"Red Attack!" First of all I would like to give a report on how Captain Frank Boggs, Andrew Dove, and myself did in the Flatsmasters Redfish Tournament out of the Holiday Inn Harborside in Punta Gorda. In a word, "Spectacular." We caught more Redfish during that tourney than I have ever caught period. I mean to tell you for an hour and a half we were blasting the Reds. We caught them oversized, and just right we thought. Before we decided to head back to weigh ins the total tally was right at 100 Reds for the day. They just sucked up the pinfish like candy. We left for weigh ins a good two and a half hours early. We new we had some good fish but them Charlotte Harbor Tourneys are always loaded with super heavy weight. We were one of the first 5 boats to weigh in. We had a total of 14.45 pounds. We thought it was pretty good. It was not enough to even place in the top 10. The winning weights were nearly 17 pounds for two 26 inch Redfish. I didn't know that was possible. Anyhow we had a great time and Red Fishing is a blast when it is like that.
My trip on Tuesday was with Harry, Mitch, and Mitch's son Cameron. Harry had seen my episode of Addictive Fishing and decided he wanted to see first hand what my type of fishing is all about. I picked them up at 9a.m. at the Gasparilla public boat ramp. We then headed to the 100 plus Redfish spot from the Tourney. Capt. Frank and Andrew were already there and they had already caught over 40 fish apiece when we got there. They let us get right up next to them but we only managed one red while they caught at least 20 more. We decided to move down the bank and fish some other spots. Capt Frank eventually gave up his spot to us but the bite was over for the time being. I decided to fish another bank adjacent to the one we were laying into the reds at. It produced well for us and I believe we landed 3 or 4 Reds down that bank.
Cameron was the little guy on the boat and it didn't take long for him to get hot and board. I told the guys before we left the dock that girls and kids always out fish everyone else. Sure enough when we went back to the 100 Redfish spot Cameron got on a roll. He caught Redfish after Redfish. Sure it was with a little casting and hook setting help from me but he did do all of the pulling the fish out of the bushes. Here is one of his first Reds.
Harry and Cam were busting Mitch's chops about his cast and fish catching abilities. He was lagging way behind there for awhile and Harry had 6 Reds before Mitch even had one. Cam had a good 8 or 9 before Mitch had his first. Mitch kept telling the guys to watch out because he was going to get on a tear. Sure enough off he went. Him and his son Cam were cleaning Harry's clock. Before I knew it Mitch had 8 Reds and Cam had 10 while the experienced fisherman only had 6. Mitch also landed the biggest of the bunch in that time frame. It was a nice 7.5 pound Red.
Harry was doing his best to catch up and it just wouldn't happen for him. He finally got a fish on but it turned out to be a nice keeper sized snapper but not a Red. Mitch and Cam were telling me how much Harry was hating it that the kid was out fishing him. Once Harry landed his Snapper I tossed Cam's Pinfish right in the same spot where Harry caught his fish. Sure enough a big Red ate it and then Mitch hooks up with a nice red as well. We had another double but Harry just wasn't able to pull off the triple for us.
Once the guys reached 30 Reds we decided to go after Snook. We didn't find a lot of them but did manage two nice keeper sized Snook to the boat. I mentioned to the fellows that we had two catfish that were still alive from when I caught bait by cast net earlier in the day. It was time. Time for a little Jewfish action. I always give people the instructions for what to do before we go after the big Jewfish. Most people say "un huh" when I ask them do they understand what I told them to do. Some people get quite nervous when I tell them what may happpen. I give the others in the boat special instructions as well. It goes something like this. I tell the man with the rod to set the hook and then thumb the spool so no line can go off the reel. I tell the other man to man the anchor and pull it up as fast as he can when a fish is on. Then the anchor man is told to get back to the back of the boat to hold his friend in the boat. Sometimes I have to reach back and grab hold of the clients shorts or shirt to make sure they are not going over. Well we anchored up and I dropped the catfish down. We waited for a good 10 minutes and then Harry was crushed. The big Jewfish blasted his bait but swam away from the structure when he did. I cranked the motor. Mitch ran to the front to pull the anchor and Harry pulled with everything he had. After 5 minutes of pulling with all that he had Harry was able to get the huge fish up to the top. He was absolutely amazed at how big that fish was. He was also completely beat. Here is a great pic of Harry doing his best to pick the Jewfish all the way off the deck.
