2010 Fishing Year in Review
Capt. Dave Hoke
December 29, 2010
Fort Myers - Saltwater Fishing Report
Capt. Dave Hoke
www.anglersadvantageguideservice.com
239-425-7452
With the new year approaching, it is a great time to look back at all of the memories that were made in 2010. Most of my memories were made on the water, however the most unforgettable event for me was the birth of my first child, Walker. My wife and I are truly blessed to have him in our life and I look forward to getting him on the water soon.
Unfortunately, we had the unfortunate sudden passing of Capt. Angel Torres this past December. Angel was a fellow guide buddy and an extremely passionate man. He loved his job and the fishing community and will be deeply missed. My thoughts and prayers are with him at this time.
As I look back to 2010 I find myself thinking about all the familiar faces that I see every year. While officially they would be classified as my "clients", I refer to them as my friends. I think my ability to put them on quality fish might be a little influential in our friendship but that's ok with me. There is something to say about clients who send you Christmas cards and personalized gifts for our son's birth. Awesome. That one word sums it up best. Surrounding yourself with these kinds of people makes your job truly special and makes you look forward to waking up at 4:30 am to go catch bait in the dark. Well, almost.
I fished over 250 days last year and believe me I have plenty of good fishing stories. One of my favorite stories came back in the spring, fishing a new client from Naples, Fl. He was vacationing on North Captiva and hired me to guide him on his Andros Boat. I have pretty good "sea legs" and balance isn't normally an issue for me, however multiple times I found myself nearly falling into the water while walking down the gunnels of his boat. My client busted my chops all day about continuously losing my balance and he assured me has never fallen off his boat. We got on a hot redfish bite that day and they were catching large redfish as fast as you could get your bait in the water. He and his buddy were high fiving and enjoying cocktails and this is where the story gets good. During the feeding frenzy he was reeling in a redfish on the starboard side of the boat when it suddenly made a quick run underneath the boat. He jumped up on the gunnel of his boat and tried to dip his rod tip toward the water but it didn't go as planned. He slipped off the gunnel and fell head first into the water. Once he popped his head up above the water and we realized he was ok we laughed hysterically for what seems like an eternity. He played it off well, but deep inside you know his ego was damaged.
Here is the client moments before he fell into the water. It is the guy on the right.
Another good story came back in April while I was fishing a very good client of mine that I have been guiding for seven years. We were on our way back to the dock after an awesome day of fishing and he was sitting in the seat underneath my tower. It was nice sunny day with near perfect wind conditions. It was glass calm and he was relaxing with his eyes closed listening to his IPod. I was running down the ICW when my phone fell out of my pocket. I reached down to grab my phone just as I hit a wave from 60' Cruiser. I hit the wave about as bad as you could possibly could and took about 50 gallons of water over the bow of my boat. HE WAS DRENCHED! I felt awful but we laughed hysterically. Well I was anyway. We have fished together a few times since then and we always bring that story up in conversation.
I had many clients catch their personal best, very first, and the "most fish of their life" this year on their fishing charter with me. It is hard to pick which stories to tell but there are a few that stick out in my mind.
