Weather continues to dominate the fishing this week. It's unbelievably hot for Florida, in fact, many of you have probably heard that we're setting records here almost daily. And, it's dry. So dry across the state that fires are rampant. Flagler County has been practically burned out and completely evacuated. We're having problems with forest fires on the west coast, too, but we've been much more fortunate than the east coast and further north. The result of all this strange weather is hot, hot, hot water. Currently, the Gulf temperature is at 90, probably higher in the shallower water near shore. The water on the flats has got to be 5 or 6 degrees hotter. If you can catch a fish on the flats right now, it will probably be cooked if you take to long to land it. As you might suppose, all this is having a negative impact on the fishing, with the result being a very early bite, and an early end to the bite. When it's over, you might as well go home until early evening. The snook, although a tropical fish, don't like this super heated water, and the redfish have all but disappeared off the flats. I don't look for fishing to return to normal until the weather does, ie, big afternoon thunderstorms with lots of rain to cool everything down some before the next day starts the cycle all over, again.
I had two of my very best friends and fishing buddies Lee Dugger and Butch Boteler in town for the weekend, and took a four day stretch off to be with them. We spent a day on Pine Island looking at property for Butch, who's very interested in moving there from St. Cloud. Sunday we just putzed around for most of the day.
Monday, we were up at 3:00 AM and on the way to St. James City, where we launched in darkness hoping to get our bait quickly and get first shot at the snook. It was a beautiful morning except for the heat, with a light breeze. The Gulf was pretty calm and just right for beach snooking. Lee had his two beautiful children, Matthew, who is ten, and Amanda, who is eight, along. Matt really likes to fish, and has caught some beauties out with his dad and me. Amanda was basically along for the ride. We had a good bite right from the get-go, which meant lots of hits, misses, and fish to the boat. After catching two or three Matthew started complaining of not feeling well. Before the morning was over he was seasick. We finally cured that by putting him and his sister over the side tethered to a rope. Seasickness gone! My buddy Butch, who is one of the most skilled and intense anglers I've ever fished with, had a tough day. He insisted on using his Shimano Curado baitcast reel, which is a great reel, but not very well suited to throwing shiners, especially into a breeze. Butch is stubborn, and insists on doing things his way, which sometimes means not at all. He wasn't getting the hits as regular as Lee and I were, because he wasn't getting the bait in close enough to the cover. He was also having a hard time sticking the fish and keeping them stuck. He uses a fine wire Kahle hook, which you just won't see anyone use for shiner fishing here. I tried them some time ago at his urging, and definitely didn't like them. He was also using 20 pound leader, which is just not heavy enough for the barnacle encrusted cover that we fish. Butch lost a lot of nice fish, and was really getting upset with himself. He finally succumbed, and used one of my spinners for the balance of the morning. Butch also discovered how great a device my TieFast knot tying tool is when you've got to tie lots of lines, and do it quickly. Like myself, Butch is beginning to suffer from shrinking arms, and can no longer see close. The great thing about the TieFast is that you really don't have to see what you're doing after you get familiar with the tool. You can do almost everything by feel. Best of all, it ties knots that are superior to most of what you can tie without the tool. Lee had a great day, with lots of fish in the boat, including a 9 pounder, 7 pounder, and lots of 4 to 6 pounders. Seems as though Lee always manages to bag a few big snook when he fishes with me. We ended the day with more than 30 snook in the boat, along with one trout, and I'm sure we lost at least as many. Oddly enough, we had two guys in an Egret flats boat parked just off our port side for most of the morning. We saw them land one redfish, a couple of small snappers, and a couple of catfish, and that was it. We noticed, that they spent more time watching us catch our fish, than they did watching their own lines. I see that happen a lot out there, and it's usually because they're fishing too far off the cover, and/or don't have the proper baits.
