Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
November 12, 2001
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 11/10/2001 by Capt. Butch Rickey

We began the week with hurricane Michele to our south, and although she turned east as she came across Cuba, she still gave us plenty of wind. I was to fish with Dave Calverley, and his friends from Tampa, with a second guide boat on Monday, and again on Wednesday. We wisely decided to call the Monday trip because of the weather.

Tuesday, the wind was a relatively gentle 15 out of the northwest for my first trip with Jim Noel, down from Kentucky. We caught good bait on the flats at Tarpon Bay, and headed north and east up into the Sound. I don't like fishing falling tides on the flats, so we elected to fish the incoming in the afternoon hours. It was a weak tide, but I figured it would be better than fishing the falling water all morning, after the fish had been up eating all night on a big tide under a nearly full moon.

Jim was a lot of fun, and patient. We went all over the Sound trying to get something going, but the fish were lockjawed for the most part. We missed a couple of snook and lost a couple, and boated a couple of trout, a couple of jack crevalle, and a catfish. Jim wasn't happy with his performance with the equipment, and was much too hard on himself. I assured him that he was doing better than most, which he was, and that everyone has trouble getting into the groove of live shiner fishing the first few times. Most folks are used to having the line drawn tight automatically by a weight, a lure, or something. Here, there is only that little live bait out there swimming around with no weight or terminal tackle of any kind other than a hook sized so that the bait can swim freely with it. Add to that the fact that most of our snook holes are in moving water, and you have a formula for lots of line problems and missed fish.

We had a good time, and proved that you don't always have to catch lots of fish to do so. When we returned to the ramp at dark, Jim cracked me up when he gave me a nice tip and called it "hush money", asking me not to tell too many stories on him in the fishing report. He vowed to spend a lot of time in his back yard casting a practice plug at the hedge, so he'd be more proficient next time out.

Wednesday, I wanted to leave the ramp with my second guide at 6 AM, but he was running late, and it was almost 6:30 before we pulled away. We went straight to Tarpon Bay, anchored his boat, and caught bait from my boat. Bait was good, and we were loaded in a half hour, and on our way to pick up Dave Calverley and his buds at the runway on North Captiva. By the time we got to this trip, Dave's party size had shrunk to only three anglers. We could have easily all gone in my Talon. I explained to Dave that I would loose my credibility with this and other guides if I did not deliver the promised trip. Dave was great with that, and decided he would fish with me, and let his two friends fish with the other guide.

We took off and went our separate ways. Dave and I headed back into the wind, which was blowing pretty hard first thing in the morning, and had the Sound pretty chopped up. I figured the best place to be was on the east side where we could get out of some of the wind. Dave seemed to be pretty blown away at how the Talon performed, both in the rough stuff and sitting at anchor as a fishing platform.

As I feared, the fishing was still tough. We were fishing a falling tide, and had good moving water, but the fish just weren't real interested. Early in the trip Dave did catch one snook just under keeping size, but that was the only snook. We hit some great spots with good moving water, all place where I've been catching good fish before the big front came through. I know the fish are there, and will be there until the weather begins to turn cold. We did get some fish for the table with two big flounder and a nice sized mangrove snapper. Dave also caught four big trout to 4 pounds, but of course the trout season closes November 1st, under our new trout rules. He also caught one ladyfish.

As the tide neared it's lowest point, I asked Dave if he'd ever fished for tailing reds. He said he hadn't, but would love to try it. I headed to a flat where there are almost always plenty of reds tailing on low water. It took a while before we found fish tailing, and actually, Dave spotted the first tail. We tried to catch the fish with Top Pups, but kept picking up loads of seaweed. We tried a spoon, but couldn't get the fish to eat. So, I suggested that Dave get out of the boat and get to where he could make an accurate cast with the wind at his back, and rigged him up with a piece of sliced and diced pinfish. I assured Dave that if he could get the bait worked to within two or three feet in front of the fish without spooking it, it would eat. It took a while, and in the meantime other fish began tailing, giving him more to take shots at, but Dave finally was treated to the thrill of catching his first tailing redfish. She also went into the well.

