It was a great week, and the whole week was filled with old friends and good fishing. Good tides and good weather for most of the week were definitely a factor.

First up on Monday was my old friend Roland Hartich, who is now living in Indiana. Roland owns Villa Adele which is featured at the bottom of each fishing report. It took damage from hurricane Charley, of course, and he has not been able to find anyone available to take care of repairs. So, he did the next best thing and brought Kevin, his cousin by marriage and a craftsman, down to help get things back in order. He wanted to reward Kevin with a fishing trip once all the work was done. As it turns out, it was the only slow catching day of the week, but we still had lots of fun.

Bait had been good at Picnic Island, and that's where we headed. We had lots of big pinfish, and the shiners are finally beginning to get big enough to cast! We were still under a big dome of high pressure from the previous front, and I guess that was the straw that broke the camel's bite. We fished hard, and hit a lot of great spots, but the fish just weren't interested in eating. During the first half of the morning Roland and Kevin only managed a couple of speckled trout until Kevin tangled with a beautiful snook that quickly had him tied up in the cover. I instructed Kevin to get out of the boat and go after the fish, knowing that if he could get the line cleared from the snag before it parted, he had a great chance of landing that fish. He was able to get the line cleared, and the fish once again took off. Kevin worked him in and toward the boat, and as he stood at the bow of the Talon and swung the fish around for me to land, lost his balance. Kevin fell forward over the bow, and dropped the rod, at the same instant I was grabbing for the leader. The tip of the bouncing rod unloaded, the hook came out of the snook's mouth, and she slowly swam away. The irony is that from where Kevin had fallen over the bow, he was staring right down at the big snook about 14 inches in front of his face, and had to watch it swim away. He was heartbroken, but his adrenaline was really pumping. We saw lots of big snook that morning, practically everywhere we went, but it was nothing doing on getting them to eat.

I had hoped that I could get a good redfish bite going on the later part of the incoming tide, but they were lockjawed, as well. There were plenty of fish, but in spite of our chumming and efforts the boys only managed to catch three nice redfish. Oh, it was enough to fulfill their goal of putting some fish on the table, but a very slow day for this area at about a fish per hour. Still, Roland and Kevin seemed quite happy with the day.

My long-time friends Alan and Pam Warren were in town from Tampa to fish with me Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They had their fishing plans foiled several times because of the train of hurricanes that came marching through Florida beginning with Charley on August 13. We all knew this was probably our last shot at some really good fishing before the onset of winter.

Tuesday morning started off breezy for Alan and Pam, and stayed that way. It wasn't enough to be uncomfortable, though. We got great bait at Picnic once again, and were off. I told them of all the fish I had found the day before, and suggested we revisit some of those areas to see if the fish would eat.

We began by fishing our way down a string of potholes where I had found lots of snook the day before. There was no doubt the fish were there. I chummed with live shiners, repeatedly, but we only managed to get a pop or two from the snook. They still weren't interested. The Warrens did get three speckled trout from the holes, and finally, Pam got a nice keeper snook.

From there we turned our attention to redfish on a nice flat in the same general area. Again, I knew the fish were there, and just hoped that I could get them to eat. Fortunately, after some chumming and setting the baits, we had a bite emerge, and over the next couple hours Alan and Pam boated 13 nice reds weighing up to 10 pounds. It wasn't a raging bite, but just the right pace to keep us busy. By the time we landed a fish, took pictures, and got the lines and baits redeployed, another fish was ready to bite. Alan shares my love for catching redfish, but I think Pam would take snook, given her d'rathers. I think she was mighty happy to be catching some nice redfish, though.

So, in spite of our north wind and high pressure, we managed to put together a pretty good day. We capped the day off with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant, then headed back to the ramp to clean fish and boat.

Wednesday morning Alan, Pam and I, were shocked to see that we already had a bad wind blowing as the sun came up. I knew it would only get worse as the day warmed. And, it did. I made the decision early to stay on the east side, as the wind was howling from the east/northeast. By the time we got bait at Picnic Island and headed to our first stop, the wind was blowing 25, and we learned upon returning home that evening, the wind had been gusting to 35!

Even more amazing was that the fish finally decided to eat, on a day when I figured they would be totally shut down. We caught fish everywhere we went, and although I wasn't able to stick to my original game plan, it was a great day of fishing and fun. We began with a couple of flounder, and couple of snapper, and a snook, and throughout the course of the windy day Alan and Pam managed a couple more snook, 10 nice gag grouper, 8 big speckled trout to around 4 pounds, and 10 redfish, for a total of 35 fish.

By the time we were ready to head in the wind was unbearable, and the Sound was very ugly. My back was giving me fits, and I decided to run in calmer waters no matter what the consequences. We stopped for lunch at the Waterfront, as much as a reprieve from the nasty wind as to eat, and then tackled the second leg of the trip home. At the dock I ran into a guide that said it had taken him almost an hour to make the 6 mile or so ride from York Island, home.

Of course, Thursday Alan, Pam, and I, met at the dock expecting more of the same. I was sure it would once again howl, and the wind was already up. But, by the time we had bait in the well, I decided to go to the area I wanted to fish in case the wind kicked as it had the day before. But, by the time we got to fishing it was looking like it might actually turn into a beautiful day. And, it did! Both the fishing and the weather were great. We began our quest chasing snook, and at the first stop Pam and Alan put a good 10 snook into the boat, including 2 keepers.

By the time we'd done that the water was getting about right to chase redfish, and we moved a short distance to a good looking flat. There, we were treated to a much better redfish bite than we had the day before, and in the next half of the trip Alan and Pam boated 21 nice redfish. It was a good bite, and a good time, and the perfect ending to our great three days together. It can't get much better than that.

Friday was reunion time for me and my old friend Bo Mack, who I hadn't seen in several years. He was down from Connecticut, for a convention, and ready to sneak in a day of fishing. It was great to be out with Bo, again, as he is always fun and makes for lots of laughs. This would be his first trip in the Talon, and it looked like we would have a great weather day.

I had decided that since the pattern of the day before with the Warrens had been so good, I would repeat that pattern. We had definitely established that the fish were there. So, after a quick stop to catch bait at Picnic Island, we were off to hopefully catch some nice snook, and finish with redfish.

The tide was about an hour behind the previous day, and although it was coming in, the snook weren't in an eating mood. We worked the same area, and although we had some good hits and caught 3 or 4 snook, we did miss quite a few good hits that should have been fish. I knew it was just a matter of time before the fish ate well, but the tide was fast getting right to chase redfish, and there were boats coming into the area from everywhere. We had boats all around us. My friend Capt. Rey Rodriguez came into the area, and I urged him to fish the shoreline that I had just fished, feeling confident the fish would soon be ready to eat. He did, as we headed on to the redfish flat, and he and his party were able to catch some nice snook before later joining us on the flat for reds.

After Bo and I got to our redfish flat and began chumming, we had a very hot bite for the first half hour, or so. We had 6 nice redfish in the boat in no time. But, for what ever reason, the bite slowed. Oh, they kept eating, but not with the voracity that we'd first experienced. We were also plagued by a changing wind direction that blew us off the fish, and a couple of porpoises that seemed to herd the fish into a small area against the shore. Bo and I kept after the reds, and by the time we had finished the tide we had boated at least 20 of the bronze beauties.

Thanks to Roland and Kevin, the Warrens, and Bo Mack for making it a great week. And, thanks to Alan and Pam for the great after hours fun we had together. We've got a front moving through the area even as I write this report. It's a day late, so the big blow will probably happen tomorrow, Monday, for my old friend John Hitt. It could foreseeably ruin the next couple of days for fishing. We'll see what mornin' brings.

This was the first time I've gotten to run trips since Charley came through here and rearranged the landscape. It was just great to be back on the water, and the fishing was nothing short of fabulous. During the break I took the Talon up to the factory in Sarasota to have three years of fishing dings, scratches, and a spider in the gelcoat removed. It's the kind of thing that takes time to do, and there's never time for things like that when we're working. The folks at Talon were fabulous, and took care of everything on my list, and covered most of it under warranty. They even completely cleaned the boat deck, bilge, and hull, and polished the hull to boot. It looks almost like a brand new boat, again. I also had a new cushion made for the baitwell seat, as the old one was getting pretty tired, and wouldn't hold the lid open, anymore. I can't tell you how good it felt to put her in the water and feel her scoot along beneath me.

After many canceled trips, it was finally time to work, again. The weather right before my Wednesday trip was not good, so I didn't have the opportunity to get out and pre-fish. It was almost the same feeling every guide has when he's first starting out, and is feeling very unsure of himself. I was afraid I would have to be retrained. I also gave Dan and Mont a couple of caveats, in that we had a 13 hour falling tide, and a serious east wind gusting to around 30 MPH. I figured those two conditions alone would be enough to shut down the fishing. I was mentally ready for a very tough day.

