What's Happenin In My Life

Well, I'm at the halfway point through the Sea School OUPV course, also known as Captains School. We have been covering International and Inland Rules of the Road for the last two days and we have another day left of that before we move on to the next subject. This is probably the most important part of the class too as it requires a score of 90% to pass this portion of the test. On the actual test there will be 30 questions so you are allowed to miss 3 answers, so I am studying my tail off.

I am really looking forward to finishing up the class so I can take my test. Then I need to schedule a First Aid and CPR class. The class is offered by several organizations including some fire departments and The American Red Cross. I think I am going to take mine at The American Red Cross, Tampa Bay Chapter. They offer several courses throughout the week. They are about 6 hours long and you have the option of taking a daytime class that goes from 9:00 am - 2:30 pm or an evening class that goes over two evenings from 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm the first evening and from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm the second evening. You can get a class and schedule information by going to The American Red Cross Tampa Bay Chapter and clicking on the class schedule.

Once I have completed and passed the U.S. Coast Guard OUPV test and receive my First Aid and CPR cards, and the results of my Drug Test and Physical, then I will have to finish up my paperwork including the documentation of my "Sea Time" and Character References, I will have my paperwork checked over by Sea School and then submit the package to the U.S. Coast Guard. Then I will just have to sit and wait until they issue my OUPV License. I have been told that it can take several months now due to security concerns thanks to Osama bin Laden and Friends. Originally I had hoped to have my OUPV License in time for my birthday in March, but now it looks like I will be shooting for May... Of course I would be happy if I got it sooner but that just gives me more time to practice up on my guiding skills and plan my guiding business.

Also I have just heard that there is a new model of Gheenoe that is a little longer than The Classic, which is what I have now, and also 2 inches wider, runs about 5 mph faster with a 25hp engine, and is also a dryer ride, always important when comfort of passengers is considered, especially in less than perfect conditions. Of course I eventually plan on getting a regular Flat's or Bay type boat, but I am still quite interested in the possibilities of guiding from a Gheenoe.

I haven't had time to fish since last week and the weather has been turning a little cooler every day which means that the fish have been on the move and I haven't been keeping track of them. So I am eagerly looking forward to next week so I can get back after them. Of course next week is also Thanksgiving which means lots of people will be taking the week off as lots of businesses give Thanksgiving and the following day off, since it is Thursday and Friday. So I expect it to be a little more crowded on the water which will make fishing even more of a challenge. But I'm up for it since I took the week off too. Hopefully I will be able to get out on Monday and Tuesday at least.

On another interesting note. Tonite at 8:00 will be a very special episode on SlingN'Bait TV, Capt. Todd Foucher's fishing show on The Sportsman Channel. If you cant watch it on The Sportsman Channel, you can also watch it on the SlingN'Bait TV website after 8:00 pm tonite. It is episode #5. You can watch it by clicking here : SlingN'Bait TV Episodes and then clicking on Episode 5: Alafia Adventures. I will comment on it more in the near future after I watch it, but it should be a good one.

Is There A "New Fishng Stuff" Jinx, Or Is It Just Me?

Is it just me? It seems that almost every time I upgrade something on my boat or get a hot new fishing combo, or some great new sure-fire catch everything lure, that something always gets in the way of me getting to try it out for a couple days. And you can ask anyone who knows me well, patience is not my strong suit. Don't get me wrong, I can fish with a three year old and an 8 year old all day long and not lose my cool. I'm referring to a different type of patience, as in I get all excited about trying out something new and cant wait. Of course it's not just fishing, when I was a kid, I lived up in Michigan for a few years. It seemed every Christmas my coolest present was always something that I couldn't use till the snow melted in like march. For instance, I learned how to ride a skate board in the basement. My mothers washer and dryer were covered with dents from where the skateboard shot out from under my feet and rocketed into them with a loud house shaking Ka-Boom! Later in life, I think my wife got a sadistic pleasure out of buying me a new set of Callaway X16 Irons the before we left for a three day cruise, and of course I could not take them along, effectively making me wait 2 weeks before I could use them. This year, her company is having their annual Christmas party at Captiva Island, we are going to be there all weekend long. Guess who isn't going to be allowed to take a fishing rod...I bet she even buys me one right before we leave.
Anyway back to the matter at hand. I put a brand new depth finder on the Hotrod last Thursday. Fri I fished on someone Else's boat. Saturday and Sunday are non fishing days for me of course. Monday I fished on someone Else's boat. Today my son is home from school sick with a fever. His temperature is .4 degrees above the normal 98.6 so my loving caring wife let him stay home from school so I cant fish today either.
Oh well, it's election day so I guess Ill go vote. Maybe I can fish tomorrow. I'm supposed to get a new trolling motor soon, I wonder how long that will jinx me for?