I have a client from Maryland that fishes with me about 30 times a year. His friend Steve comes along often and on this particular trip he decided to bring his 9 year old son Nolan. They had three night snook charters booked with me. Now I catch a lot of snook on my night snook charters, and I mean A LOT. If my clients don't catch 20 snook on a night charter I consider it a bad night. However, catching snook over 40 inches on night charters takes a lot of brute strength, skill, and top of the line tackle (and knots). Oh yeah, and luck. I caught bait and picked them up around 7:00pm and we headed up the Peace River in Charlotte Harbor. Within a few minutes at our first spot he had already jumped a nice tarpon. We bounced around a few spots and caught a lot of quality male snook when I decided to take them to a "secret spot". As most of you know, nothing is truly secret anymore but this spot is pretty darn close. The tide was just right and I had Nolan cast his bait toward a riprap seawall. The fish ate his threadfin and the battle was on. Somehow, someway he won the battle and landed a beautiful female 40+ inch snook. She was very fat and I would put her in the mid 20# class for sure. He used a Penn Conquer 4000 with Spiderwire Invisibraid. The fish wrapped him around every piling in the area but the braid never gave way. If you have never used Spiderwire Invisibraid you need to. It is stronger, smoother, and the toughest braid I have ever used. Not to mention, if you spool it correctly you will have fewer wind knots than any other braid on the market. But back to the story, it was a truly impressive accomplishment by such a young kid. Many avid local anglers will never catch a snook that big in their lifetime but this young man from Maryland caught one on his first fishing trip in Florida. The photo even landed in Florida Sportsman. Nice Job Nolan!
As many of you know, people come to Southwest Florida from all over the world to catch the silver king(tarpon). I had countless people catch their first tarpon with me in 2010. One story that really sticks out was watching two brothers double team their first tarpon in Pine Island Sound. It was a morning in early May and the Tarpon were showing very good first thing in the morning. There were about 15 other guides working the Tarpon but no one had hooked one. I saw the fish moving east and I set up and let the fish come to me. We jumped one fish right away but it came loose after a few seconds. Minutes later young Mark had a strong bite on his Penn Conquer 7000 and the fight was on. What moments prior was a quiet morning became chaotic as he was screaming every expletive in the book as this fish was pulling him all around the boat. He was barking orders and the excitement filled the air. After 20 minutes and 7 or 8 fascinating jumps out of the tarpon he handed off the rod to his older brother Doug and he finished her off in a few minutes. It was awesome watching these two brothers work together to boat an extraordinary fish.
I want to also touch on different rods, reels, lines and bait that I used in 2010 and my personal and expert review on them. I am a big fan of Penn Reels. Always was, and always will be. Other reel companies make quality reels, but Penn reels have proven themselves to me time and time again.
My favorite reel for 2010 is the new Penn Battle. This reel has a great price point and is extremely durable. I put my reels through a lot of use so I know what holds up and this folks is the reel! This reel outcasts any other reel that I have so if you're doing a lot of sight fishing and need to make extremely long casts this is the reel you want. It also features the HT100 drag system which is very smooth and dependable. Penn also came out with new Penn Conquer this year for those of you looking for a fancy reel with a little higher price point. It has a lot of neat features including easy access to your gears, an HT100 drag system, a superline spool, 10 stainless steel ball bearings, an eternal alloy spool lip, plus other features.
My favorite line in 2010 is Spiderwire Ultracast Invisibraid. If you haven't tried it you need to. I will tell you ahead of time that you will be hooked on it so I am giving you forewarning. Word has quickly spread over here in Pine Island, Charlotte Harbor, Sanibel as many guides have made the switch.
My favorite rod for 2010 was the All Star ASR rod. This was one of my favorite guide rods that I have ever used. Priced at less than 100.00, it was durable and well balanced and had a great feel to it. My clients loved the way they looked and many of them ordered some of their own. I wasn't sure how blue rods would work on my boat but they seemed to be a hit.
Overall, 2010 was a great year shared with many great people. I look forward to 2011 and the memories that will be made. I hope all of you have a Happy New Year and I hope to see you at George Poveromo's Saltwater Seminar Series on January 15th here in Fort Myers.
Capt. Dave Hoke
www.anglersadvantageguideservice.com
239-425-7452
Here are a few pictures from Happy Clients in 2010.
Fort Myers Fishing Forecast:
Our fishing here in Southwest Florida is just now beginning to kick into gear. Fishing is really starting to get good here in the surrounding waters of Pine Island, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Captiva, and Sanibel. Expect a lot of redfish, trout, pompano, flounder, and sheepshead on your next fishing charter with Capt. Dave Hoke.
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