My customer for Wednesday was Dan Harper, of Hoopeston, Illinois, and his friend Monty. Dan had told me after Charley that he wasn't about to cancel his vacation, and was ready to fish. We met at the ramp at 7 AM, and after getting their supplies loaded were off to begin the hunt for bait at Picnic Island. It's hard to look at that very popular key and see how different it looks now. We didn't get any shiners longer than 2 inches, but got a great variety of pinfish from tiny to large enough to fillet. I figured that if there weren't many/any shiners around, the fish would probably eat pinfish just as well, anyway. As it turned out, I was right.

We headed to a spot on the east side of the Sound that usually holds redfish, hoping to get a few to eat before the water started falling out too hard. We worked four lines, two with cut bait and two with live pinfish under floats, and never had a hit. I was beginning to think my gut feeling was right!

We headed to the next stop; another place that usually has redfish. After making my approach into the area, I pitched the first bait, a live pin under a float. As it hit the water I turned to hand the rod to Dan, and it was nearly jerked right out of my hands. Fish on!

And, that was the start of it. For the next several hours we caught redfish after redfish with a few snook mixed in for good luck. The first 10 fish, or so, were all caught on live bait, getting eaten as soon as it hit the water. For some reason they quit eating that, and I quickly switched to cut pinfish, and the bite was back on. By the time the tide was low enough to shut down the bite, we had landed at least two dozen redfish, and probably closer to 30, and 5 snook. The snook were all caught on cut pinfish.

Here's Dan and Mont with a couple of nice reds. Look at those spots!!

Dan, Mont, and I had a blast! The fish were strong and beautiful, with a deep bronze color from the dark tannin stained water. And we caught two reds that would have been money fish in a tournament. One had 12 spots, and the other had 10, as I recall. It had been a rough, windy day, but well worth it. We finished our great day at the Waterfront Restaurant. It's always the perfect way to end a day of fishing.

On Friday, it was my old friend Dr. Jack Crozier, and his good friend Dr. Matt DiAndreth, of Beaver, Pennsylvania. Neither of us realized we hadn't fished together in three years, as Jack had not been in the Talon. I knew he'd love the boat. I hoped we could duplicate Wednesday's action for him and Matt.

We headed back to Picnic for bait, and had no problem getting plenty of pinfish, but still there were only tiny little shiners probably not worth fooling around with. I also stopped at what we call the Engineer's House, at St. James Creek, but to no avail. Pinfish only. I didn't want to waste any more time with bait, as there were more boats at the ramp this morning than I had seen since July.

I headed back to the scene of Wednesday's action. As I approached the area, I could see there was another boat sitting on my spot, but I was pretty sure it was my friend Capt. Paul Hobby. I had told him about the fish when he had called me Wednesday night. By the time we got into the flat Paul said he had just caught the first fish. We anchored on his port side about 100 feet off, and couldn't raise a fish. We moved around to his starboard side and put out live and chunk baits, and still couldn't raise a fish. Paul had caught three or four.

For some reason, Paul didn't hang around. I think he said they were scouting for a tournament the next day. Once they left, we moved up to the piece of very fertile redfish grounds, and did our thing. The fish just wouldn't leave the cover they were holding on. I gave them a little chum, and put our baits out, and for the next several hours it was pandemonium. Redfish after redfish ate our baits, both kinds. But only if the baits were place right next to the edge of the cover. Once the bite finally slowed we were pushing a 50 fish total really hard. We only needed a few more fish to break the 50 mark. We hit several more spots catching one or two fish as we went, and then at the last spot we had a short, but good bite. We stopped and headed to the Waterfront Restaurant with a total of 49 redfish, and one snook! What a day! Jack has been with me on days like that in the past, but this was a first time experience for Matt, and I think he really had a ball.

Here's Matt with his first ever snook!

Back at the ramp, Matt wanted some instruction on how to fillet the reds. I showed him on two fish, and let him try on the last one. His first observation was that I made it look very easy. Well, I filleted a zillion of them. But, Matt did OK for his first attempt. A little practice will go a long way.

Well, here we are, looking down the barrel at yet another hurricane threat. Her name is Jeanne. AS of this time, Saturday afternoon, she's headed straight at us via the east coast. She's supposed to turn northward, but no matter what she does now, we will get at least tropical storm force winds. If she doesn't turn, we're in for another exciting, perhaps devastating weekend. I ask all my friends around the country to pray for us down here in Florida tonight.

Thought you guys would be interested in the damage. I went with a friend Saturday morning to look at his business on Captiva and did a tour of all the island before the National Guard and FWC shut boat access down. I also got to fly it all on Sunday for a double perspective. Much worse from the water view.

Starting at the south end of Sanibel, the damage is minor. Mostly roofs and down trees. By mid island the mangroves are bad, at least the first 100' ft from the open water is shredded. From there in they were more protected. Blind Pass is open, but barely. Clam Bayuo is open. The homes on Roosevelt Channel are torn up, but not destroyed. Tween took a hit, but will require only some re-roof. Jensen's Marina is gone, gas pumps and all, and the whole bay has lots of destroyed docks and sunken boats. However, the cottages at Jensens are amazingly healthy, thank god. I love that place. Most of Andy Rosse Lane's buildings are okay, but lots of roof parts are a few lots over from their former buildings. South Seas took a huge hit. Trusses are showing everywhere. Roofs are demolished and glass is out of lots of windows. The main thing on Captiva though, is the trees. The whole old growth canopy is gone. Most coconut palms survived, but the exotics and native large trees are crushed. You can see houses I never even knew existed. You can even see the Gulf front homes from the Sound in most spots. It sucks.

Most of the wind that did the damage came from the sound out of the SE, the Gulf side is better off. Friends who stayed on Andy Rossee Lane reported that the gulf never even came over the island, but the bay side was insane. They were surprisingly chipper Saturday morning. And still drinking beer.

The houses on the end of North Cap are damaged, some very badly. Again, major tree damage. The docks behind are damaged or gone. The new pass where Smith Bank used to be is wide and shallow. It won't stay open too long. Safety Harbor's docks are torn up, and Barnacle Phil's lost its upstairs gift shop, the tiki hut, and its docks. The downstairs is very repairable. I will be expecting some rice and beans soon. The point house is blown through but kept most of its roof, also repairable. It is now on an island. Davis's shack at the entrance to Safety Harbor lost 20% of it's roof and its cistern, but is okay. It is one of very few left. The houses on Captiva pass are all damaged and some destroyed. Many inland housed are destroyed as well and almost all are damaged. Again, the trees will break your heart.

Cayo Costa is not too bad, but there isn't that much to damage on that island. In this whole report keep in mind that your favorite snook fishing dock is more likely gone than in tact. Cabbage Key is good. The Inn is okay as are most of the cottages and homes. The rental house to the west of the marina has no second story and the Phyllis (Well's transfer boat) is on its side on one of the remaining docks. The marina took major damage, if Terry hadn't retired he would probably cry. But, like I wrote, the bar is okay so we will live to have Creepers another day.

On north to Boca Grande, Miller's lost 1/3 of its roof. Boca Grande is much better than areas south. My local knowledge ends at Cayo Costa, so my place names will be wrong if I write much more north.

Across the sound, Pineland Marina is decimated. Tarpon Lodge lost its dock and the weigh in houses on the end, royal bummer. The Lodge lost some roof and has some pretty bad damage, but I'm sure the Wells will repair all. The fish shacks are toast, save for the Goodyear shack (the red one). The gray shack has walls but no roof, may be salvaged. The rest are just floor or just piling. I'm certain the enviro-nazis will not allow rebuilds of those. Further south, the fisherman's coop is damaged. The Keisel's shack is destroyed. Just piles.

The mangroves everywhere look like the mangroves in the Shark River, Andrew's carnage. St. James is okay, just roofs and docks. The Waterfront is about to do some dock replacement, their scope of work just increased.

I'd say the eye crossed at Redfish, if damage is any indication.

Hope that helped out.

Kevin C. Shimp, PE
Thomas Marine Construction
><((((*>

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 7/31/2004

by

Capt. Butch Rickey

Rough weather was again the spoiler for the first part of the week. Seems to be a pattern, lately.

I had a call from a fellow named Ricky Foley on the weekend, and he booked a short notice trip for Wednesday, the 28th. But, come Wednesday morning, he left me sitting at the dock waiting, slapping mosquitoes and no-seeums, silently questioning his ancestry. I just don't understand how people can be so thoughtless.

Thursday dawned a beautiful day, with a nice breeze out of the southeast. My new customers, Mark Ausdenmoore, and his son Mike, of Loveland, Ohio, were greeted with a magnificent sunrise as we chummed for bait at Picnic Island. Bait was plentiful, and within a hour we were off to the first fishing hole of the day.