At that point we called the other boat to see if they wanted to continue fishing or call it a day. They were not having a good day, and were ready to pack it in. By the time Dave and I returned to Safety Harbor, the other boat had dropped his guys off and left. I was absolutely shocked at the stories these two boys told me about their trip, and the conduct of their guide. I have fished with this guide before, and he has participated in extra boat trips with me, as well, always with good reports, and I was in disbelief. Now, you know why I haven't mentioned his name. I was speechless. I didn't know what to say other than to apologize for the situation. I think, I hope that Dave had a good time with me. I certainly enjoyed spending the day with him. Anytime you refer someone to another guide, or do a multiple boat trip, you face the possibility of something like this happening. Unfortunately, there's no way to know when it will.

That was it for the week. I'm looking at a pretty full calendar for the rest of the month, I'm happy to say, so there should be plenty of trips to write about if the weather doesn't mess things up.

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 11/3/2001 by Capt. Butch Rickey

I had six trips on the books for this week, and got to run five of them, so there's plenty to talk about.

The first trip was to be Sunday with Eric Wickstrom for our second day out, but the winds were still howling, and the temperature had dropped a good ten degrees, and Eric decided it made more sense to go look at real estate. Good decision.

Monday was the first of three days in a row with my friend Dr. Ron Kolata, from Cincinnati, Ohio, and his friend John. It was still windy and cool, but we hit the water inspired. The first thing we learned was that the big front had blown out the bait. It was tough, but we did get several dozen shiners and a lot of pinfish at Tarpon Bay. At least we had enough to fish with.

The second problem became finding fish that would eat. The front really had them turned off, with the barometer through the roof. We fished hard, and managed 2 redfish, lost one snook, got 1 trout, several jacks, and several ladyfish. It was a tough day, but we had fun, nonetheless.

Tuesday, Ron was back by himself. The wind was down to 15 to 20 out of the northeast, and that was a big improvement over the previous several days. We were looking for a high of around 80. I figured that since we'd had a tough time with bait the day before, it had run for cover on the beach. I was right. We chummed just off the first bar, and we loaded the boat in three throws. How sweet. We also had a good tide, so I was hopeful the fish would be ready to eat.

We fished low tide spots early and caught several trout, a flounder, and a couple of jacks. As the water flooded, we headed to a snook hole, and caught around 10, and lost 2 big ones. Later in the trip we managed a couple of redfish. We didn't set the world on fire, but it was a pretty good day by comparison.

It was a stellar day compared to what followed on Wednesday for Ron and his good friend Dr. Doug Piper, of Lehigh Acres. We headed straight to the beach thinking bait was again be easy, but got a real surprise when we couldn't get bait to the chum. There were a number of guides out there running on the trolling motors and trying to sight cast bait. A tough way to do it. I didn't stay there long. I knew the bait had moved again, and I hoped it was back inside on the flats. I headed to Picnic Island flats, and I was happy we loaded the well with three throws of my superfine net. The catching was pretty much over right there, though. We fished our hearts out all morning, and 2 trout and a redfish were all we could raise. It was really tough. All that bait, and no one to eat it. We went to the Waterfront Restaurant to lick our wounds and pick up a mess of stonecrab claws for Ron and Pat.

I should mention here something that happened on the water, not to chastise anyone, but to hopefully educate my readers to the perils of spinning gear. Doug had pitched his shiner into the mangroves, and couldn't get it out. Unbeknownst to me, he had turned the anti-reverse switch off while he was messing with the snag. Finally, he gave me the rig, and I gave it the customary good, hard yank that will often free the hook. Problem is, with the anti-reverse off, the reel took off like an out of control electric motor spinning backwards, and damned near took my index finger off. I can not tell you how much that hurt. It's like sticking your finger into a fan. It hurt far worse than the hook I wore all morning the previous week. I subsequently lost part of the fingernail on that finger. Folks, forget that switch is there. I wish the manufacturers would figure out that a spinning reel does NOT need to be able to turn backwards for any reason. All you have to do to get line is pull against the drag. Reels would be simpler and perhaps a little cheaper if they would just eliminate that antiquated feature. Invariably, when someone turns that switch off, they forget, and the next time they strike a fish, you've got a world class mess.

Thursday the wind was still howling at over 20, and gusting to nearly 30, and it was the full moon. In fact, that full moon had been a factor all week. It was my first trip with Mike McQuade, his daughter Katie, and her boyfriend Matt, of San Carlos, California, and I feared it would be a tough day.