With Harry down for the count it was now Mitch's turn. He should have had the upper hand because he was able to see what to do and how to do it. Unfortunately that was not the case. I dropped Harry's catfish down and a few minutes after I handed the rod back to Mitch it was inhaled. Mitch did his best but was simply crushed by the big Jewfish. In the end Mitch had big Red bragging rights. Cam had the most fish bragging rights and Harry had the largest fish bragging rights. They all were happy to go home when it was all said and done. All three of them looked completely wore out. I had a blast and I believe they did to. I look forward to fishing with them again.
To conclude, this report was great for the Reds but as good as this one was for the Reds the next one is even better. Stay tuned for next weeks Snook Report.
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Harry and Cam were busting Mitch's chops about his cast and fish catching abilities. He was lagging way behind there for awhile and Harry had 6 Reds before Mitch even had one. Cam had a good 8 or 9 before Mitch had his first. Mitch kept telling the guys to watch out because he was going to get on a tear. Sure enough off he went. Him and his son Cam were cleaning Harry's clock. Before I knew it Mitch had 8 Reds and Cam had 10 while the experienced fisherman only had 6. Mitch also landed the biggest of the bunch in that time frame. It was a nice 7.5 pound Red.
Harry was doing his best to catch up and it just wouldn't happen for him. He finally got a fish on but it turned out to be a nice keeper sized snapper but not a Red. Mitch and Cam were telling me how much Harry was hating it that the kid was out fishing him. Once Harry landed his Snapper I tossed Cam's Pinfish right in the same spot where Harry caught his fish. Sure enough a big Red ate it and then Mitch hooks up with a nice red as well. We had another double but Harry just wasn't able to pull off the triple for us.
Once the guys reached 30 Reds we decided to go after Snook. We didn't find a lot of them but did manage two nice keeper sized Snook to the boat. I mentioned to the fellows that we had two catfish that were still alive from when I caught bait by cast net earlier in the day. It was time. Time for a little Jewfish action. I always give people the instructions for what to do before we go after the big Jewfish. Most people say "un huh" when I ask them do they understand what I told them to do. Some people get quite nervous when I tell them what may happpen. I give the others in the boat special instructions as well. It goes something like this. I tell the man with the rod to set the hook and then thumb the spool so no line can go off the reel. I tell the other man to man the anchor and pull it up as fast as he can when a fish is on. Then the anchor man is told to get back to the back of the boat to hold his friend in the boat. Sometimes I have to reach back and grab hold of the clients shorts or shirt to make sure they are not going over. Well we anchored up and I dropped the catfish down. We waited for a good 10 minutes and then Harry was crushed. The big Jewfish blasted his bait but swam away from the structure when he did. I cranked the motor. Mitch ran to the front to pull the anchor and Harry pulled with everything he had. After 5 minutes of pulling with all that he had Harry was able to get the huge fish up to the top. He was absolutely amazed at how big that fish was. He was also completely beat. Here is a great pic of Harry doing his best to pick the Jewfish all the way off the deck.
With Harry down for the count it was now Mitch's turn. He should have had the upper hand because he was able to see what to do and how to do it. Unfortunately that was not the case. I dropped Harry's catfish down and a few minutes after I handed the rod back to Mitch it was inhaled. Mitch did his best but was simply crushed by the big Jewfish. In the end Mitch had big Red bragging rights. Cam had the most fish bragging rights and Harry had the largest fish bragging rights. They all were happy to go home when it was all said and done. All three of them looked completely wore out. I had a blast and I believe they did to. I look forward to fishing with them again.
To conclude, this report was great for the Reds but as good as this one was for the Reds the next one is even better. Stay tuned for next weeks Snook Report.