We began with snook fishing, but were greeted by tight-lipped fish that didn't bite. Without wasting much time on them, I moved a short distance to a spot that has been great for redfish this year. I began with some chum and two rigs with sliced and diced pinfish, and another with a live pinfish under a popping cork. It didn't take long to get the first strike, which resulted in a nice slot redfish perfect for dinner. There was another, and another, and another. Over the next several hours we had steady, if not great action, and by the time we were sure the bite was over Mark and Mike had caught 19 nice redfish.
Here's Mike with a nice redfish!

Wanting to find more action, we headed to another flat. I knew full well, though, that being late in the morning, it was likely about over for the day. We worked the spot hard, and came up with another redfish and a couple of speckled trout. That was it, but it was certainly better than the previous week, and pretty good fishing for late July. Mark and Mike were a lot of fun, and good students, and we'd had a fun morning together. We finished the day at the Waterfront Restaurant, and by the time we got back to the ramp and got fish cleaned, the storms were on us.

Friday dawned as beautiful and Thursday for David Bond, of Tampa, and his son Ted, up from Miami. The brisk breeze from Thursday was still with us. But, the breeze that had kept me and the Ausdenmoores feeling cool, had left us all cramping by the time we called it quits. Even with the breeze, you're still dehydrating at an alarming rate out there in the heat. You just aren't as uncomfortable in doing it.

Bait was again great at Picnic Island, where my friend Rey Rodriguez joined us. There were plenty of pinfish of varied sizes, as well as shiners from small to mammoth in size, and plenty of them. After a quick cleanup, we were gone fishin!

Knowing that redfish are creatures of habit, we headed back to where the Ausdenmoores had caught 19 of the bronze beauties the day before. I was as sure as I could be the fish would show up there again. And, they did. We weren't there long before we had the first strike. Normally, I will wait until the rods in the rodholders are bent down on the fish, before picking them up to fight the fish. But, the redfish on the day before had been little pigs, and we gut-hooked most of them. Although they're tough as nails, I don't like doing that, so on this day I thought we'd try to set up on the fish a little earlier. The result was that we missed a lot of fish. 11 to be exact. But, Dave and Ted still caught 13 or 14 at that first hole, including a big fish of nearly 13 pounds. It took off like a rocket against the drag on the little Stella 2500, and for a while we thought we might have hooked a big stingray. But, I never saw the telltale white flashes that come from under the wings, and told Dave to just keep pressuring the big fish. It turned out to be a beauty!
Here's Ted with his bronze beast!

Once we were ready to move on, I moved away from the hole on my trolling motor. When I went to light the fire in the Yamaha, the match was a dud! The motor wouldn't crank. Soon we smelled gas. I had apparently flooded the motor. We were fast blowing out into the Sound, so I anchored the Talon and kept trying to start the Yamaha. It would make a sputter once in a while but refused to start. I realized I was going to have to put a new set of sparkplugs in her, but didn't want to try to do that in six feet of water hanging off the polling platform, so I made my way to a nearby mangrove key. I anchored over the edge of an oyster bar where I could stand on solid ground and work.

As I pulled the plugs, Ted readied the new ones and handed them to me. While we were doing that a boat approached, that turned out to be my friend and customer Eric Fairfield. He asked if he could be of help, and was very nice to stop. I didn't want him to ruin his day out with the family, so he left me with his cell number in case we couldn't get going. Once I was back in the boat, she still wouldn't start! I realized that I should have spun the motor over a few times with the plugs out to dry the cylinders, but hadn't. Back in the water I went. I pulled the new plugs, and Ted dried them. Once all the plugs were out, Dave spun the motor over on the key a few times, and I saw several good puffs of raw fuel coming out. She was BAD flooded!

Plugs reinstalled and back in the boat, she didn't light on the first few spins, so I knew I now had a clean cold motor that needed to be choked. She lit as soon as I gave her some choke, and we all breathed a big sigh of relief. We were on our way to the next hole. We fished several areas in search of snook, but only had kill strikes. Finally, we managed to catch a couple more redfish, and if memory serves, one snook, before it was over.

We finished at the Waterfront, again, rehashing the day. We'd had a lot of fun, and Dave and Ted were great guys. Both of them were pretty blown away by the ride and performance of the Talon. Dave gave me some inspiration. He at age 76 is still out there fishing in his flats boat in Tampa Bay, and going strong. I hope I can follow in his footsteps!

So, there you have it. A short week, but a great one with a couple of great father/son teams, and some great redfishing. I won't be on the water much for the month of August, as I'm taking some time off. I will still be available during the first half of the month, though.

The condition of my back was again the big issue this week. It had not improved over the weekend of rest at Don Pedro Island. I knew the constant pounding it was taking fishing on the beaches was not a good thing. Oh, the Talon has a great ride, but when the wind is southeast, south, or southwest at more than about 10 MPH, it makes the beaches rough to the point it doesn't matter what you're in if you have a back problem. Standing on a constantly moving platform once you're fishing further aggravates the situation. I was fast coming to the conclusion that I was going to have to stay out of the Gulf.

But, Monday would be a tough day because I had another pickup at North Captiva, which meant a lot of sitting and riding, and if things were rough, bouncing. My guests were Mark Goldman and his son Grif, and Mark's friend Bill. It was our first trip together, and I wanted to be at my best, but when I crawled out of bed that morning and almost fell on my face, I knew it would be a long day.

I limped my way to the ramp and headed to Picnic Island for bait. I wanted to catch bait and be on the way to pick mark up by 7 AM, but that was not to be. Bait was tough, and that was aggravated by my trouble throwing the net, and by constantly interrupting the chumming to do so. It was past eight o'clock by the time I had enough bait to fish with, and by then there was a strong southeast wind blowing. I dreaded the ride to pick up Mark and the boys. I knew it would be rough, at least in proximity to the passes.

It was around 8:30 by the time I got to North Captiva, and I had problems reaching Mark on the phone to tell him I was finally on my way. But, Mark, Grif, and Bill were on the beach in front of the runway with smiles on. I have to be honest and tell you that the rest of the day was blurred by the pain I was in. As I recall I made the decision to stay inside and fish the flats both because of my back and because of the travel time involved to get to good snook action.

I honestly don't remember what the boys caught, but I believe they caught a few snook, and around a dozen reds. We had an early tide, and by the time the sun got overhead well, everything came to a screeching halt. We hadn't set the world on fire, but the boys let me know they were happy with the fish they'd caught, had a great time, and were happy to take home a limit of redfish for dinner.

The episode has brought home to me how serious pain can alter your perspective, patience, attitude, mood, and even memory. By the time I got home that evening, I knew I had to seek some professional help. My Tuesday trip was to be with George Rogers, of Lakeland, Florida, who had won a trip I had donated to the March of Dimes. I knew I needed help, and needed off the water, and called George and asked him to please allow a reschedule. George was very nice, and more than understanding, and I then made an appointment with James M. Kolodziej (ziej pronounced jay), a chiropractor here in Fr. Myers. I've never been a believer in chiropractic methods, but did so at the urging of those who care about me.

My Tuesday session with Mr. Kolodziej made a believer out of me. After X-rays, some consultation, and some therapy, I practically skipped out of the office. Oh, I still had pain, but nothing like before the visit. I thought I had been cured in one miraculous visit, though. The next morning, however, I knew that wasn't the case.

My long time friend Russ Hubbard had come over Tuesday evening. We had dinner and he spent the night at the fish camp, so we could get an early start. He was taking his customer, John Staffeld, fishing. By the time we had caught bait with my buddy Capt. Butch Boteler at Picnic that morning, I was still feeling pretty good. But, by the time we went around the outside of Sanibel to the Stickbeach for snook, I was hurting, and knew the road to recovery wouldn't be as short as I had hoped.

On the beach we had a pretty good bite for a while, and caught a good 30 snook, a couple of big Spanish mackerel, and a couple of trout. We were all a bit off, and did a lot of joking about it being amateur hour, as we all missed connecting to too many fish.

Once the bite slowed on the beach we headed inside to see if we could scare up some redfish. I needed flat water! Our first stop on a normally great redfish flat, revealed that the flat was absolutely lifeless. There weren't even mullet jumping, which is most unusual. I worked my way along the flat for a while, and even found a pod of redfish all by themselves, but they were not about to eat.

We moved on, and after some chumming and adjusting finally found some redfish. We missed several good hits, but did manage to put three reds to 12 pounds into the boat before the tide was done. We headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for lunch. Later that afternoon, after cleaning the boat and preparing for the next day's trip, I went back to Jim Kolodziej for my second visit. Although I left with a dull pain in my right lower back, the next morning I felt like a new man.

I sped around to Sanibel Harbor to once again meet Dave Adair, for our second trip. Fortunately, Dave had already told me he wanted to do as we had done last year, and make the second trip a trip fishing the flats and mangroves in the Sound, instead of going for the sure snook action on the beach. I knew that would be good for my back.