We managed to get bait at Picnic, but it was tough. I didn't have the luxury of chumming. I stayed on the east side of the Sound once again, trying to stay out of the worst of the wind. At one of our first stops, Mike and Matt were both hit hard on the first baits out. It was a Chinese fire drill. Because they were taking so much line, I thought they had hooked a couple of big snook. But, in time we found that they were huge jack crevalle, probably around 30 inches. They put up one hell of a fight, and pound for pound, are probably the hardest fighting fish in our waters. Mike was just floored at how his fish fought! We also put one nice trout in the boat, and later, in the north end of the Sound, Katie caught the only snook of the day.

We wound up quitting about a hour early, as the McQuades gang succumbed to the wind. It was just awful, and causing lots of line problems. I have recently begun using Power Pro, one of the super braids. It is wonderful stuff until you get it tangled, and fishing three anglers in that much wind in a moving tide means tangled lines. Mike did say he'd be back again to try it under better conditions.

The last trip of the week was on Saturday with my old friends Tom Davanaugh and Russ Hubbard. It had been some time since I had seen Tom. Unbelievably, the wind was still gusting to nearly 30 after a whole week of the same. This was Tom's trip, and he was not to be denied. Of course, Russ and I were game. I have to say that having the Talon makes the nasty days much more tolerable, because the ride is so soft, and it is so dry.

We went to Tarpon Bay looking for bait, and although it took a while, we netted plenty. We had planned to do some lure fishing, too, so it didn't matter that much. We began our search, and things began slowly. WE wound up on a beautiful shoreline pitching plugs at potholes, and sight fishing reds and snook cruising along the shore. We had quite a few opportunities, but lots of misses. In fact, Russ spotted two nice snook cruising and made a perfect cast. One snook peeled off and smacked the Top Pup, but somehow the fish didn't get hooked. Russ continued to work the plug, and the second snook came and smacked it, too. Can you believe that fish escaped the hooks, too? We had essential three pros in the boat, and we were all missing fish. It was just one of those days. I lost several redfish on topwater plugs, and I think we all missed or lost snook. We did have one red in the boat, a flounder, a nice snapper, and had boated a couple of small barracuda, 3 ladyfish, and a jack.

Late in the day we headed up the river for a total change of venue. I have a very pretty spot there that I figured should be full of fish by now. I was right. We got some great hits on our chum. But, our woes continued. I let a brute of a big redfish cut me off in the mangroves. We did finally put some snook in the boat, though, and finished with 6 or more. I got the best snook of the day just before dark on a shiner. It was a nice 8 pounder, and rode home with us. I also got another redfish a little earlier. Darkness and no-seeums forced us to run for the dock, and at the dock they kept us running for cover. Man, they were bad! We'd had a good day, and it was good for me because I am allowed to vent my frustrations when I'm with Russ and Tom. Venting is a good thing and I had many frustrations after fighting this terrible wind all week.

I've got another pretty good week on the books for next week, but we also have a late season hurricane brewing just south of Cuba. We'll see!

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 10/27/2001

by

Capt. Butch Rickey

I had three trips on the books for this week, and got in two good ones before the big front arrived and ruined things.

First up for the week on Tuesday was my old friend John Hitt, president of UCF, in Orlando. What a great guy to fish with. We had a falling tide for the whole trip, which I don't like, but it was what Mother Nature gave us. Bait was a snap at Tarpon Bay, and after catching bait, we hung and caught some fish on the flat. There were lots of ladys, jacks, and trout busting the bait we were catching.

But, I wanted to see if we could get on some reds while the water was still up, so we headed to redfish country. The fish were there, and we were tossing topwater plugs to them. The reds gave us lots of follows and swirls on our plugs, but just would not eat. So, as the water receded, we turned our attention once again to the feed that was going on out a little deeper. We caught bunches of ladyfish, jacks and several trout, and then decided to turn our attention to snook. John didn't know it at this point, but I was saving the best for last. After striking out in several spots, we headed to the 18th hole.

The hole gave up more jack crevalle, but also gave John his biggest snook to date, a beautiful 32 inch, 11 pound snook. Not long after catching that snook, an older gentlemen in a Genoo came around the corner paddling against the wind for all his was worth. He hollered to us for help for an old man. We pulled anchor and went to see what was up. Turns out he had rented the Genoo, and the trolling motor batteries immediately went dead on him, leaving him with paddle only. We towed him the couple of miles back to his marina, then called it a day.