Showing Off On The Hotrod Gheenoe

I had the distinct pleasure of hosting Capt. Todd Foucher, Local Tampa Fishing Guide and host of SlingN'Bait TV on the Hotrod Gheenoe. SlingN'Bait TV is a new fishing show on The Sportsman Channel that focuses on inshore and back country saltwater fishing in the Tampa Bay area. SlingN'Bait TV is unique among other fishing shows in that not only does SlingN'Bait TV entertain you while he and his guests catch fish, but SlingN'Bait TV also educates you on techniques and tactics for catching various species of fish including Snook, Redfish, Spotted Sea Trout, Spanish Mackerel, Mangrove Snapper and Grouper among others. SlingN'Bait TV also does the unheard of actually giving you specific locations where the fishing was done, including in some cases, GPS coordinates, tide and solunar information. No fishing show has ever done this and SlingN'Bait TV is causing a stir in the guiding industry. Prime fishing locations have long been closely guarded secrets by guides. After all, this is where guides earn their livings. Even recreational anglers keep the locations of their fishing holes close to their vests as they don't want to go fishing and find someone parked at their spot catching "their" fish. Capt Todd thinks these worries are unfounded though because fish migrate and just because they are somewhere today doesn't mean they will be in that exact location tomorrow. Capt Todd's hope is that through SlingN'Bait TV, anglers will be able to learn to find new areas to catch fish by looking at factors like tide, current, terrain features, and weather. It is definitely a new breed of fishing show.

I invited Capt Todd to fish with me on the Hotrod Gheenoe in the Alafia River in Hillsborough County Florida. Although he has fished for years in the South Shore area of Tampa Bay, he has never fished in the Alafia River. Some people would think I am crazy taking a guide out and showing him my hot spots because he will take his clients there and clean out my fish. But I am of the same mind as Capt Todd in that I know that the fish are here now but they wont be for long as they will move farther up the river or back into the various canals and creeks along the river as the weather cools. Then in the spring, when it warms up again they will pass this way again as they move back out to the flats and finally to their spawning areas on the beaches.
We started the day by catching bait, Scaled Sardines, which are plentiful in the river at the moment. Again when the weather cools the bait will all but disappear and I will have to change my fishing tactics to adapt, either using live shrimp or lures. Shrimp is expensive, and lots of non gamefish will eat it as well so I prefer to use lures.
After catching bait we moved into a small creek and began tossing our bait along the mangrove edges catching small snook. Then Capt Todd noticed a large swirl in the water and said he thought there might be a dolphin in the creek. Then there were lots of swirls and he said it looked like a school of big Jack Crevalle and Capt Todd tossed his bait over by the swirls. As soon as the bait hit the water the surface erupted and began to boil and his bait was instantly picked up by a huge Jack Crevalle. Not wanting to miss out I tossed my bait out as well and hooked up with a jack of my own. Unfortunately Capt Todd lost his Jack, breaking off in the roots of the mangroves lining the creek. My fish however was not as fortunate. It was a decent sized fish and towed the Hotrod up the creek and into the mangroves, then it swam out into the middle of the creek and pulled the Hotrod out of the mangroves. After a prolonged action packed battle I finally landed the fish.

After releasing the fish we moved to another location and started working the mouth of another creek. The water was high so we had to get our bait as close to the mangroves as possible to either draw the fish out or have the bait swim into the mangrove roots into the hungry mouth of the waiting fish. Suddenly, both our lines went tight and we had a double hookup. We ended up with two nice over slot redfish.
We fished this area a little longer and then moved to another creek mouth. The tide was now moving out so we fished the end of the creek and the outside edge on the down current side in the river. We caught several more snook including a
nice 30+ inch slot fish. We then started working the banks of the river paying special attention to docks and points and areas with submerged structure like old dock pilings, dead trees, rocks anything that might provide a hiding place for a big predator fish waiting to ambush an unsuspecting bait fish for an easy meal.
We actually found a couple new spots holding fish that I had not found before even though I had been fishing this area for the last two or three weeks. I told Capt Todd that I wanted to take him fishing here to show off what I had learned from him over the last year and a half since
I first fished with him. But I had an ulterior
motive as well. I wanted to take Capt Todd along so he could critique my skills and hopefully help me fine tune my fish finding skills and maybe even find a couple new spots on the river. Needless to say, an unsuspecting Capt Todd fell right into my evil trap... Actually Capt Todd is a great guy and is always willing to help out a fellow angler, whether it is another professional guide, an experienced recreational angler such as myself or even a total beginner such as myself when I first met him.
We finished the day at one of my best producing spots on the river. A dock I found fishing with my 3 year old daughter last week, that has produced dozens of snook over the last several days. Unfortunately due to the tide and the time of day it kind of let me down as it only produced one snook. But what a snook it was, another slot fish over 30 inches long. I guess if your only gonna get one fish if its a big one that makes it all worthwhile.
The trip kind of left me with mixed emotions though. We found and caught lots of fish, but I was just too lucky this time. I would have liked my guest to have caught the big ones. Well maybe not all of them because I would have been a little jealous. I think that I owe much of my success as an angler to Capt Todd and the priceless advice Capt Todd has given me since I first met him.
It was a great trip and an educational experience for both of us. I try to learn something new every time I go on the water. That is what keeps it interesting. Capt Todd hopes to teach his viewers something before they go on the water so they can have more success fishing and enjoy their fishing experience to the fullest.