We got bait at Picnic Island, but not without some ado. It didn't come easily. We did get more than enough for the two of us, and soon headed up into the Sound. We began on the east side looking for snook action, and actually Slammed in the first hole. It was a nice surprise that we not only caught a few snook, but several trout, and 7 or 8 redfish in that hole. Moving on we caught several more redfish, but didn't get a good bite going at the second stop.

At our third stop we were all over redfish. We saw numerous fish as we made moves with the boat, but couldn't get the first one to eat. In frustration, I moved on, and that move was the charm. At the fourth stop we carved a ladyfish Dave had caught at the previous stop. That was the charm. We had immediate action, and much to the chagrin of another guide in the area, caught 8 or 9 nice redfish. The action was over when the tide stopped moving.

Dave and I headed to the Waterfront Restaurant feeling good about our day. Both Dave and I prefer the beauty and solitude of fishing in the Sound. We were happy with the day, and it had been the first day in two weeks that my back had not been a controlling issue. Fortunately, Dave and I were able to put together two great days during his vacation.

Thursday night, long after I had retired, I received a call from my old friend Dr. Jack Crozier, who was flying down just for a day of fishing. He left a message that he was stranded in Philadelphia, his flight having been canceled because of weather, and would not make our date. He was obviously very disappointed from the sound of his message, and I really felt bad for him. Well, Jack! I guess we'll just have to catch twice as many fish next time.

I had my third visit with the chiropractor Friday afternoon. I could feel great progress. It is Sunday as I am writing this report, and my back is very much improved. I don't think that would be the case without James Kolodziej. For any of you local readers who might have back problems, I highly recommend him.

We have some very tough tides next week. They're not a big factor when fishing on the beach, but they'll be a factor for me as long as I'm ordered off the beach by Mr. Kolodziej. I'll be thankful for anything we can put into the boat this coming week.

It was a week of very poor tides, and for that reason I booked only two trips at the end of the week. During the first part of the week my best friend Capt. Butch Boteler drew upon his many and varied carpentry skills to make some much needed repairs on the fish camp. Like all small projects, it turned into a major project, but Butch has a way of making things look very easy.

I was back on the water Thursday with my good friends Roland and Shannon Hartich, and Roland's Dad, Michael. The wind forecast was for 10 to 15 MPH from the south/southwest. We headed straight to Chino Island for bait, and it came quickly. The bait on the Chino flat is beautiful, now. Soon, we were rinsed and off to our first stop. I had decided to try to catch fish inside, even though the tide was poor, based upon the wind forecast. I was concerned that I would have some unhappy anglers if the wind kicked, and the Gulf waters became rough.

As we headed in the general direction of Regla Island I watched the water carefully, because it's usually this time of year that tarpon show up in the waters in front of Regla. I hadn't run more than a mile when I saw them. There were tarpon everywhere; rolling, finning, and free jumping. The gang was all for stopping to see if we could jump a few of this majestic fish that seemed to be begging to have a bait thrown at them.

I threw a large shiner under a Cajun float in front of a rolling tarpon. I handed the rod to Michael. Soon, we all saw the beautiful sight of a large fish rolling on it's side in plain view, as it lazily inhaled the shiner. Then for a split second, all hell broke loose. Mike understandably freaked at what he had seen, and after a short spurt of screaming drag, the line was limp. The beast was free.

I maneuvered the Talon on the trolling motor and soon we had tarpon all over the place, in every direction. We were getting quite a show. We threw bait after bait at rolling fish, and even had several fish roll close enough to reach out and touch. But, they were just taunting us, and wouldn't eat. We never got another hit. It was exciting, just the same.

My good friend Capt. Bobby Dumont was also fishing, and I knew he was going to try to get outside to check on the beach snook. Bobby had agreed to call me on the radio of the water was not too rough, and the fish were biting, thereby saving me a long ride and lots of fuel burned if the conditions weren't right. I kept hoping to hear from him as the morning passed, and we struggled with trying to find a hungry fish on the flats. But, the radio never sounded. The Hartichs missed a few snook and a redfish along the way, but only managed to put two fish into the boat for the rest of the morning; a snook and a nice one.

it was the hardest day of fishing I can remember in a long time. As we were preparing the boat for the ride home, my radio finally called me. It was Bobby. He said that he had tried to call me several times, to let me know the water was good and the fish were eating, but we had not gotten his call or his alert. They had caught nearly 50 snook on the beach! Sometimes the best laid plans just don't work out.

We had a fantastic lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant along the way home. At the ramp we gave our one trout its freedom. It didn't make much sense to keep one fish. It had been great to get out with my friends for a second time during their visit, but I felt awful that I hadn't just gone ahead outside to check on things.

Friday, it was my old friend Jeff Stevens, of Stevens Industries in Naples taking his customer Jim out for a day of fishing. Jim is an experienced fisherman, and has a 17 ft. Bonito bay boat with lots of years on her. We headed straight to Chino for bait, as I wanted to get it quickly and try to be the first to the Stickbeach. I didn't have to worry about the water, as I had two experienced Florida fishermen who didn't care how bumpy it might get.

We had our bait and were on our way in about three throws, and were the first boat on the beach with our choice of spots. We fished for a good hour and a half before we saw another boat, and then they came quickly. But, we had been catching since we arrived, and had already had a great morning of snook fishing.

As the sun rose in the eastern sky, and crept toward the tops of the trees on the beach, it became unbearably hot. Our breeze had also disappeared. By ten o'clock Jim had taken two breaks, and the heat was getting to me, as well. We decided it was time to crank up the Yamaha air conditioner and head inside for a shot at a redfish or two. The heating of the day had slowed the bite on the beach to nearly nothing.

Back inside I ran several flats without so much as pushing a redfish, and the prospects looked grim. I moved on to another area, and pushed lots of singles and small groups, but no big schools. The fish were spooky as hell, as the water was shallow, clear, and slick. We were very visible! We couldn't get close enough to a red to catch one. I moved on to a deeper portion of the flat, where I usually find redfish, and put out two shiners under Cajun floats and one cut bait. I hadn't seen fish there, but was confident that there were redfish there from years of experience.

Soon, Jeff had something messing with his bait, and after a couple of fresh baits, a redfish ate. While Jeff was bringing his red to the boat, Jeff had a decisive hit on his shiner, and we had two reds in the boat. We gave it a few more minutes, and had no action. It seemed we had caught a short bite on the end of the tide. We were content to head to the Waterfront Restaurant, and the cool-down ride was wonderful.

Along the way, Jim told me that he was most impressed with the Talon, from it's stability at rest, and huge, roomy fishing platform, to it's unbelievably soft and dry ride. He said that he had been looking for a boat to replace his Bonito for some time, but had not seen anything that impressed him. When he told me at the ramp that morning that he had a 16 ft. boat, I asked him how long he thought the Talon was. He looked around at her, and replied that it was at least 19 feet. He was shocked when I told him it was 16.5 feet long, but with a beam of nearly 9 feet, front to back. He couldn't believe how big it was. He was definitely interested in pursuing a Talon as his next boat.

Once we get the Memorial Day holiday out of the way, I have a full week. We have some pretty good looking tides, and I'm fishing with old friends all week. Should be a great, fun week.

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 5/1/2004

by

Capt. Butch Rickey

It was a week of mostly tough tides, and lots of wind. Ironically, the numbers dwindled as the tides got better, and bait wasn't easy, either. Two of my trips were instructional in nature, so the emphasis was not on catching. It WAS a week of quality fish, with some great outsized reds coming to the boat.

First up on Monday was Sonny Stelmak, of Stafford Springs, Connecticut. We actually had the worst tide of the week, yet had the best production of the week in terms of numbers, and quality. Bait came pretty easily, as well. Once we were fishing Sonny did well, and put together an impressive day. By the time we were done, Sonny had boated 8 snook including 2 keepers, 6 big speckled trout, and 12 big redfish. He redfish included the largest I can remember catching on the shallow flats of Pine Island Sound; a 16 pound monster. I've caught bigger fish on the beach and offshore, but that's a great fish on the flats. Usually, redfish are long gone from the flats before they reach that size.

Here's Sonny with a giant 16 pound redfish!

We had a great day. Sonny also owns a home here in Cape Coral to which he hopes to soon retire. He has been out with another guide here, and had a blast, but didn't realize we had such nice fish here to catch.

Tuesday it was time for my bi-annual date with my dermatologist. Even though he has cut on me more than I like, I always enjoy my visit to Dr. Jay Herbst's office, up in North Port Charlotte. Thank God, I got a clean bill of health this time around.

Wednesday, I as back on the water with my old friends Ed Mahoney, and Tom and Mike. These are a great, fun bunch of guys, and a blast to fish with. We've had some great days. We'd had a front pass through on Tuesday. I warned Ed that between the wind and tide, we'd probably have a tough day, but he didn't believe me. We guides usually know before we leave the dock, though, how it's going to go.