Thursday was my first trip with Jim Gallagher and his friend Don. It was a beautiful morning with hardly a whisper of air moving. Bait was plentiful at Tarpon Bay, as were trout, ladys, mackerel, and jacks. Jim caught a few while I was chumming up the bait. Once we had the well full, we headed out to fish for reds and snook on the first of the falling tide. We only managed one redfish, and missed a couple of snook.

I could see the birds working fish about a mile from where we were, and decided to take the boys for some fast action. Jim had told me he'd like to catch some mackerel on topwater plugs. The action was so fast and furious I committed a cardinal sin. I forgot to mash the barbs down on the treble hooks. We were catching macks, big ladyfish, jacks, and trout as fast as we could. I had just told the boys as I was unhooking a ladyfish from the Mirrorlure Top Pup that these fish hurt more anglers than any other fish in our waters because of the way they shake and thrash around either throwing the lure, or burying it outright into the anglers hands, when the ladyfish managed to bury a treble hook into the side of might right ring finger. It was way in there, and not about to come out. Plus, I still had a flopping ladyfish connected to me. After a lot of pulling and pain, Jim managed to get the fish freed from the hooks. It was now just me and the lure. We tried to no avail to get the hook out, but it wasn't coming. I nearly passed out once as I pulled on it. Finally, I remembered that the rear hook on the Mirrorlure screws into the lure, and had Jim unscrew it, relieving the weight of the lure from my hand. Finally, he managed to get the points of the other hooks turned in so that I wouldn't be too likely to get another finger involved, and have a real mess on my hands.

When I cranked the boat to catch back up with the big feeding school, Jim and Don thought I was heading in to go to the emergency room. I assured them that we were fishing, and that I would be OK. The first thing I had them do was to mash down all the barbs! That's the first time I've been hooked since I was around sixteen. Lesson learned! We finished the day back on a great snook hole, but the fish just didn't want to play on that tide. All in all, it had been a good day with lots of action.

Back home, I called my buddy Capt. Rey Rodriguez, and he referred me to his doctor, Phil Davis, who's office is just down the street from me, and who is an avid fisherman. That's the right man for the job. He said he'd removed hundreds of hooks, and used the monofilament method. A quick pull and it was out. It's all in knowing how. After a tetanus shot and some antibiotics, I was on my way.

Another of my favorite fishing friends, Eric Wickstrom, arrived Friday night for two days of fishing over the weekend. I won't tell you what he does for a living, but since 9/11, he has been wicked busy, and was ready for some R & R. I knew his R & R was in jeopardy, though, as a big, nasty winter front arrived with Eric Friday night. We talked, and decided we were fishing, regardless! We met Friday morning with a howling northeast wind, and the temperature in the tall 50's. I was wearing long pants, long sleeves, and a jacket for the first time since last winter.

We headed to Tarpon Bay for bait, and I planned to just slip back into Tarpon Bay to fish afterward, keeping out running in the really nasty seas to a minimum. After a couple of attempts at anchoring, we were finally stationary, and bait was easy in three throws of the net. We had mackerel and trout jumping and busting bait all around us, but I'll be damned if we could catch one of them once we were done with bait. We threw live bait, Clark spoons, topwater plugs, Yozuri Crystal Minnows, etc., without so much as a hit. I figured I'd rather not catch snook that not catch trout and mackerel, so we went back into the Bay.

The wind was relentless, and as the morning progressed, the wind seemed to continue to kick. According to my weather software, we had winds gusting to 30 MPH. I had plenty of bait, and I knew there were plenty of snook in our hole, so I chummed them on a regular basis. We managed a couple of jacks, a couple of cats, and a couple of descent snook, and lost a couple of good snook.

Around eleven o'clock, Eric decided we should try to make it up the wind to the Waterfront Restaurant. I got the boat ready for the ride and hit the starter and the motor wouldn't light. Damn! I finished off one battery trying to get the Yamaha cranked, and switched to the other. She just wouldn't even try. But, we could smell the strong smell of gas every time I tried. I knew she was flooded. But, I wasn't sure I had spark.

