It's Wednesday, the 10th of July 2002 at 7:30 in the morning. The forecast called for heavy thunderstorms moving up the coast from the Naples area. We had an incoming tide for the whole half day charter. The winds were out of the SW 5-10mph for most of the morning.
My guests for the day were Kelvin from Alachua county and Paul from Hillsborough county. They were both staying at the Sonesta resort in Ft. Myers. Kelvin had called me about 3 weeks earlier after watching a reair of Addictive Fishing. The weather did not look good for our
7:30am pickup time. I had actually called Kelvin to maybe hold off until we could see what a big storm cell was going to do that was moving in off of the gulf coast. Unfortunately Kelvin had left his phone in the room so I decided to give it a shot and see if we could beat the weather.
First we went to the Causeway to get bait but as it has been over the passed week it was nowhere to be found. Luckily I had learned my lesson from a charter the week before. So instead of spending to much time at the Causeway I went to the flat over at fisherman's key. Within 15 or 20 casts I had about 15 nice threads and big white
bait and 8 or 9 large pinfish. I didn't really like the tide for fishing my favorite snook hole but I wanted Kelvin and Paul to get a shot at a large snook before the weather got us.
Since Kelvin is from the North Florida area he has never had a chance to tussel with a Mogan snook. I gave Paul and Kelvin the usual instructions that consisted of: #1 Hold on to the rod with all you got and don't let go. #2 Pump the fish out from the pilings and reel down to retrive line. #3 Recover line by reeling down only. I asked both of
them if they understood and they both shook their heads "yes". I baited both of them up with big threads and once again went over the instructions. Kelvin was a good fisherman, I could tell he has fished quite alot. Paul however was a little behind Kelvin in skill but he could also handle a rod for the most part. We fished the first 3 holes without any action. The next hole we arrived at Kelvin had a couple of hits as did Paul. I rebaited both of them a couple of times and then I put a large 6 or 7 inch white bait on Paul's rod and tossed it up next to the pilings. I put one of those pinch on Bullet weights on in order to slow that hearty white bait down a little. I think it did the trick. Paul felt a tap and then Slam!!! His rod was bent double and so was he. The snook made a freight train dash for the pilings to the left. I coached Paul to keep his rod up and pump the fish hard in order to turn him. Paul did the same thing as the rest of my customers do, he tried to reel without pumping the fish and without reeling down to gain line. I coached him to reel and he told me he couldn't. Clients really don't realize what they have gotten themselves into until they feel that awsome power of a Snook freight training them on the other end. Paul looked whipped but fortunately that 80lb Fins braid and 150lb test leader held up to the scraping of the pilings. Paul finally managed to get the monster snook to the side of the boat with the 6/0 Eagle Claw live bait hook wedged right in the top lip of the snooks' mouth. I looked over at Paul and I think he was shocked at what he had just went through. He had a hard time holding this fat girl up for a picture but we finally managed to get a good one.
Next we fished the same hole for about 10 more minutes but once you have made such a rucous I believe the fish are spooked. We moved over two holes and Paul latched on to another one. This fish just completely destroyed him. It took him into the pilings and bounced Paul up and down a couple of times and busted the 80lb fins braid on the barnacles. I then took them to the out side and gave it a shot for 10 to 15 minutes with nothing doing. I asked Kelvin if he wanted to fish back inside again or go fish the mangroves. He opted for the inside one more time. Which turned out to be a very good choice. Kelvin really didn't want Paul to outfish him. They both knew who the better fisherman was but so far Kelvin was shut out. I put another fat white bait on Kelvin's line and tossed it into one of the piling spaces in the same area where Paul got his. You know it, Kelvin gets Slammed. Kelvin did a good job laying the wood to that racing mullet. Kelvin also got worked over, he almost let the snook take him into the pilings but barely managed to escape a sure break off. When a snook pulls on your rod of that size and you are fishing with 80lb test Fins Braid and 150lb leader you will be amazed and probaly shaking because it is one heck of a rush. Kelvin brought the fish to the side of the boat and I boga griped it for him. Kelvin looked quite wore out after his fight with a large snook. Once again I was jealous at the size of the fish. Especially since it was his first snook ever. He might as well quit snook fishing altogether in order to keep his ego in tact. When it comes to Captaining your own boat there is nothing like the rush you get when coaching someone to land a big fish. Then when you finally see the size of it you are astonished and relieved. It sure is a great feeling.
Finally we decided to give the mangroves a shot around the corner. We fished several spots where I had done well the day before but we only managed one snook of about 24 inches and a mangrove snapper about 10 inches. The tide was moving very well but the water was like dark chocolate and the bait was not fairing well. Paul and Kelvin had a meeting to catch at 1:00 so we headed back to the harbor and fished the last 30 minutes there.
To conclude the weather looked bad but we made it. I don't know if I will ever be able to put my clients on two fish that large that quick again. Who knows? Come and take a shot and see if you can get in on some of these huge fish. You shouldn't be disappointed.If you are urning for some rod busting leader fraying excitement then give Captain
Chancey a call @ (239)540-7529
Until next time may you have line singing, leader fraying, and
drag screaming action!!!
