It's Monday, the 17th of June 2002 at 7:30 in the morning.
Forcasted SW Florida fishing weather for the day was more or less miserable. Rain was predicted throughout the day along with a 15 to 20knt mini hurricane. Tide was incoming all day long and slow.
Family from my moms side of the family tree came down on Sunday night. I had been away all weekend for my 10 year class reunion and when I checked the messages on the answering machine, my mom was on there wondering if they could go for a little outing on Monday. John her husband had managed to get two days off for the first time in several months and all he wanted to do was come on down to the Cape and try for a little drag screaming action with me and my brother Daniel. We ironed out some details and they decided it would be best for them to come on down Sunday night and get an early start on the fish Monday
morning.
We left the house around 7:30 Monday morning to gas up the boat. The gas station was filled to the brim with people and it took us about 10 minutes, just to start pumping gas. Dan and John filled up the cooler with ice and drinks. While I finished filling the gas tank. Off to the ramp we were. Angela backed the boat down the ramp and I tried to crank the Yamaha. I had to work over time to get it to start and when it finally did, it was spitting and sputtering the whole time we idled through the manatee zone. Daniel looked up and noticed the gas cap had
not been put back on the boat. "That's when it hit me, I forgot to get the pliers off the boat deck when I gassed it up." Sure enough the pliers were no where to be found. Gone, See Ya, Out of here. I can't do anything on a boat without my gerber pliers. Boy!!! that was one sick feeling to know I just lost my new pliers.
Anyhow, we were going to go fishing no matter what. Engine problems, Dark Clouds, Rain, and high winds couldn't stop us. Cruizing in the Miserable Mile the boat started to bog down and then it shut off. I recranked it several times but could never get the engine to run right. Anytime a Captain has engine problems he always gets a little nervous and I started to get very nervous. I put the motor in gear and told John and Dan it was time to go home and call Nelson at Sparky's Outboard to find out if the boat was alright. I feathered the throttle ever so slightly and managed to get the BC up on Plane. We ran back to the house like a scalded dog and docked the BC. When I called Nelson and explained what was going on, he said it was probaly just water in
the gas and it needed to be ran out. That was a big relief when I heard those remarks from Nelson. Before we got back in the BC I had to retrace my steps and see if I could find where my pliers had fell of the boat. We got to the last corner and WALA!! there they were lying on the road just like I left them. The day was already begining to look a lot brighter. Before long the sun began to show through the
clouds and things were really starting to look up then.
John, Dan, and I raced back to the dock and off we went for some line singin, drag screamin Action!! We arrived at the C Span of the Causway around 9:30. The Bait was tough to get, I mean I through the net so long that my hands looked like they would bleed. I through that Bait Buster net about 50 times. The third cast I threw that morning I managed about 20 white bait and threadfin altogether. The next 25 casts I did not manage one. I was about ready to fish with what we had but then I hit a mini jack pot and put another 30 in the well to go with the 20 I already had. Now that we had a semi loaded well it was time to catch some fish. We went to a grouper hole that has been providing me with a bunch of action over the last week and a half. Not today though. We did not even get one hit in 35 minutes of fishing. I was almost shocked. I am begining to believe rain has a much larger effect on different species of fish than I expected. It didn't take me long to give the lines in signal and mosey on over to the next spot.
