REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 5/31/03 by Capt. Butch Rickey The week began with five trips on the books, but weather and an unexpected motor problem took two days away. I was still able to run four trips by moving one to Saturday, so fittingly, my good friend Dr. John Hitt began and ended the week.. Monday morning the breeze was light and the gulf flat. I knew John and I would be able to go outside and partake of some of the great snook action on the beaches. I met John at the marina in his condo complex at Harbor Isles, on the river, and we headed straight up to Keesel’s shack for bait in John’s 17 ft. Maverick. John had been nice enough to suggest we take his boat so that I wouldn’t have to endure the Memorial Day zoo at the ramp. After a little chumming, we loaded the boat in two throws of the TrueSpread net. We were off quickly. We were the first boat to this particular area, and I parked right on a big wad of snook. It was fast action from the first cast. It was just me and John and our new ladies, two new Shimano Stella 4000's, and we had a blast catching snook. By the time the action waned, we had put 30 or more snook in the boat We headed inside and took up residence on a nice snook hole and began chumming with live shiners. Soon we had the snook blasting them, and were back into the action. By the time it was over we had caught another dozen or so, putting our total well into the 40's. It had been a great day! Tuesday was another great day with some really great folks, Mark and Lisa Shofner, and their 9 year old son Seth, of El Dorado, Arkansas. Mark had brought his 22 ft. boat all the way down from Arkansas with him, and wanted to learn something about how and where to fish for the rest of their week. We headed straight to Keesel’s flat for bait, and John Hitt pulled in right after we got the boat set and had began chumming. The bait came quickly, and before John could get things going, I had enough bait for two boats in four throws. We were off to fish the beach. But, the beach had other ideas, at least at first. We fished what had been a very hot spot and only managed to catch a half dozen or so snook. The fish weren’t wanting to eat. We went to another nearby spot, with the same results. I decided to move down the beach, or go back inside in search of action. A half mile or so down the beach my best friend Capt. Butch Boteler and I corralled a big school of snook that were up on top thrashing bait. I have actually seen the whole beach in a froth from snook in a feeding frenzy, and it’s quite a thing to see. When they’re doing that, they’d eat a beer can with a hook on it. Butch and his customer, and Mark, Lisa, and Seth caught snook just as fast as we could bait hooks for the next couple hours. It was impossible to keep track, and we stopped trying at about 60 snook. One thing is for sure, Seth was a great little fisherman, and so were his Mom and Dad. They caught on quickly, and didn’t miss very many fish. Once we were sure it was over, we headed back inside to show Mark around a bit, and give him some ideas on where to fish. Once the tide was done, and Mark missed one redfish in a big school we had found, we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for a great lunch. We had fun recapping the fun and action of the day, and I know I’ve made some great new fishing friends. Bad weather began approaching the area during Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, and the radar looked bad for John Hitt and I to get out again that morning. I called John, and he checked the weather channel, and we made the decision to reschedule to Saturday. As it turned out, the weather wasn’t all that bad Wednesday morning, but we would have definitely gotten wet. Thursday morning it was raining when my good friend Russ Hubbard arrived from West Palm Beach. I had heard thunder rumbling through the early morning hours, and was pretty sure we were going to rain out. But, we were willing to wait on the weather, and got the boat ready. While fueling the boat, I kept hearing something running intermittently, and noticed the Yamaha bouncing to the noise. Turned out to be the trim motor running in short bursts. I fiddled with the switch, and it popped inside. We figured it was shorted, or perhaps wet. After messing with it, it seemed to be OK for a while, but soon began acting up again. Russ pulled the switch out while I was doing other chores, and didn’t find anything wrong. We headed to the ramp. We found many of the other guides sitting with boats on trailers waiting on the weather, as well. Most of the tarpon guides had canceled. Around eight o’clock Russ and I decided to go get coffee and check the radar on the computer. When we came out of the house to clearing skies and ready to go fishing, the Yamaha was all the way up on the trim motor, and the motor was running full blast. I couldn’t even get it to come down, or stop, and had to turn the power off. After waiting for a couple of hours on the weather, our day was shot in the butt. I headed up the road to Venice to see my old friend Craig Wildasin, who has built all my motors for many years, now, and takes very good care of me. I told him what had happened, and he said he’d have it ready in a few hours. He always delivers what he says he will, and I was on my way home that evening. Friday morning was my second outing with Ed Mahoney, and his good friends Mike and Tom, who I’d fished with last spring for the first time. We had put some 40 redfish in the boat last year, and I knew that was going to be hard to top this year, as the wind was roaring out of the west, and we wouldn’t be able to get out to where most of the snook are. We’d have to get it done in the flats. I thought about it as we headed out to catch bait, and decided that one of my favorite winter snook holes might be a good place to start after the passing of a late season front. I had never fished this particular spot in May before that I can recall. I figured I was worth a shot. We had bait caught quickly, and were off to check out my idea. We fished our way in to the area, as there are lots of good hidy-holes for snook, but had no hits. Once in the target spot, I threw out some chum, and it was immediately crushed by big snook along the shoreline. We were in business. For the next couple of hours, we had snook going crazy. Ed had the hottest rod, and Mike the coldest, but everyone caught snook. Several were lost to the mangrove roots, and the boys missed more than they hooked, but that’s typical. The boys landed a good dozen snook at the first stop, but had twice that on the line. At the next stop we managed a few more snook, and decided to try for some redfish before the tide stopped on us. I went to one of my favorite flats and found a big school there, but they weren’t about to eat. We moved on to another great redfish flat, and it was the same story. We couldn’t buy a redfish. So, we ended the day with 15 or 16 snook and several trout, and couldn’t put together the Slam. But, Ed and the boys, who live here in Florida, and fish here and in the 10,000 Islands often, said it was the most snook they had ever caught in one trip. We finished the day at the Waterfront Restaurant, which we all love. I met John Hitt at his condo marina Saturday morning at 6:15. He was just getting the boat off the lift, and we were quickly on the water. It was looking like the beginning of a beautiful day. John and I mused at how wonderful it was to be on the water first thing in the morning, as we zipped along at 40 MPH in his Maverick, not a worry in the world. We were soon at Keesel’s flat, and had bait in about three throws of John’s 8 ft. TrueSpread net. But, the wind had kicked once again, and was blowing from the west/northwest hard enough to keep us from going out to the beaches. Of course, knowing the snook were so willing at my first stop the day before, I couldn’t wait to get John to the spot. The first bait was tagged as soon as it hit the water, and the bite was on. We hadn’t been there long, and had straightened out two hooks on big snook. I told John that in all my years on the water, I had never straightened out two hooks in one outing. We missed our share of snook as well, as you always do when you’re snooking. But, we caught around 20 snook and 4 nice trout for the cooler there. John also missed 3 or 4 redfish, which would have given us the Slam in the first hole. Once the action slowed there we moved on to the number two snook hole, which oddly didn’t produce more than a fish or two. We moved to another hole not too far away. It’s a small key with a trough at one end, that often holds lots of snook in the trough. The snook were there on this day, and John and I had fun with them. John missed another red or two, but did catch a nice 25 inch redfish there, as well. We ended the day with 30 or so snook, 4 trout, and 1 red in the boat. A great day of snook fishing considering most of the snook are on the beaches, and a day made even better because it was spent with a great fishing friend. Well, that’s how it went. It was a good week of fishing, even though I lost time to weather and mechanical problems. I have a full week next week. Stay tuned.