It was another windy week as Ida made her way up the Gulf to Mississippi, and I didn't get out until Friday.
My trip was the first with Chris Heaphy and his lovely wife Jan, and his son Kyle, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Chris and I had corresponded back and forth quite a bit on email, and I could tell from that he would be great to have in the boat. His love of fishing and desire to learn came through in his writing.
We met at 0600 hrs. on what was a pretty brisk morning. In fact, it was 48 down in Ft. Myers, and about 55 at the ramp. The morning was starting off calm. I had talked to a couple of my guide friends Thursday night, and the news on bait was not good. I decided to begin at the B span flat, which is where it usually shows up first in spring, and last as winter approaches. There were two other boats there already at work.
The tide was running hard, and had already been coming in for a couple hours. Chris took over the chumming duties and was tossing the chum far to the left up the current trying to get the bait in front of us, if there was bait. The first throw only gave us a few pinfish, but we stayed at it, and the shiners eventually showed up. But, they were hard to catch, as they just didn't want to bunch up. I threw the net more than I care to, but realized along the way that I was hitting the bait to frequently, and caught more when I waited longer between throws. We had a very early high tide, and after putting a hundred or so shiners in the well, couldn't see the wisdom of wasting any more of the tide trying to catch more bait that we might never use in the first place. I knew instinctively it would be a tough bite now that the storm and cold front had passed and cold weather had come in behind it. So, we were off to see if we could find some dumb fish.
The ride to the first fishing spot was invigorating and refreshing. As we got started the fish weren't much interested in our baits, but Jan struck first blood with a beautiful speckled trout of about 4 pounds. She was just thrilled with that fish, and it was beautiful, with a bright yellow mouth inside. While we worked that area Jan caught several more big trout and a small snook, and Kyle caught a small snook, as I remember. I think we got one more snook before we moved on.
At out next stop we were looking for big trout and snook action. We did manage a few trout, and Chris and Kyle had a trout double, and Jan had another big trout, but with the season closed on trout, we opted to move on in search of redfish, which would mean a great dinner.
But, the redfish weren't any more interested than the snook had been. We hit a couple of spots that have been giving good redfish action without so much as a pickup. Another move was in order, but this one would be to another area. Once there we put out cut pinfish and live shiners looking for both redfish and snook. We did get one redfish hit, and although it got into the rod and on the drag while the rig was in the rod holder, it didn't find the hook, or didn't hang on long enough. Actually the problem was likely the fact that the floating seaweed was thick, and would quickly run down the line and literally bury the cut baits. The turtlegrass completely enveloped the bait, and that was the more likely reason the fish didn't get the hook, and why it didn't try again.
That was the only red hit we had, but the gang did catch a few more snook and one more big trout. I guess we ended the day just shy of a dozen fish. Not a good day by our usual standards, but a pretty good day under the circumstances, and my guys seemed very pleased with the day.
We had been blessed with a gorgeous weather day, and the wind that had been forecast only materialized as we made the run back to the ramp. By the time we got there it was blowing pretty good. Chris, Jan, and Kyle were super folks, and I really enjoyed the day with them. I'm hoping to get a chance to take Jan and Chris fishing for those big winter trout when they return in January. The season will be back open to harvest, then.
