DECEMBER 15, 2007

FLORIDA

Sometimes, being a ?celebrity? has its drawbacks. Take last Tuesday, for example.

Last March, Mike Drossner had read the article I wrote about night snook fishing in Venice that appeared in Fly Fisherman magazine. ?I?ve gotta fish with this guy,? Mike told himself. So, I received an e-mail in October.

Dear Tony,

Suzanne and I are avid freshwater flyfishers . We read your article "Snook Under Lights" in Fly Fisherman. We are visiting friends on Anna Maria Island Dec 10-15, 2007. We would love to "hook" up with you for a half day or full day of fly fishing the gulf coast inland waterways if you are interested. We cannot go the evening of Dec 12 (my 50th birthday).

Hope to hear from you.

A flurry of replies and counter-replies ensued, and on the eve of Mike?s milestone birthday, we were cruising around the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) around Venice.

And, for a while, ?cruising? is about all we did. Spot after spot after spot yielded no action.

Finally, the tide came in and apparently the fish came in along with it because Mike and Suzanne started boating a grab-bag of species.

Whew!

So then we stopped at Pop?s Sunset Grill for a waterfront dinner of mahi-mahi, conch fritters, and salad laden with raspberry vinaigrette before heading back out for the Main Attraction.

Which, of course, would be snook tantalizingly laid up under the lights. Just like in my magazine article.

And, they were. Hundreds of them. Except THEY must not have read what I?d written. None of them. Not one! Michael Drossner?s 50th Birthday Present was a no-show. For the first time in all the years I?ve been chasing fish down here we failed to catch a snook under the lights.

We had hit seven different lights, and had seen hundreds of snook. Only once was there a flurry of feeding activity. The rest of the time they simply hung suspended in the water, moping.

As Mike and Suzanne began the drive back to Anna Maria Island, where they were staying at the home of one of Dr. Drossner?s grateful heart patients, a boat with three young fellows pulled up to the ramp.

?Pretty punky tide out there tonight,? one of them said. ?Yeah,? I replied, ?we must have thrown fifteen different fly patterns at them and never got a single snook to eat.?

?Wahl, don?t feel too badly ?bout it,? another interjected. ?We was thowin? live greenies at ?em and didn?t none ?o them eat our bait neither!?

Yeah, well that wasn?t much consolation for this hotshot magazine writer!

At least I found a measure of redemption in Lemon Bay the following morning with Andrew Berryhill, Jim Appold, and his son, Andrew.

Jim owns a bakery near Toledo, as well as a house on Manasota Key. Son Andrew owns rental properties in Toledo, and son-in-law Andrew is the Director of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra.

We launched from the ramp next to Manasota Road Bridge, and worked our way south. Finally, on some flats near Stump Pass, the curtain rose and the music was fine.

In fact, Mr. Berryhill was in excellent form. He must have caught four species of snapper, several enormous lizardfish, jacks, ladyfish, and a couple of small trout.

Team Appold held up their end with a fat 15-inch pompano by Jim, and a slot-sized spotted sea trout by Andrew, then everybody got busy comparing schedules for a couple more trips down the road.

I had pretty much the same experience yesterday with Dan Ferraris. He had bought a trip that I had donated to the Englewood Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) last spring, but this was the first chance we had to fish.

?I?m a retired dentist from Burlington, Vermont,? he told me, ?but between going back and forth to sell our house up there, and a remodeling project on the house here, I?ve never been busier. So I?m glad we finally had a chance to get on the water.?

Dan?s new to saltwater fishing and boating, so I think he appreciated all of the tips and tricks I gave him about staying safe while driving his boat as much as all the fish he caught.

?Fishing down here certainly is a lot more complicated then stepping into a Vermont trout stream,? he said. ?The boating, the knots, the flies themselves are all so different from what I?m used to.?

His casting was excellent, though. Especially after I showed him my little trick of marking the fly line at the load point, as well as reference marks at 45 feet and 60 feet.

?That?s pretty cool,? he said. ?I?m casting farther than I ever have before!?

Uh-huh!

?Now that you?ve got that dialed-in,? I said, ?next time we?ll go chase some baby tarpon. They?re only 25 to 50 pounds, but you should have fun with them.?

?Only?? he replied. ?Good God!?

MICHIGAN

It?s 8 degrees in Deward right now, but the temperature?s supposed to skyrocket all the way up over 20 tomorrow!

Anything else you?d like to know about THAT fishing report?

ENGLISH SETTER UPDATE

The puppy?s officially six months old now, and is beginning to ?mature? if you get my drift. Heart still is completely and utterly cowed by Ghost?the 10-year old?though.

They are having a fine time careening through the house. Heart uses my big chair and ottoman as a launching pad when he?s being chased by Ghost, and the rug around the dining room table looks like the Santa Anita Racetrack.

At least we?ve got the huge fenced yard for them to blast around in. Not to mention the gray squirrels that have begun to fascinate the puppy.

Just so he remembers feathers, not fur, are his prime objective.

I don?t think I have much to worry about though, judging from the way I keep finding feathers from my fly tying bench throughout the house. Soggy little reminders for me to keep things ?buttoned up? a little better!

Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony