

We wanted to try for the Slam, so we headed to a great snook hole on the last of the tide, but we were apparently too late. We couldn’t get anything to eat. Curious, I went about checking the area out on the trolling motor. My God! The place was full of big snook. They were all over, and we had surely had baits in front of some of them. But, they weren’t eating.

We called it a day and headed to the Waterfront Restaurant, where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch and rehydrated ourselves. Life was good. Lots of trout, some nice reds, wonderful food, and great friends. Isn’t that what fishing is all about?

Tuesday was a very special day for me. I arranged to fish with my good, long-time friend Chuck Freeman, who has been a faithful friend, and my resident computer guru who has bailed me out of computer problems when they get over my head, for many years. Chuck and I are on the same wavelength, and have much in common. We haven’t fish together in some five years. Way too long!

Chuck told me he didn’t care about how many fish we did or didn’t catch. He was just in to enjoying the day on the water with an old friend. But, I wanted him to enjoy some great fishing action, so after catching bait at Keesel’s, we were off to the beaches of North Captiva. The trout were still there, and we caught them two at a time for the duration of our stay on the beach.

Later, and back inside, we couldn’t get the redfish to eat. Once again, they were thick on the flat, but just not interested in eating. Why? The full moon. Several days either side of the full moon, snook and redfish get tough to catch early in the day because they’re up all night eating on the light of the nearly full moon. In the morning we have great tides, and fish with full bellies. A tough combo. We did manage to catch a couple of snook on the beach, but weren’t able to complete the Slam.

No matter! We headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for a great lunch once we’d decided we’d had enough of the intense heat. After lunch, we headed in and Chuck came by the fish camp for a visit before heading back to his home in Ellenton. It had been a great day with a long time friend.

My good friend Bob McGuire was back on Wednesday, this time with his dad, Bob Sr. I was really looking forward to getting Bob Sr. out for the second time. Our first trip with him had been on an awful winter day, and we were forced by weather to stay in the river close to the launch. We caught lots of ladyfish and jacks, but weren’t able go flats fishing.

The Wednesday weather was good with light easterly breezes. Bait was good at Keesel’s shack. Soon, we were off to the beaches of North Captiva in search of those pre-spawning trout. I wanted to get Bob Sr. into some good action and let him catch lots of fish. This was the way to do it. The fish were there, and we caught a boat load of them. Bob also managed one snook on the beach.

But, Bob and I both wanted his dad to catch a big redfish or two, and we were two thirds of the way to the Slam. We headed inside in search of reds. It didn’t take long to find them, and we were soon chumming and putting baits out. We didn’t get a great bite going, but we did get 8 big hits, and managed to get two redfish to 10 pounds to the boat. Bob Sr., who is 78, was amazed at how hard his big redfish pulled.

After catching bait at Keesel’s, we headed straight to the beach at North Captiva, to catch lots of trout for Carol’s dinner. But, the plan was frustrated when the trout didn’t eat. We were on the full moon, and I’m guessing the trout had spawned that night, and weren’t about to eat. We pitched baits along the beach as we moved slowly along with the trolling motor, bassin style. We never saw a trout, but Mike did do a great job of dragging 3 nice snook out of the cover. As we trolled along the beach, a manatee swam right by the boat, giving Carol a good, if not quick look. She did turn and say “hi” to us before moving on. So, although the trout didn’t cooperate, we had met two of our objectives on the beach. Now, we had to catch dinner.

The last trip of the week was with my good friend Dr. John Hitt. We’d had a great day last time out, and I was hopeful that we could do so, again. We headed to Keesel’s for bait, and were loaded up in a couple of throws. I wanted some pinfish to cut for redfish, but we didn’t get any there. I headed to Chino Island thinking I’d find some there, as I had the day before, but we only caught the little guys.

John loves to trout fish, but since they had disappeared the day before, I figured it would be a waste of time to go looking for them. Instead, we headed to a great snook spot, where it didn’t take long for us to get into the action. We saw something there that I hadn’t seen before. There was a large barracuda, probably 4 feet or more, following our snook to the boat. At first we thought it was a big snook, but I soon realized it was a cuba. Why he never actually slashed one of our snook is beyond me. He seemed more curious than anything. Well, they [are] known to be curious creatures.

Anyway, we had a great bite until around ten o’clock, and during that time we boated a good 30 snook. WE never saw the first trout there, either. It’s amazing how they just vanished overnight. We headed inside in hopes of duplicating the redfish action of the day before. I felt sure we could. But, we didn’t have the pinfish of the day before, and the reds weren’t buying live or cut shiners. A fellow guide, Capt. Bruce Ringsmuth, joined us on the flat and offered up a few frozen sardines. We figured that would do the trick, but the reds weren’t eating anything. We left without a red, but we’d still had a great day of snook fishing, and were happy with that. We did hit several spots along the way home, and had some kill strikes, and caught a trout, but no reds, and no more snook.