Capt Todd Foucher can be reached through his website at http://www.slingnbait.com/ or by telephone at (863) 670-1643 and his television show SlingN'Bait TV can be seen Monday at 1130 am, Wednesday at 8 pm, Saturday at 6 pm and Sunday at 330 am on The Sportsman Channel. New episodes are aired on Wednesdays at 8pm.
If you dont have The Sportsman Channel you can also view SlingN'Bait episodes on his shows website, www.tv.slingbait.com. New episodes are available for viewing wednesdays at 8pm followed by a live chat with Capt Todd himself in his live chatroom.

A Great Big Redfish and a Great Big Smile

I took a friend fishing today. We hit some docks in a local river that empties into Tampa Bay. We were drifting by this one dock not intending to stop because I was heading to a different dock and my friend launched a cast as we drifted by. All of a sudden his line goes tight and his rod doubles over and he says "Redfish!". I'm thinking to myself, no big deal, when I see a huge swirl and he says "Big Redfish!". So Turn the boat with the trolling motor and try to slow our drift. I didn't want to drop the anchor as I didn't want this nice red to get tangled in the anchor rope. The current was ripping and the wind was blowing pretty good as well in the same direction as the current so I could barely hold the boat still with the trolling motor on high. It was more like a controlled slow drift. I ended up banging into a dock and the fish took off for the middle of the river, so I turned the boat to chase after it. I drifted next to a piling and reached out and grabbed it to stop the boat from drifting, ready to let go if the fish looked like it was going to try to wrap around it. So with one arm on the piling and the other with my boga grips I tried to help my buddy land his prize. I almost had the fish once but it took off when I touched the line with my free hand. My friend fought the fish to the boat again and once again tried to grab the line and again the fish took off. Finally the fish was wore out and I managed to get the gripper in its mouth. Its head was huge. Possibly the biggest I have seen, and the fish was very fat. I estimated it to be at least 33 inches but when I got it out of the water and measured it it was only 32 1/2 inches long. Needless to say my friend was ecstatic. I think I was just as excited about catching the fish as he was.The rest of the trip turned out pretty good as well. I caught 14 snook. 1 was a 28 1/2 inch keeper which I released for good mojo. I also caught a small redfish (compared to his anyway) and a catfish. My in addition to the redfish, my friend caught a nice 18 inch Spotted Seatrout, 2 catfish and 1 snook. He lost at least 5 snook. But I knew we would get him one. We also had a double hookup on some very large Jack Crevalle but we both got broken off at the boat on our light 20 lb leaders. Turns out that this was also his first inshore slam.
I think the look on his face says it all.
It's a great feeling putting someone on a nice fish like that, and very satisfying as well.

A Recent Discussion...

One of the fishing forums I frequent had a very heated discussion between two well established fishing guides with well over 40 years of guiding experience between the two of them, and two popular up and coming guides.
Apparently, the old timers took offense at the other guides sharing information on the forums with other fishermen about areas where they were catching keeper size grouper inshore. They younger guides said that they were looking to fill a niche by offering their clients the opportunity to not only catch the normal Spotted Seatrout, Redfish and Snook but also to catch grouper, usually only available by going many miles offshore. They are also trying to help out recreational anglers because they feel that that is what guides should do.
The old timers said that by sharing too much information with recreational anglers the young guides would ruin the fishery by causing too much pressure on the area. They also claimed that they have known about the area for decades and that the young guides had not discovered anything new.
Anyway, from there it turned into a free for all, not so much between the guides but from the illustrious members of the peanut gallery, choosing sides and bashing the guides that held a differing opinion from their own. Ultimately the thread was deleted and that was the end of that discussion.

Now for my take.

The old timers are concerned that the area will become a parking lot from all the recreational boaters fishing the area for grouper and eventually they will deplete the resource. They also take offense that the younger guides are, in their opinion, using their fishing reports as a vehicle for marketing their guide operations. And they are also concerned that by providing too much information to recreational anglers that they will possibly lose business due to the fact that if people can find out where to fish for free on the Internet, then they will not require a guide.

