Well, the vacation is over and it's back to work. My friend Jay Pitha was back on Captiva for a week of R and R. He and his friend Mike wanted to spend a day chasing tarpon. I suggested that instead of fighting the beach crowds, we try to find some smaller fish in the ten to fifty pound range in the backcountry. Jay agreed. I wanted to be armed with all kinds of bait so we first caught a few dozen threadfins at the Sanibel Causeway. Then we were off to the flat at Keesel's to catch the beautiful shiners that had just shown up there. We also kept some pinfish and a couple of small blue crabs. We were armed with just about everything a tarpon loves to eat, and were off to an area in Matlacha that smaller tarpon often frequent. Conditions were perfect on the shallow flat. No wind at all had allowed the water to lay flat. We could see anything that moved. Of course, that also made it unbearably hot. To my dismay and disappointment, the crabbers had literally filled the area with crab traps, and there were several boats in there working the traps for a good part of the morning. Although there is plenty to eat on this flat, I think all the commotion kept the poons away. Every push we saw and cast to turned out to be big jacks, which are fun, but not tarpon. We took a slow ride around a mangrove key on the trolling motor and saw lots of small snapper, and a few redfish, but didn't catch any. Late in the morning we decided to abandon the tarpon and try to put a few snook in the boat. I knew we were coming up on the top of the tide and the water wouldn't be moving much, and figured Shell Creek would be the best bet to still have some movement. There were some downed tree limbs in the creek that had probably been put there by the last bad storms. They turned out to be a problem for my anglers. While we still had some water movement Jay and Mike tagged several nice snook, but lost them in the tree laying out in the creek bed, after successfully getting them out of the mangroves. Once the water quit moving, the bit switched to mangrove snapper and jacks. Jay and Mike caught half dozen or so good-sized snappers, and around 8 jacks up to about five pounds. It was a great way to end the day.
Tuesday, Rick Bardowell, an Ace Hardware owner from Weston, Florida, was over to try his luck on the snook with his friends Chris and Richard. Rick also wanted to catch one redfish for dinner. There was plenty of great bait at Keesel's, so it wasn't long before we were fishing. We had an east wind at around 5 to 10, so the conditions were perfect to chase snook on the outside. I don't think Rick and the boys had ever tangled with anything like those snook in heavy cover. Within the first few minutes of the first cast, we had all the lines broken off by some great fish, and they continued to break them as fast I could retie. The boys missed a lot of the early bite, just because they were breaking off so quickly, and I couldn't keep up. But with some extreme coaching and time, they settled in and got the hang of turning those fish around, and put some nice fish in the boat. By late morning they had caught 3 trout to 18 inches, 3 jacks, and around a dozen nice snook. They also lost a couple of big reds. I had planned to make a quick trip inside for the last part of the incoming tide, and try to chum up a couple of redfish for Rick. We headed inside. On the flats I started swinging the bait-bat, and it wasn't long before we had a couple of home runs. Rick got a couple of nice reds for the cooler, and we headed for the ramp and a reprieve from the oppressive heat. It was a great day. Rick, Chris, and Richard were great guys to fish with, and lots of fun. Best of all for me, was that they were eager to learn how to fish. The listened well and executed well, and I know the next time they're over they'll do even better.
Wednesday morning, Jim Spring and Ray Walker, from Lake City, Florida, where all the fires are currently blazing, were scheduled to try again. We had boat problems the last time they were in town, and terrible weather, to boot, and called the trip. I had gotten a message from Jim saying they'd meet me at the ramp at seven o'clock. Problem is that's way too late. I wanted them there by no later than six, so we could get our bait and get on the fish early. This heat has been shutting the bite down early, so it's important to start early. Problem was, Jim didn't leave me a contact number in Ft. Myers, and I couldn't get an answer on him home number. Damn! I had no choice but to get up at 3:00 AM and hit the water, and hopefully be baited up and back at the dock by 7:00 AM. That makes a long day for a donated CCA trip. Already late, I hurried to the snook grounds hoping I could still get into my favorite spot. I did, and we had an extreme bite almost from the get-go. Besides the snook, there were big redfish and trout ganged up with the snook, and mackerel behind the boat in a little deeper water. The reds were all running over 30 inches. I don't know how many Jim and Ray missed, but after putting 6 reds in the boat, the largest of which was 15 pounds and 35 inches long, Ray said that was all the fish he wanted to catch like that. Jim and Ray also put 6 or more nice snook, 6 trout up to 20 inches, 2 mackerel, and 2 jacks in the boat. the last big red of the morning had two wounds on her back. There was a large wound where a considerable hunk of flesh had been bitten away, that was already healed. There was another fresh, open wound right behind the first wound. I also removed a hook and long leader from her. None of that slowed that fish down. It was a great morning of fishing, with a couple of guys who are a real trip, and have gotten to be some of my favorites. They're always fun.