We headed to Tarpon Bay, where we got bait, but it didn't come easily. A big east wind didn't make things any easier. We headed up into the Sound, and because of the wind, I had pretty much made the decision to stay on the east side. We hit a few spots without much going on. Finally, we found some fish that would eat. We had some slow, but steady action that gave us 3 big reds including 12 and 13.5 pound fish, 2 big trout, and 1 keeper snook. Only 6 fish, but they were quality fish. It was a slow day by BarHopp'R standards, but with all the laughing and cutting up with Ed, Mike, and Tom, we had a blast.

Here's Ed with his big 13.5 pound redfish!

Thursday was another fun day with a couple of great new guys, John Kennedy and his good friend Paul Lulgjuraj (pronouced loose-your-eye), of Tallahassee. John's family owns one of the remaining stilt houses up near Captiva Rocks. He's a local boy, and it was my first trip with him. He was interested in learning some of my techniques for fishing the Sound.

Bait was a bit tough, but we got plenty as we watched my friend Ed, Tom, and Mike from Wednesday, in Tom's red Action Craft, the Knumb Knots. They also got enough bait. The wind was still up, and the fishing wasn't easy. At the first stop, John and Paul boated 3 or 4 snook and a flounder, and missed several others. The snook were in the hit and run mode, and just knocking the scales off the bait and crippling it, but not wanting to eat it. The next stop yielded the boys 1 redfish, but at 12 pounds, it was a great one!

We made a big move to a favorite flat of mine where we were able to see pods of big redfish moving and flashing in the shallow water. I began my chumming routine in an effort to get the fish to stay in front of us and eat our offerings. The fish didn't go into a frenzy by any means, but the boys did delight in catching 12 of the big reds, along with a couple of big trout. As the tide came to a stop Paul finished the day with a small blacktip shark. It had been a fun day under tough conditions.

Here's John with a big redfish!

The last day of the week was with another new customer, Eric Olauson, who has been in the area for a couple of years. He has read of some of my instructional trips, and after two years of fishing nearly every day some weeks, and not catching a snook or redfish, wanted to learn how to catch them. I asked Eric that morning, just to make sure, whether the emphasis should be on catching, or teaching, and he assured me he wanted it on teaching.

The first part of the lesson was on catching bait. I tried to give him not just facts like what kind of chum to use, but also to teach him how to reach the subtle intricacies of the water and wind. Bait was tough, and again Ed and the boys were nearby also having a hard time, but we all managed to get plenty of bait to fish with.

I began the lessons with snook, and what makes a good snook hole, when to fish, how to fish, how to present the bait, et al. We only fished a few minutes here and there as I showed him different aspects of snooking. The lessons continued with redfish. Eventually, as we moved and explored, Eric caught his first snook, and missed several others, as well. I wanted him to catch his first big red, too, so we moved to one of my favorite redfish flats, where we found another guide nearby. They managed to catch several puppy drum (juvenile redfish) on shiners, but I knew the big reds couldn't be far away. Eric also caught several small reds, but I still wanted him to get his first big red.

The other guide moved on, but we stayed with it. I could see the reds I wanted to catch out in front of us, and knew it would be a matter of time before we caught one. Persistence finally paid off, and Eric boated his first big red, a fish of nearly 10 pounds. He was thrilled. Our redfishing with cut bait also yielded 3 nice speckled trout, which gave Eric the Slam.

So, Eric went home with his first snook and redfish, and the knowledge he needs to catch them in the future. His dilemma was boats. He has an 18 ft. Grady White, which he knows is not the proper boat for the kind of fishing we do here. He fell in love with the Talon, but is too impatient to wait the necessary time to have a custom boat built. So, he has to figure out what kind of boat to buy, to fish the flats. Perhaps, he'll want to take a trip in the Maverick.

And, speaking of the Mav, I picked her up from Fowler Marine, where my old friend Danny Fowler now does for himself what he did so well for Smith Marine. Danny took care of my old Barhopp'R's for several years, and kept them on the water, while he was at Smith Marine. After Craig lost his father, had a child, and morphed into something his friends and loyal customers didn't recognize, I lost track of Danny. Thanks to my cousin Capt. Sean Middleton for letting me know that Danny had opened his own business on the corner of Fowler Ave and Collins St. If you have an electrical problem or rigging challenge, Danny is your man. He's a fine young man, who knows his stuff, and really takes care of his customers. Anyway, Danny installed a Power Pole on the Maverick, as well as installing a couple of bow rod holders, a pop-up cleat on the poling platform, and replacing the bait well pump with a Rule cartridge unit. The Maverick is now, FINALLY, ready to go BarHopp'N!!

Thank you, Danny!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 4/24/2004

by

Capt. Butch Rickey

The fishing this week had me and my customers seeing red once again; redfish, that is! It was a great week of fishing on the whole, even though the tides were not strong, they were high, and often for the reds, that's all you need.

First up on Monday was my old friend Tom Smith, of Cincinnati, and his good friend Jim. I had fished with Jim before as well, but hadn't seen him in several years. We had a good looking new moon tide, and I expected good things on the day. We headed to Tarpon Bay for bait, and once the tide began to move, bait came easily.

The first few stops yielded a couple of nice flounder and several very nice trout to 4.5 pounds. But, I knew I had perfect conditions for a good redfish day, and wasted no time getting to my chosen flats. Once there, it didn't take long to see the action begin, and a definite preference for sliced and diced pinfish. We did catch the redfish on a variety of baits, though. The action was fast and furious, and the reds were BIG. Jim's best was 14.5 pounds, but Tom bested that fish with a 15.5 pound red of his own!! Most all the fish were over 10 pounds!

SPRING FISHING FUN!

Here's Tom with his 15 1/2 pound redfish that was a handful!

Of course, it didn't take long for our action to be noticed by other guides, and we soon had company. My good friend Capt. Rey Rodriguez had joined us with his customer for the whole week, Shelly, and they were catching well, too. But, another guide fished all around and on both sides of us, and never caught the first red while we were there. But, after around 40 big redfish, Tom and Jim were ready to call it a day, and we quietly left the flat. Hopefully, the other guide eventually caught some of those reds, too. It had been one hell of a day!

Tuesday was a fun day with Lew Joseph, an old customer and friend of mine for years. We hadn't fished together in a long time, and had been forced to cancel a couple of attempts at doing so. We invited my bud Capt. Butch Boteler, who is a mutual friend to Lew, for a nice, relaxing no pressure day on the water. I picked Lew up at Sanibel Harbor Marina, and Butch at the Waterfront Restaurant. We headed to Tarpon Bay for bait where the big surprise was that bait was very tough. We had a heck of a time getting bait, for whatever reason.

We began the day with a trip into Ding Darling to look for snook. The tide just wasn't moving well, at all. But for about 40 minutes we had a great big snook bite. The first bait Butch pitched into the bushes with his baitcast rig was eaten before he could turn the handle, and Butch got his butt handed to him. Shortly afterward, my first bait was hit violently by a big snook which ran away from the bushes and attempted to jump, exposing it's massive size for us all to see. But, her power was enough to rip the circle hook from her mouth, and she was gone in an instant! Soon afterward, I had another similar experience. Then, another big hit that cut me off before I could blink. Butch and Lew had similar episodes, and we all got our professional butts handed to us by the big snook that morning. And, then it was over! Snook 6! Us zero!

I had hoped that the redfish would be in a playful mood, again. After all, it was nearly the same conditions. But they weren't. Something had them shut down. We took up residence at the scene of the previous day's mayhem, and we managed to catch a few fish, but were never able to get the reds to turn on. Oh, they were there, all right! They just weren't interested. In all, we managed to boat only 2 reds if memory serves me, several big trout, and several snook for the Slam, but by all accounts it was a slow day of catching. But, guess what. We didn't care. We had a wonderful day of relaxation and renewing old friendships, and caught a few fish as a bonus. Isn't that what fishing is all about?

Wednesday was my first trip with Paul Emerson, and his good friend Jim Larson, both of Ft. Myers. After some years away from the sport, Paul is getting back in to fishing, and this was to be primarily an instructional trip.

After catching bait at Tarpon Bay, I decided to take Paul and Jim back to the spot where we had tangled with the big snook the day before. It was a perfect place to illustrate to someone what makes a good snook hole. It's a beautiful area with lots of snook, but they weren't interested in eating. The first fish was a bluefish of about 3 pounds, which we were all surprised to see. We caught 3 gag grouper, and had some snook hits, but didn't connect.

We moved on, as there were lots of things to teach. We went up the east side of the Sound where there are numerous mangrove islands, mangrove keys, and oyster bars. We stopped at a few places in order to show Paul what to be looking for, and also to let him actually see that fish are there. At one spot we saw many snook and redfish as we trolling motored along, and I decided to go ahead and fish the spot. We caught a couple of nice redfish, several snook, and 4 big trout at that stop, and probably could have caught more, but there were more things to teach. Paul was very interested in learning how I chum up the redfish. I probably could have chummed the fish right where we were, but I knew there were big numbers of fish waiting for us on my favorite flat.