In the interest of time, I decided to begin sailing toward the little marina/rental shop at the back of Tarpon Bay on the wind, using the trolling motor to keep the Talon on the right course. It was a couple of miles away. By the time we got there, the troller batteries were on their last legs, and the Yamaha still wouldn't light. We sailed in to their dock on the trolling motor and push pole without incident, and I wound up shallow water anchoring the boat in front of their ramp so that we could swing to the dock, and hopefully be right at the trailer once I got it there and into the water.

Now, the damnedest thing happened at that ramp. There was an old fellow with a tin boat and an Iowa registration that offered to take me to Punta Rassa ramp to get my van. Remember, he offered! We did not ask. I had already called Rey Rodriguez, and he said he would be happy to come pick me up and take me to my van. Well, I called Rey back and told him I had a ride. The old fella said he'd take me there as soon as he got his boat out of the water.

So, we watched as he pulled his boat and drove out of site, thinking he went to drop the boat before driving me to the ramp. Well, after about half an hour, we realized that he had just kept driving, and said to hell with us. I called Rey back, and as we waited on Rey to arrive, Eric and I plotted and schemed what we would do to the old duffer if only we could find him. Can you believe that?

Rey finally arrived, and was good enough to come back with me to make sure we had enough hands to handle a powerless boat in a 30 knot wind. I got her on the trailer without incident, and we were off to Punta Rassa ramp. At the ramp, we did some diagnostics. The plugs were black, one was whiskered, and they were all wet. That meant we had plenty of fuel delivery, the plugs were too cold, or the ignition weak. We tested the ignition system with Rey's spider, and although Rey was convinced the spark was weak, I was convinced that it was fine enough for a mag driven ignition, and enough to run the engine just fine. The spark was jumping a 1/4 inch gap! We also did a compression test, and all the cylinders were 110 to 120 pounds. Perfect! I just kept thinking about the black plugs, and all the idling we are now forced to do because of all these damned manatee zones.

When I got home, I called my new mechanic Josh RacKay, at 574-4250, in Cape Coral, to find out what spark plug was supposed to be in my engine. I suspected the plugs installed were too cold. He told me the proper plug was a B7HS10. The plugs in my motor were B8HS10's; a heat range colder. That's fine when you're out there running hard all the time, but not going to work when we're now forced to do so much idle speed running. The old two-strokers just don't like that slow speed stuff. Josh said he was sure a new set of B7's would cure the problem, and he was certainly correct. As soon as I had them installed and hit the ignition key, the motor lit. So, if you're a local reader, you might want to check out your own spark plug situation before you have a problem.

So, that's how the week went. Never a dull moment, huh! I have another full week coming up next week. Hopefully, this big front will not keep things screwed up for too long, and we can get down to some catching.

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 10/20/2001

by

Capt. Butch Rickey

It was a busy week, with six trips on the books originally. The weather allowed us to fish four of those days.

First up were my old friends Dave and Anne Kerschner, from Ohio. Last time they were down to fish, the weather turned so awful we couldn't fish a day. I hoped the weather would be kinder this time. I just love to fish with these guys. They're so much fun.

We met early Sunday morning and headed straight to Tarpon Bay for bait. Bait was easy, as it's just everywhere. I think this is the biggest hatch of baitfish I can remember ever seeing. On the way up the Sound, we ran across a big feed of primarily ladyfish. They are always fun, especially the bigger ones, and we stopped and caught them bait and lures until it became boring.

From the ladys we went searching for redfish, and we found them. I lost count, but as best I could figure Dave and Anne caught 15 to 20 redfish, with the best coming in at 27 inches. When that began to slow we headed to a nearby snook hole and managed a half dozen or so snook. Anne got the fish of the day with a 27 inch snook. She was thrilled, and you should have heard her talking to that fish during the fight. It was a great day, and we finished it up rehashing things at the Waterfront over great food.

Monday, I was supposed to fish Dr. Gary Shierling, a local dentist who I haven't seen in a while. He opted to wait on a day with better weather, and I took my new van in for some tire and brake work.

Tuesday was reserved for my old Bud, Russ Hubbard, and his friend Dave. Russ and I have fished together many, many times and have had some great trips where we've just destroyed snook, redfish, or both. This trips I would learn something new about Russ.