Wednesday, it was back to North Captiva to pick up Ron Welcker, this time with his friend Pauli, a boat photographer from Orlando. I knew before I left the dock it was going to be a really tough day. First, we had a miserable tide, with less than half a foot of change over the whole tide. More importantly to the beach snook fishing, we had a west/northwest wind blowing at around 15 as I pulled into the ramp that morning, and I knew that would probably make it impossible to fish outside where the lion's share of the fish are. I did try to fish the sticks, though! We had swells large enough to capsize the boat if we took one from the side, and they were big enough to come right over the stern or the bow, depending on which way you anchored. Further, it was impossible to stand up with those waves tossing the boat around. The current was trying to pull the boat sideways to the waves, and I knew that it wasn't safe for us to be out there. The safety of my passengers always takes precedence over catching, so we were forced to go inside. With such a poor tide, there was barely any water movement in Blind Pass. That pass is very narrow, and acts as a venturi, which amplifies any current flow. I figured our best shot at find a snook that would eat would be there in the pass. We did see quite a few snook stationed under the overhanging mangroves, but we couldn't get them to eat. I think we had two or three hits, which were missed. Ron realized that the situation was basically hopeless, and graciously took it in stride. We called it early and went home with one small grouper and one trout caught. I'm sure we could have caught plenty of fish on the beach, but it just was not to be.
I had a trip for two scheduled with Fred Kremer for Thursday, but when I still hadn't heard from him by Wednesday evening, I suspected something to be wrong. I called Fred to see what was up, and he indicated he though I was supposed to call him back with a confirmation after I found out whether a tentative I had scheduled was going to be a go or not. Apparently, I had dropped the ball, and Fred didn't put the trip on his calendar. We rescheduled him for July 17th, and I got an unexpected day off. Capt. Mark and I spent the day together running guide errands; you know, buying tackle, supplies and the like, taking nets in for repair, working on the little things that quit on the boat. There's always plenty to do.
Friday was my last day with Ron Welcker. I was praying for a good
weather day so we could get out to the fish. I didn't want to have to
take the show back on the inside again, with such poor tides and hot
water killing the fishing there. We had planned to have Pauli bring
everyone who was going to fish in his 25 ft. Mako and meet me on the
Keesel's flat at 6:00 AM. I would catch enough bait for both boats and
lend Pauli some rod and reels for his anglers, and they would follow Ron
and I to the fishing grounds. As daylight broke at around 6:00 AM, I could
see a white boat way off in the distance, obviously stuck on the bar we
call The Hump, between McKeever Keys and Regla Island. It was too far
away to be sure, but the laws of probabilities were dictating that it was
surely Pauli and our crew. They finally got free and got to me at around
6:35. Bait was tough that morning, and because it was the Friday of a
Fourth of July weekend, I knew it would be busy, early. I divvied up
some bait, keeping the best for the man who was paying for the trip,
passed Pauli some tackle, and we were off. Pauli had to run back up to
Redfish Pass and come around the outside, as the big tower on his Mako
stands higher than the Blind Pass bridge. By the time Pauli arrived we
were well into the catching mode. Ron had brought two friends from North
Captiva, Hunter Sr., a dentist, and his son Hunter Jr., seventeen years
old. The trio had a good bite going, and were keeping me busy tying
lines. Hunter Jr. caught a redfish of about 12 pounds and a few snook
and trout. He got the west coast slam. Hunter Sr. lost two big snook.
The second was on a 17 pound rig. that snook was ripping line off that
rig against four pounds of drag like it was nothing. Hunter, came very
close to winning the war, as he had the fish off the cover more than
once. Ultimately, the fish was too strong, and there's just too much
stuff for a fish that big to cut you off in, and she cut herself free.
Hunter said he saw the fish, and it was a monster. Ron didn't boat any big
snook this day, but caught and lost his share. By the time the bite had
subsided, the boys had put 1 big redfish, 6 nice speckled trout, and 15
or more snook in the boat. God only knows how many got away. Ron and I
had been blessed with two out of three mornings of pretty good snook
fishing, considering the conditions we have right now. He was a really
nice guy, patient with all the folks he had along over the three days,
and quite a good fisherman. I hope that I'll have the opportunity to
take him out again in the future when we're in our normal summer weather
pattern, and the snook fishing is nothing short of spectacular.