We moved on. Not long after beginning the chumming we had our first strike. We missed several before we finally got the first fish hooked up. After that, though, Paul and Jim caught a dozen or so big redfish to 12 pounds, and had a blast with them. All in all it was a great day of learning and catching, with multiple Slams and a good variety of fish. Paul and Jim were both a lot of fun, as well, which just made the whole day even more fun.

SPRING FISHING FUN!

Paul and Jim with a couple of big redfish!

Thursday and Friday were dedicated to my old friends Alan and Pam Warren, who come down a couple of times a year from Plant City, to fish with me. The Warrens love to fish, but Pam is really avid, even rabid! This girl is a fishing machine. I love fishing with them.

I had heard from my customer Tim Allen, who I had confirmed for April 29, on Wednesday evening. Tim had gotten his date wrong, and was here a week early ready to fish! Fortunately, I was able to get Butch Boteler go take him on short notice, and we joined up Thursday morning to catch bait. Bait was again tough until the tide began moving in. Then it came readily.

The ramp was a zoo that morning, and I knew there would be a lot of traffic on the water. There were many boats already out pre-fishing the upcoming O'Bannon Big Snook Tournament. This would call for a slight change of strategy.

At the first stop Alan and Pam caught 2 big jacks, 1 gag grouper, and 1 snook. It was a beautiful spot that I had not taken them to previously, and they loved it, but the snook weren't cooperating. So, we moved on. At the next couple of stops we managed about 10 snook to 28 inches, and one big trout. But, I was carefully watching the tide and hoping the best was yet to come. We headed to our final destination. Once there, we were all treated to a show that even I had never seen before. We quickly found our school of big redfish, but so had a couple of spinner sharks of about 5 to 6 ft. in length. I've often seen porpoise herd a school of redfish without causing them to move. They seem to instinctively know that the porpoise will pick off a weaker fish from the outside of the school. But, these redfish didn't like the presence of the shark, to my surprise, and every time the shark would approach the school, the fish would be on the move.

The presence of the sharks definitely complicated our efforts, but didn't foil them. We managed to get the redfish to bite, and catch plenty of them. Pam got her largest redfish ever; a 12 pound beauty. She was having a blast on no uncertain terms. So were Alan and I just watching her go at those redfish. By the time the tide was done, we had boated some 20 or more big redfish from 9 to 12 pounds, and Butch and Tim who had joined us on the flat, had also caught some nice reds. What a day!

Friday morning Pam, Alan, and I were back at it, again. The tide was later and weaker, and we had the O'Bannon in full swing! I wondered what the day might bring. I had hoped that bait might be easier, as we had decided to begin early to make sure we could get parking and get an early run on the bait while the tide was still falling. The plan seemed to work, as we got the last of the quickly disappearing parking, and bait came readily when we first arrived on the flat.

I decided to check on a spring trout spot on the outside, that I hadn't fished since last spring. I figured the fish should be there in big numbers. Apparently, a lot of the island guides thought the same thing, as there were half a dozen boats anchored on the shoreline. We didn't see anyone catching, though, and soon they were all leaving. We stayed for a while and eventually caught 9 large trout and 6 snook. We headed back inside and stopped at another spot I hadn't fished in a long while, and managed a couple of snook. Moving on I saw my good friend Capt. Rey Rodriguez sitting on one of my favorite redfish spots in the north end of the Sound, and stopped and called him on the cellphone. He said he had some fish biting, and invited us to join him. Of course, we did.

Rey had the fish ganged up in a pothole, which was surprising given the height of the water. We managed to catch 3 of the fish before they abruptly shut down. We told Rey we were moving on, and began moving out on the trolling motor when all of a sudden we had redfish all around us. They were spooked. I tried to head them off and turn them back to Rey, who was now on his way. Rey hooked one up, but they got away from us. They seemed to just disappear into the shallows, as we couldn't find them, again. We moved on.

At the last stop we again found our redfish, but there were not very willing to eat. We worked them hard, and again we could see them moving about, flashing, and mudding, but they just weren't interested much in eating. Alan and Pam managed to catch about 8 more of the bronze beauties, and Pam bested her big fish of the day before with a 13.5 pound beast. She was thrilled.

Although it had been a slower day, it had been a great day of fishing. We'd had a blast. I had also noticed a definite trend through the course of the week. I had Dwayne Stevens of Pace's Place build me a custom rod. It's basically a light trout rod built on a St. Croix blank. Dwayne used the latest in hi-tech guide technology, mounting the beautiful titanium framed blue zerconia guides on it, that perfectly match the Stella reels, and will stand up to years of using Power Pro braided line. It's an awesome rod, and gorgeous. Now, I'm not superstitious, but that rod was the hot rod on the boat all week. Alan and Pam loved it, and will order one from Dwayne this week. Dwayne is in the process of finishing up a whole cache of them for me, and I can't wait. They're built on St. Croix medium-heavy action blanks with fast tips, and will be perfect for beating down our big reds and snook, and even tarpon in the 100 pound class.

I will soon have only Dwayne's custom rods on the Talon, and those zirconia guides increase casting distance like you can't believe. If you're interested in the rods, let me know and I'll send you pictures and give you Dwayne's contact info. Of course, you can also come fish them with me!

We've got some seriously lousy tides for the first half of next week, so who know what will happen out there. I know I'll be working hard to make something happen, but sometimes you just can't overcome Mother Nature, no matter what you do. Tune in next week to see how it goes.

 

 

 

 

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REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 4/17/2004

by

Capt. Butch Rickey

A Five Weak Week!

I think I remember mentioning in last week's report that we had a front coming. Man, what an understatement. I don't think even the weather people had any idea just how vicious the front would be. We had heavy rains, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and gale and hurricane force winds Sunday and Monday. We recorded 55 MPH winds where I live not far from the ramp, and 80 MPH winds in places on Pine Island. That's serious stuff, and I don't think we had that much wind with the last tropical storm in 2001. It blew the fence down across the back of my house, and filled the Talon with oak leaves. Funny thing about that is that there is no oak tree anywhere near where I park the boat.

So, a shelling trip with Mike Siegelsky and his family on Monday, a fishing trip with a North Captiva pickup with Shawn Lemarie on Tuesday, and a trip with Harold Singer and a couple of his friends on Wednesday, were all in the dumper because of the weather and high winds that persisted even after the front had passed. I finally got on the water Thursday with my old friend Harold Tollrian, for our second trip of his stay. I knew it would be a very tough trip. it was still windy, but doable, and the water was a mess; both dirty and full of seaweed. I knew the fish would not want to eat, but Harold didn't have the option of rescheduling. We went for it.

We headed to Tarpon Bay for bait, where others were already chumming. Although it didn't come easily, we got enough shiners and pinfish to fish. I didn't learn until later than some of the others there had not gotten bait. Pothole fishing would necessarily be the order of the day. The constant and brutal north winds for days had not allowed the water to come in, and the tide was well below normal. We had a high tide of 1.5 ft. above MLW, but from what I saw out there, it never even approached 1.0.

So, Harold and I went pothole fishing, hoping to at least find some willing speckled trout (weakfish). In the first half of the morning we found only 4 trout, but they were all keepers, and at the top of the slot. Ironically, we caught them on a jig worked very slowly just like we would do during the cold of winter. We later fished a beautiful redfish flat, but never had a redfish strike. Harold did catch a beautiful 5# speckled trout, though, which he was very pleased with. Snook? Oh, we had many snook hits during the trip, but they were the classic hit and run that you can't even feel with Power Pro. You reel your shiner in to check it and it's scaled and half dead; the signature of a snook! Very frustrating.

Here's Harold with a 5 pound trout!

So, Harold and I had a 5 weak(fish) day, which made the week. We had fun, and finished with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant, where Harold delighted to the stuffed deviled crabs along with me.

I was to fish with my old friends Rod and Judy Heflin, on Friday, who have recently sold their business in Miami, and retired to Pine Island. As much as I needed to work, I just didn't have the heart to drag them out there on a day when I knew the conditions were going to continue to keep the fish turned off. They're local now, and can fish anytime. So, we'll reschedule.

That's it. A full week reduced to one tough day because of a freak cold front. Hopefully, that's the last of that stuff for this year! Next week is also full, and the tides are pretty good. We'll see!

It was a busy week, with new milestones, and pretty good fishing, for the most part. My seven day week became six days when my friend Tony Ronci was forced to cancel our Sunday outing with his brother because his brother was under the weather, and the forecast was for lots of wind.

So, the week began with David Fields, and his son Josh. We had a very tough twelve hour tide to fish, and the wind was howling at 20 from the east/southeast. A tough combination. But, we went for it. David has fished for 45 years, for many species, and in far away places, and is a good fisherman and understands that you don't always draw the conditions you'd like.