Thursday belonged to Capt. Pete Wagner, a charterboat captain from Cranford, New Jersey. It was a perfect morning for beach snooking with light and variable wind. It didn't take long to load up on beautiful bait at Keesel's, and we were gone fishin. We had a good bite, and the reds, trout, and mackerel were still there. My buddy Capt. Mark Bess was running a large party trip I'd sent him in my BarHopp'R II. We anchored near each other on the beach, and don't you know one of the first fish Mark's boat caught was the very same wounded redfish I had released the previous morning. She had two new lines broken off in her. Pete and I lost quite a few fish out there that morning before the bite slowed, but still managed to boat 5 trout, 2 mackerel, and 5 big reds to 12 pounds, along with a few snook. Once the bite slowed, we moved inside to the pass. No one was catching anything there, but we figured out how to do it. The tide was coming in hard. We could see snook stacked up way back under one of the docks, but couldn't get them to come out and eat. So, I positioned the boat up current from the dock, which allowed Pete to cast in front of the dock on the up current side. Every time he made a cast at the edge or under the dock, a snook quickly attacked his shiner. That's some tough snook fishing conditions, but Pete was a very skillful angler, and successfully boated at least one out of every two hits. He boated somewhere around 15 snook that morning. We had a great time, and it was almost like a day off for me, except for tying lots of lines.
Friday I was to fish with Ron Welcker, a personal injury attorney out
of New Orleans, and his older brother Joe, who is retired. I was to pick
Ron up at Safety Harbor on North Captiva, and had left him a message
stating that I would stop along the way to catch bait, and would call him
once I was done to tell him I was on my way. I had estimated that may be
as late as 8:00 AM, depending on how the bait was. Meanwhile, I decided
to get up early (3:30 AM) and get to it, so we could get to the snook
grounds early. I had all the bait caught and was ready to go pick up Ron
by around 6:30. Ron's phone kept ringing busy. Finally, I headed toward
North Captiva, and hoped that I'd find him waiting at the restaurant when
I arrived. I didn't! I continued to call his busy number, and my cell
battery went dead. I borrowed a phone at one of the rental agents office
and continued to call. Busy! I finally got through and left a message
that I was trying to find him. I'd already been to all the docks and
restaurants looking for him. I hung around Barnacle Bill's for a while
and decided to go back out and look around, and found Ron and Joe waiting
at the assigned dock. Ron had apparently misunderstood my message, and
just thought I was picking him up at 8:00 AM. He'd been on the internet
all morning, and that's why the phone was ringing busy. But, now beside
running late, we had another more serious problem. While the boat was
tied up to the dock at Barnacle Bill's, the stagnant water had killed all
the bait in the front well, and all but about two dozen in the rear well.
I was fit to be tied. It was too late to go catch more bait. I managed
to revive maybe another dozen or so, and we headed out with the bait we
had. There were lots of boats on the beach Friday morning. Many more than
we usually see. I managed to slip in between Capt. Mark, who gave me a
couple of scoops of bait, and another boat on my right, and get pretty
close to my favorite spot. We didn't see much catching going on, and the
reds and trout were gone. Ron and Joe caught 8 or so nice snook right
out from underneath Mark and the other boat, and they each boated snook
of just under 11 pounds. Ron wanted to catch a redfish for the table, so
we took what little bait I had left and went inside to the flats. I did
my best to chum the reds in on what little bait I had left, and did
manage to get two to hit, but Ron committed the Cardinal sin, he struck
when he saw the fish blow up on the bait, instead of waiting on a tight
line, and missed them both. That was the end of the trip and the end of a
pretty good week of fishing. Ron and I agreed that I would catch bait
again on the way to North Captiva, then pick him up, and that he would
stay off the phone so I could call him. I think the bait will be OK as
long as I don't have to sit in that stagnant water for more than a couple
of minutes. We'll see.