All in all it was a great week of fishing. The coming week brings with it some very poor tides, and for that reason is not booked out. We’ll see how it goes. Until then.

Tight Lines!

For the first time this year we had beautiful weather all week long, and I actually got to run all six trips I had on the books. For the most part, fishing was very good. So were the tides. The biggest negative factor was the full moon, but things worked out well.

The first trip of the week was on Sunday with Dave and Susan Tarabcik, of Valley Stream, New York. I had rescheduled Dave and Susan from the previous Friday, when we had winds gusting to 33 MPH. Susan told me during the trip that she was actually in the car crying over the thought of going out in all that wind. She had been physically ill on the trip down, while flying over the same weather front. The plane kept hitting no air pockets, and falling out of the sky! Poor girl. She said she was so thankful that I had canceled the day and moved them to Sunday. The only problem in doing so was that we had traded a day with a relatively poor tide, but with an approaching front and brutal south wind, and almost certain fantastic fishing, for a day with a good tide, and brisk north wind, and fish that would certainly be lockjawed after the passing front. Yes, these things are quite predictable!

It's a good thing Dave and Susan were such great folks, because it was a tough day of catching. We got bait at Picnic Island, and after putting those hundreds of baitfish in the well, there weren't many more that came. We fished hard, and hit some great snook and redfish spots. We were all over the snook early, but they weren't about to touch a bait. They missed the only two snook that were dumb enough to bite, and missed two trout. They did catch a big ladyfish and a gaftop sail catfish. Later on the tide we hit one of my favorite redfish flats, and I found a huge school of reds numbering well into the hundreds, but with of all those fish in front of us, we only got three to hit, and got one into the boat.

It was indeed a tough day, but we had a great time out there, and I guess Dave and Susan knew I had worked hard trying to make something happen for them, as they were very generous with their tip. Thanks, guys!

Monday and Tuesday belonged to Randy and Scott Roeper, as did Friday. These were my first trips with the Roeper gang, and all in all, they went very well. I had to pick them up in Safety Harbor, on North Captiva, which makes for a very long day for me. It also means that I have to catch bait by myself, which I don't like to do. Catching bait is so much easier and quicker when you have someone there with you who can keep the chum line going.

Monday, I had Randy, Scott, and Scott's son Jake, who was a real hard-core little fisherman! I'm going to skip the details, as we were still under the influence of the passing front, and the fish weren't about to eat, but I'll tell you that we managed to catch only 2 redfish and 2 snook. The upside was that they did have enough fish to feed the gang, which can be important on North Captiva, as there aren't any grocery stores there!

Tuesday was a different day for the Roepers, now with Scott's son Ben. It was a great day! I caught bait at Picnic Island by myself very easily, and called Randy and told him I was on the way. I picked the boys up at the shore in front of the runway on North Captiva, and we were off. I had a different game plan from Monday. I headed to one of my favorite spring snook spots, and the snook were there. They weren't eating well, but we did catch a half dozen or so, including fish of 27 and 28 inches. We also caught around two dozen nice trout to nearly 4 pounds in the same area.

Once that action was over, we headed to one of my favorite redfish holes. Once again, I found tons of redfish there, and set out to chum them into a feeding frenzy. I don't know if what we did would qualify as a feeding frenzy, but we did manage to catch 12 or 13 big redfish to 11 pounds in about an hour and a half. That, along with the couple dozen trout, and half dozen snook, makes for a pretty darned good day of fishing.

Wednesday, I had my first trip with Mike and Elaina Connett, of Crown City, Ohio. Mike is a hunting guide back in Ohio, and I think has also done some fish guiding.

We headed straight to Chino Island for bait, and after some chumming, were baited up in two throws of my 10 ft. TrueSpread net. We were ready for some fission.

I decided to go outside and check to see if any early season snook or trout were around. The snook weren't there, but we did catch several trout to about three and a half pounds. We hit a couple of spots outside, but the snook weren't there or cooperating.

We came back inside and settled on one of my favorite redfish flats. The redfish were all over the place, but getting them to eat was not easy. We managed to catch 4 or 5 of the bronze beauties to 9 pounds. We finished the day chasing snook, and managed to catch 4, including one keeper.

All in all, it was a very good day. We got the Slam! Mike and Elaina were great folks, and Mike gave me a pin honoring veterans. Mike is a retired Air Force officer, and I did a four year tour with the Force, so that meant a great deal to me. We had a great time, and I look forward to their return.

Thursday I had my first of two scheduled trips this month with Dan and Barb Diver, recently relocated to Naples. What a cool name! Dan Diver! And, what nice folks!

We headed to Picnic Island where we met my best friend Capt. Butch Boteler, to catch bait. It didn't take us very long to have enough bait for both boats.

Once again, we headed outside to different spots to check on early season snook and trout. We did manage one small snook and a mangrove snapper. Dan also got a beautiful speckled trout of nearly 4 pounds!