We stopped near Chino Island and managed to catch enough bait without too much trouble, and no chumming. We had shiners, some threads, and some pins. Plenty to fish with. But, fishing was predictably tough. Dave and Josh fished hard, and through the course of the morning managed to catch half a dozen trout, half a dozen snook with the largest at 30 inches, and one redfish to give the boys a Slam. Toward the end of the tide we fished a flat for redfish, and had lots of big reds literally right in front of the boat. We threw everything we had in the boat at them; shiners, cut threads, cut pinfish, live pinfish under corks, and the proverbial gold spoon. They gave us the fin at every offering. The important thing was that we had gone out in bad conditions, had a great time, and made it work.

Tuesday was the first of three trips with Tony Caroleo, and his best fishing buddy, Jim DiMaggio. Tony hales from Jamaica, New York. Jim is a charter captain in Anchorage, Alaska. Jim had mentioned in an email that Tony was visually impaired, but I was a bit surprised to see them walking down the dock that first morning with a beautiful black lab seeing-eye dog that Tony calls Buddy. In a flash I relived every experience I'd had with large dogs in small fishing skiffs for 6 or 7 hours. Suffice it to say they don't do well, and it's not fair to a dog to strand it on a small boat. Kinda like bringing along a two year old toddler and tying him off to the console so that he can't play or move around. But, I guess Tony felt he needed him there, and there was no taking him back at that point, so we made it work.

We again had strong southeast winds, but the tide was much better than it had been on Monday. Tony and Jim both assured me their main objective and joy was just being on the water with each other, and catching a bunch of fish was not important. It's nice to have a customer take the pressure off you, but every professional guide still wants to put his customer on fish if possible.

My plan for that first day was to get out and fish the potholes for outsized trout while the water was way down. But, the cloud cover was so thick that I couldn't see the potholes, sometimes even when I was right on top of them. Pothole fishing is a precise thing. You have to be able to reach across the pothole and put the bait along the edges, because that's where the fish typically stage. We tried to make pothole fishing work, but it wasn't working, so I decided to go ahead and catch bait and move to Plan 2.

We managed to catch bait again near Chino, but had to work a bit harder for it that on the previous day. Our system was that Buddy would lay at Tony's feet when we were running, and Tony would tie him off to the polling platform when we were fishing. Buddy was really very well behaved, considering he was out on the water, but being held captive away from us. He got really excited when we brought fish into the boat, and after Tony told me he likes to lick the fish, I would take the fish back to him to give a little lick before putting them back in the water. When we were running Buddy managed to work himself around so that his head was behind the console in the space I needed to run the boat. Tony told me he didn't like the wind in his face! But, Buddy was turning lights, baitwells, and bilge pumps on and off with his nose, so I had to keep a close eye on him.

Through the course of the rest of the morning we moved from spot to spot, catching a few fish here, and a few there, and moving Buddy back and forth from freedom to captivity at the platform. We had a good time, and Buddy got to lick lots of fish. Tony and Jim caught lots of nice speckled trout, missed a number of snook, boated 2 redfish, and a grouper.

Tony and Jim are great guys, and it's always fun to fish with a couple of seasoned fishing buddies, as they usually have a lot of fun teasing each other when they miss fish, catch fish, throw baits into the mangroves, etc., and of course they double-team the guide when he misses a fish!

I have to admit that I was a bit relieved to see Tony and Jim without Buddy on Wednesday morning. It served no purpose for Buddy to be on the boat, and I figured that it should be possible to get Tony from the car to the dock without too much ado. The flip side was that I was genuinely worried about the noise that Buddy made in the boat. Particularly the hard noise he'd make when he would bang the pushpole or the noise that came from his toenails against the deck. Those kinds of noise transmit far through the water, and are the number one enemy of shallow water fishing. One clank from a hatch cover, a foot, a cooler top; whatever, can send them running for cover and put an end to the fishing in that spot.

The day was heavily overcast once again, and pothole fishing seemed to be out. I decided to try to get bait first, and hope the cloud cover would lift. My best friend Capt. Butch Boteler had been out the day before and spent it scouting for bait. He had found great bait in about 6 feet of water off Picnic Island. I figured it should certainly be there again.

We stopped at the first span of the causeway and watched most of the guides working that morning throwing for bait, but didn't see the first shiner caught! We headed to Picnic thinking bait would be a sure thing, but it wasn't. We chummed and threw the net for an hour without so much as seeing a living thing. I headed to Chino where we had caught bait earlier in the week, and there was no bait there, either. I called Butch knowing he was out, and he told me to go and get the bait he had left in his big bait trap at his dock. Once we got there we found there wasn't as much bait left as Butch had though; mostly pinfish. We took the remaining shiners, probably two to three dozen, and a bunch of pinfish. It would have to be enough.

And, it was! We had a great day. The dynamic duo put a lot of fish in the boat! Early on they caught 7 snook including 4 keepers to 10 pounds. Tony caught the biggest one, and it was sheer excitement for all three of us from start to finish as the big snook plunged herself at the mangrove roots. She ran the whole length of the shoreline right at the roots, but Tony somehow managed to keep her from getting in. I guess he was keying on my coaching, but however he did it, he got her to the boat. It was a beautiful light tackle fish. Jim caught some nice snook, too, including a nice one of the trout jig we had used.

Later in the morning the boys put a good 40 speckled trout into the boat, along with one flounder. To finish the day I headed to the flat where we had previously found the school of redfish in hopes that they might be willing to eat. We chummed and gave them lots to choose from, but only managed to get one 10 pound redfish into the boat. Tony caught it, and was loving it.

Thursday, the working fleet was again throwing around the first span of the causeway, but I saw no bait caught. We headed up the river to catch some ladyfish to later use for bait on the stubborn redfish. The bite was slow, probably because of the nearly full moon. Ladyfish are very nocturnal feeders, as are snook, and most of our fish. But, we managed to put 4 big ones into the well, and catch a few others. Tony and Jim agreed that they're a lot of fun to catch. As we returned from the river and headed into the Sound we saw the fleet now anchored and chumming at Picnic. I didn't want to invest a lot of time there when there seemed to be little or no bait, so we kept going . At our destination bait came pretty quickly, but was made very tough by all the green slime on the bottom that clogged up the net and held untold amounts of water, making the net very heavy and hard to handle. The bait was beautiful, but I was worn out by the time we were done.

Again is was windy, but the sky was clear for a change. At the first few stops the boys only managed a couple of snook and several nice trout. The fish weren't in an eating mood. OH, we had a lot of hits that couldn't be felt. It was the classic old snook trick when they don't want to eat. They'll hit the bait and stun it and knock the scales off the midsection, but you rarely feel it happen. But, they leave no doubt they were there.

Frustrated and wanting to put my guys on fish, I decided to cross the very rough Sound to check on a flat that I'm not usually looking at until late April for redfish. But, I just had a hunch the reds might be there. I knew it would be a tough crossing between the wind and all the big boat traffic, and Tony had told me he had previously undergone two back surgeries, but I decided to go for it and try to be as easy as I could. It's impossible to know how much bouncing is too much bouncing for someone with back problems. I went forth knowing that my very good friend Russ Hubbard, who is in sole possession of one of the worst backs still walking, loves the Talon because it never hurts his back.

But, as we approached the main ICW channel, I misjudged a series of cross wakes and allowed the Talon to pound. It sent Tony into orbit. He blew up, screamed at me to stop the *$@)# boat, and threatened to kill me. Humm! Now, there was a milestone, for sure; mutiny on the BarHopp'R. My deepest instinct wanted to get back into his face, but I knew that he was genuinely hurting very badly, and blaming me. I felt awful, and kept my mouth shut, even though I didn't like that he seemed to think I had hurt him on purpose. He laid on the deck wrenching in pain for a few minutes, and finally began to get his composure. He declared we were done fishing and would idle home, but after some quiet conversation and hearing my game plan, decided we would proceed with trying for some redfish. Through his pain, the thrill of the pull of that 10 pound red from the day before came through. We were almost to our destination, so I put the trim tabs down, tucked the motor under, and went as slowly as I could and stay on step.

I hoped to spot the illusive school of big reds as we rode along, but didn't. We stopped at a couple of holes nearby and caught several more snook. We had decided that we would drop Tony off at South Seas Plantation where they were staying, instead of subjecting him to another possible back hurting wake, and headed that direction. I decided to look at the flat again along the way, and suddenly there were big reds everywhere. I had found them. I circled around to see if the reds were still there, or if they had fled. They were still there, and this time Jim was treated to the sight of them, as well. I came around upwind of them a way and shut down. I made a quiet approach to where I had seen the fish and anchored and began chumming with live shiners, cut shiners, and cut ladyfish steaks.

I saw the school rise and move a small distance from us, and knew in my gut that if they were willing to eat, they would come. I made one adjustment of the boat a bit closer to them, but didn't want to risk pushing them. We could get the distance to the fish with Cajun floats and cut ladyfish cannonballs. Well, it didn't take long before we had the first fish on. Then another. And, another. And another. We were suddenly on a great redfish bite, and again proved the ability of fishing a hot bite to remove one from the pains and cares of life. Tony and Jim were both having a blast, and I was having a blast just watching them and trying my best to hold the fish in front of us.

