It's a new week of fishing with mostly new faces, and probably some new problems. Let's see how it went. Bob Brockway, of Brockway Fire Protection in Pompano Beach, Florida, was over for the first time with his friend Angel Cabrerra to try their hand at our brand of snooking and my style of coaching. We drew a pretty nice day, but the bait had disappeared off of the Keesel's flat. Fortunately, I found plenty of beautiful bait at the Hump. After two or three throws, we were off to the Stickbeach. Most folks have never done this type of fishing, and it usually turns out to be much more challenging than anticipated. Bob and Angel were no exceptions. This can be what I call "extreme fishing", and it requires some "extreme coaching" to get newcomers to the game to the point where they're putting fish in the boat. After all, isn't that what it's all about? Well, Bob and Angel caught on pretty quickly, and before the beach session was over had lost a whole bunch of fish in the sticks, but had quite a few in the boat. We spent the last hour on the flats in the Sound looking to scare up a redfish, and by noon, Bob and Angel had boated 2 redfish and lost 2, along with 3 trout, and 12 to 15 snook to 6 pounds. Bob and Angel were great guys, and I hope the they had as much fun learning and fishing as I did coaching.
I spent Tuesday with Capt. Kent Riedesel, who moved down to Cape Coral from Wisconsin about a year ago. Kent charters on Lake Michigan every summer, but hopes he can do some guiding down here at some point in the future. He has been going on guided trips in an effort to learn how to fish our area, which is a very smart thing to do. My plan was to show him the proper way to fish the Stickbeach, then take him inside and show him how to fish snook in the shallows. We had an overcast day with a southeast breeze to keep things bearable. There was plenty of bait once again at the Hump. The bite on the outside wasn't intense, but good enough to allow us to put some fish in the boat. Kent basically gave me the day off, and the only thing he allowed me to do for him was tie some lines. Because Kent is a skilled angler and caught on quickly, I didn't have to tie but half a dozen rigs all morning. I forgot to make a note of how many fish we caught on the outside, but once we moved to the flats we caught 2 redfish, lost 1, and boated another 6 to 8 snook. On the way home I showed him a few more spots to fish. It was a very enjoyable morning, and I hope Kent will want to do it again.
As I drove through the darkness to Punta Rassa Wednesday morning I could see lightning out to the west. I had a bad feeling storms may be moving in off the Gulf again. I was to meet Dr. Doug Jackson, who I've had out several times, and his uncle Rex who was down from Alabama, and Doug's friend Dr. Kirt ????? Although the lightning had stopped by the time we launched, I could see the tops of the thunderheads illuminating in the growing light of dawn. As we pressed on westward toward our bait stop, I could see the telltale black wall materializing through the haze, that meant rain. When I couldn't see across the Sound to Sanibel from the York Island cut, I knew the weather was nearly on top of us, and suggested we run back to St. James City, and find shelter at the Waterfront Restaurant. It was a good call, as shortly after we arrived it started to rain. And, shortly after the rains began, it started to lightning again. We spent a couple of hours at the Waterfront, during which I had a chance to talk with the owner, J. D. Hollway about his very nice website. He has a shimmering water effect that is just beautiful, that I'd like to incorporate into my page. J.D. put me on the guy who did the effect. J. D. and all the folks at the Waterfront are really nice, and I've spent many a rainy day with them. If you ever have the opportunity to get there to eat, take it. It's great! We finally got out to catch bait around 8:30, and by that time most of it had disappeared. It was tough, but we managed to get enough to fish with. I was worried that being a couple of hours off schedule, we may have missed the main bite for the morning. We fished a couple of hours over to make up for the time we lost waiting on the weather. By the time we wrapped up, the trio had put 18 to 20 snook to six pounds in the boat, along with a trout or two, and had given many, many snook their freedom. In spite of conditions, we managed to catch some fish, and have a good time doing it. Doug is always fun, Uncle Rex was a character, and Dr. Kirt was a fun and interesting fellow, too.