As we were pulling into the harbor I started to ruffle John and Dan's feathers by telling them they are going to get beat down by some big fish in there. I also told them not to get jerked in the water because I didn't want to have to redo my reel if they fell in. They laughed and thought I was joking. I positioned the boat with the trolling motor
to throw in a hole where we have been doing quite well. Crunch!!! I get a powerful thud on the end of my line. Time to do some snook digging I thought. I was wrong however, it turned out to be a jewfish weighing about 5 pounds. I was baffled I have fished that same hole a hundred times and never once caught a jewfish or heard of anyone who has caught one. After fishing that hole for about 5 minutes or so longer we decided to try the next one over. Dan tossed his bait into the lair and WhaM!!! then drag screamin, then POW!! sound of line breaking after wrapping around the piling. Like I told Dan earlier be ready for some hard hittn' fish. Earlier in the day I had rigged both Dan and John with some new red Eagle Claw hooks I just received from Eagle Claw. Well, John tossed his bait in the lair and Slam!! drag screamin, POP!! There went John's rig also. Meanwhile I am sitting there with nothing. No bites or anything. Then I noticed they both were using those red
hooks. I was so tempted to change but I decided against it, plus I am lazy when it comes to rerigging if I don't have to. Dan and John are in the back of the boat rigging, so I just move right into their spot. 3 or 4 minutes later KapoW!!! the snook of my lifetime is on. This fish pulled so hard and made me work so hard to keep it out of the docks that I knew it had to be one huge fish. After a good 45 seconds or so I finally got to see what kind of beast could fight that hard. It was a monster of a Jewfish. He pulled as hard as any snook I have ever caught and probaly even harder. He was the biggest jewfish I have ever caught.
I never imagined the fight those big guys could give you. Soon after that fish the bite began to slow, so we traveled over to the next spot.
At the next spot I flung my thread hooked with one of those new red hooks up into the back of a shady dock and OOOHHHH SONN!!! (for all of you anti Rolland Martin fans out there) the fight is on. I was pumping and reeling while the fish was slashing and dashing for the nearest piling. Fortunately for me I won this time. She was one of those fat hungry female snook that pull like a small locamotive. She was one nice fish.
As the bite began to slow in that hole we slid over to the next one. Dan had one fish bust him off and so did John in that next hole. The bite started to slow, so we decided to jump over to the first hole we tried when we arrived. I was busted off once more and that was about it for that hole. Soon we made it back to the spot where I caught the first snook and guess what there was one more there waiting for me. Those Racing Mullet really know how to give you a work out. She made me palm the spool nearly the whole time in order to keep him out of those pilings. I am glad I don't usually tire easy because these fish were all ready for a heavyweight 15 round fight. Fishing in close quarters for snook has to be one of the best fishing experiences in all of fishing.
Soon we had to leave our snook and jewfish hole because we completely ran out of bait. Dan and John were both broken off two or three times altogether and I was robbed of my last bait by a greedy pelican. Bait was tough again but we managed to get some on the grass flats. We decided to give the grouper spot one more shot. After anchoring up near the hole, Dan came to the back of the boat and said "give me one of those big baits since I have the rod and reel (pointing at his Calcutta 700 and Shimano Compre 15-30lb class rod) to handle a fish big enough to eat it." Dan baited up and tossed his bait over the wreck and Fish On!!! Dan rares back to set the hook and Pow!!! the Shimano Cmpre
splits in half. I guess that is what I get for not using all Cape Fear Rods. I have seen them in action and know they won't break like that. Especially not on a hookset like that compre did. Dan looks over at me holding the two sections of the rod in his hand and begins to apologize for breaking it. At about that same time the top part of his rod starts moving in his hand. He yells out "the fish is still on, John grab the top part while I reel the bottom part." What do ya know, a little team work paid off and they managed to get the 6 lb. jewfish to the boat. Dan was quite proud of that fish, especially since it was his first
jewfish ever. As we were fishing the wreck I realized John had not caught a fish all day and he was really looking forward to taking some fish home to eat. I decided to stop on the way home at a spot where I always see Mangrove Snapper. We Trolled up to the spot and he tossed in his tiny thread. As soon as his bait hit the water he had a snapper on. I went about 13 inches. We fished the whole for 15 more minutes and John managed this snook, a jack, and one or two more mangrove snapper. Now I felt like my job was complete. One more thing, don't always listen to the weatherman because if we would have today we would have
missed a great day of fishing.
Until next time may you have line singing, leader fraying, and drag
screaming action!!!!