Things were happening too rapidly to keep count, but we were catching the big reds two and three at a time for a good 45 minutes. They had turned on right at the last of the high tide, and we were there to enjoy. Once they were done, we headed to the Tee-dock at South Seas to drop Tony off. At the dock I apologized once again for hurting Tony's back, and he apologized for loosing his cool, and we gave each other a hug. Jim and I returned to the ramp solo.

It was a great three days with two great guys. Yes, we had a couple of bumps, but I know that I have made some great new friends that I will enjoy fishing with once again. And, if you are entertaining fishing in Alaska, you owe it to yourself to get in touch with Capt. Jim DiMaggio. I know from spending three days in the boat with him that he's a class act, and a great captain. He brought me bunches of great pictures to enjoy, and told me many stories of the fishing there. I'm hoping I can arrange to get up there to fish with him during August in the next year or two.

It's amazing how fishing can change from one day to the next. Although Tony, Jim, and I had a great day the day before, most of the action came late. Friday, with my friend Chris Moles, whom I hadn't seen in four years, and his friend Mike May of Phoenix, Arizona, it was action all day long.

We began the day with bait at our secret little spot, but I figured it wouldn't stay secret very long as the whole fleet had no doubt seen me go by while they were at Picnic Island chumming. Again, bait came easily, but was made difficult by all the green yuck on the bottom. We still had a brisk breeze from the southeast, and were almost on the full moon.

From the first stop to the last stop the action was great. Chris and Mike caught tons of speckled trout up to four pounds, with many at three and three and a half pounds. They also caught a keeper snook each, from two different spots, along with one gag grouper. Then, at the last stop we got on big spring trout that show up at this particular spot around this time every season. Mike and Chris caught them on every cast for at least an hour, maybe longer. I can safely say they caught around 100 trout for the day, and there wasn't a one that wasn't in the slot, or larger. These were quality trout, and Chris was pretty amazed.

It was a great day with great guys who love to fish, and it was nice to see Chris again after so long, and to meet Mike. Mike said he'd definitely like to come back and do it again.

Saturday. It's spring break AND the weekend. Thank God I didn't have to deal with the ramp, because I was fishing with my good friend Dr. John Hitt, and departing from his dock in his Coastal 22. It was calm and flat when we left his dock, but by the time we had caught a few ladyfish and moved down the river, the wind was up.

We headed to my spot for bait, and too my surprise found only two or three of boats there. Also, to my surprise no one seemed to be catching bait. John and I began our chumming routine, and after a couple of throws with John's 8 ft. net, I came to a realization that catching bait in that slimy bottom is much easier with a smaller net that holds much less of the slime. The net is much easier to handle than a 10 footer full of yuck, and still catches plenty of bait. It didn't take John and I long to get plenty, and be on our way, leaving most of the boats still there chumming.

Now, the problem would be where to fish. There were already boats everywhere, and it was still early. I headed to one of my favorite snook holes, and found it available to fish because the water around it was still so shallow that we were sitting hard aground once we were stopped. We would be there until the tide came in enough to float the Coastal. Normally, that's not a problem, as the hole is usually hot when the tide kicks from dead low. But, today, on the full moon, nothing wanted to eat. We fished hard for several hours, leaving that spot and fishing many others, with only two snook and two trout to show for our efforts. John had one trout in the well, and I think he had already resolved himself to the idea that would be it.

But, I told him of the redfish school showing up a month early on the Sanibel side, and of the bite Tony and Jim had enjoyed, and we decided to go and take another run at them. I also told John that the action seemed to be coming on the last of the tide. It seems as if often on the full moon this is the case. The action comes late after the fish seemingly have had time to digest their late night moonlight buffet.

I didn't run the flat. It would have been pointless with the chop produced by the strong southwest wind. Instead, I took us to the scene of the previous crime, and many previous crimes, and anchored and began chumming. I spotted several big singles as I made my approach on the trolling motor, and knew the fish were there. Again, our offerings included cut ladyfish, live and cut shiners, and cut pinfish.

It wasn't long before we had the first strike. The first several strikes were spectacular ones on the live shiners under the Cajun floats. Amazingly, the 4/0 Owner circle hooks managed not to hook the fish. It was a trend for the rest of the day. We had 13 great hits, and managed to miss, break off, and otherwise lose the fish, and landed 6. But, they were a great 6 redfish! John had fish of 12, 11, 10, and 9 pounds, and only managed to get one fish small enough to keep at just under 27 inches. Again, these fish were running around 30 inches and better.

We stayed until we were absolutely sure they were done, and began the long ride home. What had begun as a slow day had ended with a big bang. John and I were happy campers, and I was ready for my one day off before making another long run at the fish.

Don't you know there's a front coming that is supposed to one again drop the overnight temps into the 40's for much of the week. The week also brings some very nice late day tides that are great for chasing redfish on the flats. So, it's anyone's guess how the week will play out. Stay tuned.

It was a great week to be slow, because the weather has been very rough; blowing like crazy all week . Monday and Tuesday is blew from southerly directions as a big cold front approached, forcing me to move my Wednesday trip to Tuesday. Wednesday the storm came and it rained all day long, leaving us with a couple inches of rain. Predictably, Thursday and Friday were awful with wind still howling at up to 25 MPH, and lows back in the 40's.

After seeing the forecast for Wednesday, Charlie Wilson and I agreed that we'd better take our chances with Tuesday. At least it wouldn't be raining. But the weather guys promised wind, and we sure got it. It was howling straight out of the south when Charlie and his son Brian, of Danbury, Connecticut, left the dock that morning. The tide was blowing out of the river in direct opposition to the wind, and the mouth of the river was very ugly. Big rollers! Although the Talon will hop right over most of that kind of stuff, I didn't want to scare the hell out of Charlie and Brian first thing off the bat, so I took it slow and easy until we got into some smaller water. Eventually we made it to the ladyfish grounds where we were able to catch a few ladyfish for bait to be used later for redfish, but they weren't biting well. We put four in the well, and decided to move on.

I had hopes of catching some shiners along the way, but it was so windy in the Sound that it was nearly impossible to throw the net. With Charlie at the helm, I managed 4 baits on the first throw. But, those were the only 4 shiners we saw! After trying in vain, I decided to try to anchor and chum, but that was equally difficult. Hell, we had 2 footers trying to come over the back of the boat! The whale tale/splash guard on the Talon kept the water from coming right on up to the seat, but it was very difficult to stand up and get footing to throw the net. I was also having to throw across a vicious wind, and it just wasn't working. We managed a dozen or so pinfish and a few crabs, and finally resolved to fish artificials and what bait we had.

I wanted to get to the Sanibel side of the Sound, knowing that I could get out of at least some of the wind, and would have an easier ride home. But, I wasn't sure what kind of price we would pay to get there. I took an angle that kept the wind at my port side, and we rode the hills and troughs of the 4 ft. seas across the Sound. It wasn't as bad as I expected.

Once there we took up position to fish some potholes, and were quickly joined by a couple of other boats. They forced me to change my plans somewhat, but we did manage to catch quite a few very nice trout. We all quickly realized that we were the only ones catching any fish!

I was anxious to put the ladyfish steaks out, and as the water flooded the flats we moved to another area and began chumming. I could see small pods of reds rooting in the mud, and "mudding", here, there, and yonder. We were on the fish. But, they weren't about to eat. We did catch some beautiful trout to 4 pounds on the steaks, much to another boat's chagrin. We had two redfish hits on the steaks, but they just weren't interested enough to hold on. We also tried spoons and jigs, but the reds just weren't having any part of us.

Conceding the redfish, I moved to another area to use the 4 shiners we had. Charlie made good on the first two of them, and turned them into his first two snook. Brian couldn't resist the urge to strike on the hit, and missed two more. Actually, he missed one very big fish who's back we actually saw twice as it rolled on the shiner. But, he did get one. And, then there were none! And, the tide was done.

Charlie was really concerned about the ride home, but it was much more pleasant than the ride out, as I was able to follow the inside shoreline of Sanibel all the way back to the causeway and across.

I talked to some friends after the trip and they had seen identical circumstances with the redfish. The reds just weren't eating. But, Charlie and Brian were great sports to even leave the dock on such a windy day, and they were rewarded with lots of beautiful trout and their first snook. We had a good time in spite of Mother Nature.

The big spring push begins for me on Sunday, February 29. It will be cold in the morning, but is supposed to warm to the mid 80's. It WILL be windy. The tides early in the week are very poor, but improve as we approach the full moon next Saturday. We'll be fighting poor tides, wind, and full bellies. It will be a long report next week; seven days. Hopefully, it will be an interesting one as well.

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!