Back inside we concentrated on redfish for a couple of hours on one of my favorite flats. The reds were there in big numbers, but didn't want to eat. Very frustrating. Actually, we did have 7 good hits, but only managed to convert two of them into fish into the boat. The biggest was five and a half pounds.

From there we turned our attention back to snook, and using a technique I have only used a few times before, we managed to get the snook to eat. Dan and Barb managed a dozen or more nice snook to 27 inches, and that made our day and gave us the Slam.

Friday, I had a two boat trip with Scott Roeper and his family, who were up still up on North Captiva. Randy was originally supposed to have been part of the gang, but circumstances forced him to bow out. So, Scott, brought along his beautiful wife Christen, daughter Jennifer, sons Ben and Jake, and father-in-law, Bob. The second boat was of course, my bud Capt. Butch Boteler.

Butch and I met at Picnic Island at seven o'clock. Actually, I was already there when Butch arrived. There were no less than 20 guides on the flats chumming for bait! Well, it was Good Friday! Butch was coming from St. James City, and settled to an idle as he approached the fleet. As he idled through, I could hear all the guides bitching and moaning about him coming through on his gas motor. They were bouncing comments from boat to boat like, "Moron!" "He doesn't have a clue!" "What an A**hole!" I was standing there on the bow of the Talon in amazement. My God, guys! Get a life! Are you all also members of the club that believes you can't catch a fish with a banana in the boat!!?? But, I knew Butch was going to come and tie up next to me, and that all the guides would find me guilty by association.

Butch didn't pull up on someone with his Mercury blazing! That would have been different. To think that idling through the fleet on your big motor would scare everyone's bait away is sheer folly!! But, some folks insist on believing what they believe, whether there are grounds for it, or not. So, on those grounds, I reamed his ass! I told him he just couldn't do that as long as there are guys out there who believe he's scaring away their bait. And, I also explained to him that I have to work with the rest of the guides, and want to get along with them. Butch apologized, although he didn't understand what all the fuss was about. I explained to him that a particular cousin of mine used to bitch at me for folding my net on the deck of my boat and rattling the leads on the deck. His contention was that I was scaring everyone's bait away. It apparently never occurred to him that I was catching just as much bait in as little time as anyone else. Geez! Come on, gang. The bait just isn't that spooky. They're more interested in eating.

Anyway, after all that hub-bub, we caught bait quickly and were off to North Captiva to pick up the Roepers. Once we arrived, Scott put me with his lovely wife Christen, his daughter Jennifer, and father-in-law Bob. He was going to fish with his sons Jake and Ben, with Butch Boteler. I teased him that now that I had taught the three of them how to catch our fish, he was going to try to beat me in our little private fishing tournament.

Butch and I both headed outside to look for those spawning trout that I knew would be showing up anytime. Man, did we find them. We caught beautiful trout as quickly as we could rebait our hooks. We could have stayed out there and caught them for the whole trip, but Bob's knee was bothering him because of the bumpy water, and I knew Scott had money on biggest fish, most fish, etc., so I wanted to go inside and try to put away the big fish prize. We left the beach with 36 trout caught, and went in search of redfish.

I Power Poled on one of my favorite redfish flats and began my chumming routine. Before long, Butch came to join us nearby. They caught nothing, and decided to go snooking. I knew we could get the reds going with some patience, and we did. We had 10 big hits. One broke off on the hookset, one took off for Mexico and eventually managed to cut us off on a tree, they missed 6 outright, and boated only 2 reds. But, one was a 12 pound beauty that I knew had the big fish prize wrapped up. Jennifer reeled the big red in, and I told her that her dad would be proud of her catching it, but not very happy that she did! We also got one snook to give us the Slam.

It was a great day, and we all had lots of fun. Kristen needed to get back earlier than the guys, so I dropped everyone at the runway on North Captiva and headed to the Waterfront for lunch. Butch met me there later. Considering that it was a very busy Good Friday on the water, it really was a good day.

Saturday morning I was at the ramp early to meet my old friend John Hitt. It's a good thing I was, as there was already a line, and I sat for a long time before I was able to launch the Talon. I knew it would be a real zoo on the water on this day, but I also knew where the trout were, and John just loves to trout fish. I also knew I could get him a few redfish more than likely. It would just depend on how much they had been run over by the time we got to them.

John and I headed to Picnic Island, where there was a fleet of well over 20 boats there all trying to catch bait. We were baited up in short order. After giving John a quick refresher on throwing the net, we were off to catch trout.

The trout were thick on the beach. I was catching them on shiners, and John was catching on a green currlytail jig just as fast as we could go. A boat joined us with two fly fishermen aboard. They cold see us catching, and moved as close as they dared, but they weren't catching. I knew John wouldn't mind if they joined us, and I didn't need to be fishing, anyway, so I invited them to anchor next to us a