The young guides are trying to expand their services by offering a wider selection of fishing opportunities to their clientele. They are also trying to help out recreational anglers. They dont think that they are harming the resource or the business of the other guides, because even if the give out the locations that still doesnt mean that the other anglers will know the proper techniques or when to use them. I know for a fact there is more involved in catching fish than having a boat and a livewell full of bait and tend to agree with them. On multiple occasions I have went fishing with guides and went back to the same locations without catching fish on my own. I have taken other anglers fishing and they have told me that they tried to fish those same areas with no or limited success.

The guiding profession is very competitive, and I can see where both sides have valid points. As more and more people move to Florida, fishing pressure can only increase. I can see opportunities for guides to get more business but I can also see where the competition will increase as more anglers become guides. I think the successful guide will be the one who can stay on top of the fish as they move around due to seasonal changes, weather, and increased fishing pressure. The days of the secret honey hole are coming to an end, if they arent over already.

My First Fishing Rant...

Why is it that some people just cant go without stirring up controversy? It seems that when someone asks a question about fishing, or makes a fishing report on a fishing forum, instead of just answering a question or congratulating someone for a job well done there is always someone who has to make a negative comment. Then to make matters worse, another person has to come to the defense of the original poster or disagree with the negative commentor and the next thing you know, you have a full blown cat 5 shit storm.
It seems like when talking fishing there are a couple topics that just cannot be discussed on a fishing forum without evolving into big arguments. Bait vs. Lures and kayaks vs. motor craft are two such topics, much akin to religion and politics in their volatility. These are kind of understandable since they both involve different techniques used by different groups of anglers.

Bait vs. Artificial:
Now a wise angler would think that such discussions should be productive in teaching different approaches to the ultimate goal of catching fish. Sadly this just does not seem to be the case. Someone will always toss a proverbial turd in the punchbowl with some inflammatory remark about bait users not having enough skill to fool a fish with a hunk of steel and plastic. In many cases there could be some truth to this, but I would be willing to bet that the person making the comment started out fishing with bait until they were shown how to use lures. I think it all boils down to one of two things, either the person making the demeaning comments just wants to look like a big shot because they now can catch a fish using a lure, or they are jealous that they aren't catching as many fish as the angler using bait. Both cases most likely the result of an inflated ego.

Kayaks vs. Motor Craft:
This should be another subject full of opportunities to educate. The stealth and shallow water capabilities of a kayak are very powerful tools for fishing in the backwaters and shallow flats areas of Tampa Bay. It has become a very popular and economic way to fish. In addition to these capabilities, it also is very environment friendly as there are no propellers to tear up grass, and no oil or gas to leak out and pollute the environment.
Boating has been popular in Tampa Bay since the beginning. A multitude of boat designs have evolved over the years for specialized fishing from gheenoes, jon boats and small skiffs, to Bay boats and offshore boats for making long runs into the gulf to fish the deep water for grouper and migrating pelagics like kingfish and dolphin.
The argument here once again boils down to egos clashing.

In my opinion everyone seems to think that their particular way to fish is the best way. I tend to believe that an angler is going to try to fish using the most effective technique and equipment at their disposal to provide the most productive results possible. I have seen guys fishing in a cheap jon boat just tearing up the fish while anglers in expensive flats boats decked out with every gadget one could imagine did not catch near the numbers or quality of fish.

My opinion is that the best way to fish is whatever works. If the fish are eating live bait then I am going to use live bait, if they are hitting artificials I will use artificials. If they are hitting hot dogs or chicken liver, well, you get the point.

Unfortunately there is another type of discussion that turns ugly quick too. That is the one where some one has to come in and try to start an argument because they just feel like being an ass. They might bring up a tired old worn out subject and insert it into a pleasant discussion where it doesn't belong in the first place either because they are just an ass, or in an attempt to liven things up in a negative way. This is called being a troll. Trolls are on every Internet forum there is, covering any and every subject conceivable. Why? My money is on the ego thing again. Maybe they need more attention. Maybe they need to start a blog...

Fishing Forums on the Internet can be a good tool for gathering information about fishing a specific area or targetting specific fish. They are also a good place to share comraderie with other anglers and have fun talking about fishing and other things. The best way to keep them fun is to keep things light and your ego in check. As for dealing with trolls, that is tough, as a good troll is very skilled in getting everyone riled up, and that is their sole intention. Your best bet is to let them run their course without responding. It can be very difficult but eventually they will go away. As much as I hate to say it though, it can provide some very entertaining reading though as those with less resolve will try to argue with the troll, but then again, some people like soap operas.

Until next time. Go Fish