Thursday and Friday I had the Case family men in from Loxahatchee, Florida, for a family reunion and fishing trip. There was dad Jerry Case, oldest son Steve, middle son Scott, and youngest son Jeff. Jerry is a couple of years older than I, and he and Jeff run the Red Barn Feed Store in Loxahatchee. Steve, is a captain in the Air Force, and flies some kind of big helicopter that does things we can't talk about. Scott, who they told me was named Al at first, is in the hay business. Jeff, who I'd booked the trip with, is a fine young man and ex-Marine of 25. They all love to fish. Boys, I hope I got all that right. I booked Capt. Kevin Holley as the extra boat for Thursday, and Capt. Rey Rodriguez for Friday. Thursday I would fish with Jeff and Steve, and Kevin would fish with Jerry and Scott (Al). It was a beautiful morning with light and variable winds. There was plenty of bait at the Hump. We were first to get enough bait and were off to reserve our spot at the Stickbeach. Kevin didn't show up for some time, and told us he couldn't get through Blind Pass with his Backcountry flats boat. Love my ProCat! We had a great bite from the get-go, but both Jeff and Steve, who are both seasoned fishermen, had a hell of a time getting their first snook out of those trees. I went into the extreme coaching mode, and tossed an occasional shiner in the sticks with them. I boated 5 snook, all five to six pounds, before Jeff or Steve got their first fish into the boat, and of course I was teasing them about missing so many fish. But, they started putting fish in the boat when they began executing the tricks I was teaching them. When the bite slowed on the outside, we went inside to fish the last part of the incoming tide. With the help of some chummed shiners, we were able to catch more real nice fish inside. In fact, Steve hooked and fought a monster of a snook, and had the battle mostly won when she spit the hook. Damn! Just wasn't meant to be. We ended the day with 20+ snook caught and released, along with 3 trout. Kevin and his crew did well on the sticks, but didn't find any more fish after they went inside. It was a fun morning of fishing, and I think all the boys learned that these west coast snook ain't no pushovers!!
As soon as I poked my head outside Friday morning at 4:00 AM, I knew it would be a tough day. The wind was coming out of the west at around 15 knots. That totally screws fishing the Stickbeach! It was also a full moon, which surprisingly hadn't been a serious factor to the fishing for the last several days. Typically, fishing for several days either side of the full moon can be very tough. Snook and redfish are nocturnal feeders, and they feed all night on those bright nights. It can sometimes be difficult to get them to eat the following morning. The third factor against us was the fact that the tide would be laying flat for most of the morning. A flat tide can be the kiss of death on inshore fishing. Just to make things interesting, bait was also tough. I don't know how many times I threw that super-fine West Coast net, but it was more than I care to. It's a 10 ft. net that's so fine it won't even gill glass minnows. It's heavy and holds a lot of water. It will kick your butt if you have to throw it too much.
Today, I was fishing Jeff and Scott. Rey was fishing with Jerry and
Steve. They had decided they'd like to go and try to find a tarpon in
the backcountry. Jerry, especially, was Jonesin' for a tarpon. Once we
had a minimum acceptable amount of bait to fish with, Rey and the boys
took off for somewhere in Matlacha, and I and my boys headed for Blind
Pass. I figured there would at least be some water movement in the pass,
which might mean the fish would eat. I was wrong. We could see snook
stacked like cordwood all along the pass, under the docks, along the
rocks, and under the mangroves. Do you think they would eat? Hell no!!
We fished out way down the whole length of the pass without so much as a
hit. Incredible, but somehow typical of what snook fishing can be. As the
tide slowly flooded the flats, we changed strategies, fishing troughs,
potholes, and bars on the flats. Finally, with a lot of coaxing with
chum, we got some fish to eat. I believe Jeff boated 5 snook and missed
2, and Scott boated 3 and missed 5. Not a spectacular day, but once the
water got high enough, and the fish had enough time to digest their late
night snacks, we got a bite going and pulled it out. Back at the dock, Rey
and boys reported a similar scenario. They'd been on many, many tarpon
all morning, but only got three to eat. Steve had boated one 30 pounder,
and Steve and Jerry had both missed a hit. Jerry is still wanting his
tarpon. Actually, I didn't give them much of a chance under the
circumstances, but Capt. Rey is a top-notch tarpon guide. It was a great
two days with the Case family. We had a lot of fun. They all had pretty
thick skin, and took my coaching well. Of course, when I missed a fish,
I had to take my shots from them. But, that's part of the fun. It was
almost like fishing with old buddies. I'd also joined the boys for
dinner Thursday night at the Seafood Center and Crabhouse, and we all
pigged out on an all you can eat snowcrab special. It was a great
evening. Thanks for the dinner and great times, boys. And, thanks to
everyone else who fished with me this week for making it a great week.