Fishing could not be better now as the weather is so nice this week. Clear blue skies and gentle breezes with low humidity make for a super day out on the water. However, the weather was not so nice during the latter part of February through the first week March. Every year Pat Burchard entertains her daughter Sue and son-in-law John of Wisconsin with what Florida living is all about. Pat has known me as she says, since I was a little boy. Pat used to go fishing with one of my Homosassa guide idols, the late Nathan Strickland. Pat would tell me stories about how Nathan would take her to the holes in Chassowitzka Refuge and they would catch tarpon, redfish, sheepshead, drum and trout all in the same hole. Pat would say, Nathan would ease his anchors over so quietly as not to spook any fish on the bottom. I bought Nathan’s next to last guide boat as my first one which Pat called it the Queen Mary, because of its comfortable chairs and long/wide beam. Pat lives along the deepwater canal in Riverhaven and when I guide them, I pick them up by boat. Each night, John fishes off the docks and catches catfish, ladyfish and some jacks. One night he had a snook try to eat the ladyfish he was reeling in. Most of our snook here are between 30-45 inches, however, catching them are a challenge and done mostly at night. We really do not have a snook fishery here except in December and January when the fish come into the headwaters for warmth. I brought along a hundred shrimp thinking that the only thing that would bite today would be sheepshead. Actually the reason for going sheepshead fishing in March is that the fish are easy to locate and hungry. The weather forecast was calling for 15-20 mph out of the east, and it was blowing that hard in the river. It was definitely a Pro-Line boat type of day. Pat said when I called her about the wind, it is not even blowing here at the house. Can we fish in the river somewhere, she asked? I knew then that they wanted to fish no matter what. So we anchored in the river and Sue got her hook hung up on the bottom a couple of times. She was not happy about that and neither was I. So I decided to go on out and try it in the gulf. I can not explain why, but I have seen it before, when we got out into the gulf the wind laid down. It was calm as it could possibly be. A lesson to be learned here is to go out to the mouth of the river and check it there before deciding not to fish the gulf during borderline windy days particularly if it is an east wind. Pat said after the sun got up a bit, sometimes the wind would lay. Maybe that was it. It wasn’t long before we started reeling in the sheepshead. The rock piles were not chocked full of fish, but there was enough action to keep your attention. The first day we caught 14 sheepshead. On the way in, we had were stopped by the friendly FWC officer who asked us if we had caught anything, We replied yes and he checked our catch and my license. It is nice to see these guys out on the water keeping everyone honest. One thing the officer mentioned was he was glad that he was not the one who had to clean them. The second day, was a repeat of the first, except with a catch of only 7 sheepshead. Pat said it did not matter if we caught nothing at all, just being out is great. Catching is just a plus. So we had an A- day, I thought. Pat’s last day on the water with Sue and John was special to me, because of Sue’s pompano. She caught her first and it was the only one we caught that day as these fish run in singles or pairs in our area. Sometimes the fish are schooled, but I have only been in such a few times during my career. This day was the beginning of trout catching’ for me and my parties. The trio managed 14 nice trout between 16 to 18 inches. This was a nice mess of fish which I filleted them out at their dock. John skinned them out while I filleted them. Thanks, John for the help with the sheepshead and the trout! My trip last weekend was a fun one and very productive with both new clients and old existing ones. The new ones were a nice couple from the east coast and Florida natives to boot. Not many of us left here. These excellent fishers proudly displayed their talents by catching and releasing over 30 keeper trout. I love it when conservation is practiced. Don’t get me wrong, though, I think you should be able to keep your catch within the legal limits and not feel bad about that. The next day my old friends from Canada and Tampa, namely Frank Ansil and Lee Herbert along with their two sons, James and Brian piled in the boat with excitement. The air was fresh and crisp and cool. No sooner than we untied from the dock, we spotted some jack crevalle striking minnows in the Homosassa river. James, age 13, had never fished before and he reeled in his first jack of about 5 pounds. He had a grin from ear to ear. We caught another one and then proceeded onto the flats outside the mouth of the river. Was not long when we started reeling in trout. They must have caught 50 or so before we started hitting the keepers. They kept 5 eating size trout each and a pompano. My next group of anglers came from Black Diamond Golf and Country Club in Lecanto, Florida. Most of my clients there like all types of fishing, but they love redfishing. Our quarry was the redfish and they proved to be kind of scarce, especially the keeper size. David Collman of Texas did managed a nice 24 incher. The water proved to be a little chilly and the tide just wasn’t high enough to put them in their usual places. The next day my good friend and client Sam brought along two friends from Black Diamond for their usual redfishing trip and we managed to land 12, but no big ones. This is kind of still a little early in the season to be catching big redfish. To bring me close to date, my next trip consisted of Barry Kaplan and friend Bob. We really hammered those trout as soon as we got out there. The Catch 2000 Mirrolure was the prime lure here. We tried for some reds but no luck on those. We could se the darn things, but we were casting gold spoons and they just did not want to be spoon fed. My last trip out was with a client with whom I rekindled my relationship by sending him a Christmas card. Joe Cifuentes and son, Joey, were quite the anglers. We found some muds consisting of trout, and released perhaps 60 of them. After the tide had risen we anchored the Flats Fisher 1 and rigged our rods with Cajun Thunder cork rigs. The last two hours of our trip, we boated 15 pretty trout between 16 and 21 inches. It was truly a day to remember for the Cifuentes’s, at the fish cleaning dock, Joey spotted some large jack creavelles eating the scraps. He quickly got a rod, and broke off the first two fish on the pilings. After further instruction, he tossed his bait at the end of the dock and the drag started screaming. The crowd of people at MacRae’s were excitedly watching the action while Joey was jumping from boat to boat. Finally, Capt. Charlie Harris offered to assist the Joey by going after the fish. About 10 minutes later and 100 yards up river the fish was landed before a cheering crowd. At the dock, the fish weighed in at 9 pounds on a Boga-Grip but looked much larger. The jack was successfully released alive, although both the angler and fish were very tired. In closing, it is rumored that the muds are back. Muds consist of blue fish, mackerel, trout and ladyfish. Perhaps, you will be reading about those feeding frenzies next week. Capt. Mike