We headed to Tarpon Bay for bait, which was there by the millions. It took a while to sift through the tons of threadfins, sardines, and pinfish to get the shiners I wanted, but I kept some of the others, too. Oddly, another guide not 100 feet away from me was not getting any shiners at all. With out big livewell full, we headed to the flats to find some redfish.

We did find the redfish, and plenty of them, but they weren't in a real eating mood in spite of chum. Russ and Dave caught 8 to 10 of them. As that slowed, I headed to a large area of flats that had been alive with baitfish getting thrashed and slashed from beneath by trout, mackerel, jacks, and ladyfish, and being picked off from above by the flocks of birds there to take advantage of a good situation. We were there to take advantage, too.

It was really something to see. Baitfish were spraying as far as the eye could see as fish blew up in the middle of them. It was topwater time. What fun. We could hardly make a cast without being hit by something, and we spent a good two hours catching fish after fish. I even had a big blacktip shark of around 5 feet smash my Mirrolure Top Pup, and render it useless by the time he got away. By the time we were ready to head home, we had caught too many fish to count. Tons of nice trout, lots of big mackerel up to 5 pounds, lots of jack crevalle, and tons of ladyfish. Russ told me that he just loved catching trout, and that catching those fish on the flat like that with lures was his idea of a blast.

By Wednesday morning a pretty good front had finally managed to push it's way through our area, and the wind was howling out of the northeast at a steady 20+, and I later heard on the news that we had seen gusts to 35 MPH. It was unfortunate for Chris and Sandy Baldwin, of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, on their first trip with me. Those fronts most always kill the fishing. But, I didn't have any other days open, and neither did the Baldwins, so we went out with the attitude of making the best of a bad situation.

There was still plenty of bait around, but you never know what a front will do to bait, either. It didn't take long to fill the well. From there, getting up the Sound with that much wind and 4 foot rollers was somewhat of an adventure. The Talon is a marvelous boat in the rough stuff, but I am to be honest, still learning how to use the hull and the trim tabs and speed to best advantage. I'm sure I must have had Chris and Sandy concerned at one point when I stuffed the bow into a big wave, and we took a wall of water over the bow and had six inches in the cockpit! I think I had the bow down too much, and I was also going to slow. We all got wet, needless to say, but you're not staying dry in anything out there on a day with 30 MPH gusts. The self bailing cockpit quickly drained and we were on our way.

I did a lot more riding than I cared to in such weather looking for fish that would eat, but we never found anything willing to play other that jack crevalle. We caught upward of a dozen of them. In one hole that I hit for the first time this fall, we hooked a monster snook, but it got away from Sandy while it was still a long way from the boat. The hook had pulled.

It was a tough day out there, but you know what? We had fun in spite of it, and Chris and Sandy vowed to return for another shot under better conditions.

Dave and Anne Kerschner were up again for Thursday, but knew it would be miserable out there with poor fishing. Dave was delighted to find that my Friday customer had been forced to cancel at the last minute, and we moved our second trip to Friday. Man, it really blew on Thursday, too.

By Friday morning the wind was down to 15 from the east/northeast. A big improvement over the previous two days. Dave and Anne were ready to go. We had a tough tide to fish, falling for most of the morning. I just don't like falling tides for most situations. Why? Simply because the fish have eaten! I'd much rather be trying to catch when the fish are there to eat.

We hit some fall spots, including the spot where Sandy had lost her monster without any snook action. I decided that any action would be better than none, and went in search of a feed. We found one in the same general area as the last, and had a ball catching tons of trout, jacks, and ladyfish. We worked on those fish until the tide turned and was right for the last spot of the day. I was saving a primo snook hole for last, and was sure I could put Dave and Anne on some big fish there.

It was a long ride to the hole, but well worth it. At first, we only caught a couple of jacks, but once I threw the first bat full of chum the fish turned on and Dave popped his first snook; 27 inches. He was thrilled. Then nothing! I chummed again, and the fish turned on again. And that's the way they were. Every time I chummed them, then turned on for a few minutes. Dave lost a beautiful snook of 12 to 15 pounds when it jumped several feet out of the water and spit the circle hook in the process. But Dave was so excited at seeing the fish, and feeling her speed and power, that he was nearly speechless. He caught several others before we went home. It was the perfect ending to the day.

So, that was how it went. Pretty much as I had forcasted a couple of weeks ago: a busy week with some great fishing. Who knows what next week will bring?

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