November 18, 2007 - Oh What a Difference
The phrases are frustrating, if not all too familiar this time of year; “Oh what a difference a day can make” or “Should have been here yesterday.” Don’t take it personally, the fickle weather has everything to do with it! The weather of late fall can play cruel tricks on fishing guides – fishing red hot one day and stone cold the next. We offer four examples to support our claim. The first occurred two weeks ago as three seasoned fishermen from South Carolina made their way to Sebastian, arriving with well-founded images of huge snook, redfish and tarpon filling their dreams. The action through the inlet and the adjoining flats had been red hot Thursday through Saturday. However, a slow moving, severe front settled in on Sunday afternoon and shut down the ‘bite’ by evening. Monday was not much better as the stout 35 mph winds and driving rain made fishing near impossible. In Saturday night pre-fishing, we had caught three breeder reds and one over-slot snook and Sunday we could not have dynamited a fish out of the inlet. Friday morning had featured 30 trout to 29 inches and a dozen reds to 27 while Monday barely darkened the fishbox. Example two came last Monday at the expense of Capt. Roland. Capt. Don and I had rocked Titusville the previous Saturday, catching a total of 26 redfish between the two boats in half-day charters. It was one of those golden days featuring multiple triple and double hook-ups. Naturally, Capt. Roland wanted his clients on Monday to join the fantastic action and brought them north to the same flats. However, a low pressure system settled over the river Sunday night and the fish flat refused to cooperate … how frustrating!Capt. Roland also gave us example three this past Thursday night after witnessing a solid ‘bounce-back’ action during the middle of the week Pre-fishing Sebastian Inlet on Wednesday night, the good captain caught three breeder reds and one large snook in four successive drifts and, once again, optimism ran high for the next night. However, our first cold front arrived Thursday evening sending air temperatures plunging 35 degrees, dropping the barometric pressure 20 points in an hour and kicking north winds to 30 mph. The results of the fishing trip sagged to one redfish, two bluefish and a couple of break-offs … from frustrating to infuriating! Finally, I was fooled on Friday giving us the fourth example. After Roland’s frustration in Titusville on Monday, pre-fishing was scheduled for Thursday in preparation for the charter on the following day. The flats were electric with a bazillion finger mullet and feeding fish everywhere. Seven redfish and one gator trout were caught quickly with the largest red measuring 50 inches. Expectations soared for the Friday charter. However, the same Siberian express that froze Roland Thursday night chilled the action for me on Friday. Despite having two veteran anglers onboard and covering nearly ten miles of flats, shorelines and deeper potholes, we found only one redfish. It was as if NASA had exploded a rocket over the river, driving all signs of life into outer space … enough to drive the sanest guide mad. (See below from a terrible pic of a terrific fish from the pre-fish – picture taken with an old disposable camera stored onboard for emergency purposes).
The moral of this sorry saga is simple: “if the fishing is bad and your guide has gone mad, don’t take it personally. If you could’ve seen it yesterday, you’d know what a difference a day can make!”
Posted by Rocky Van Hoose on November 18, 2007 at 03:03:20 AM
The phrases are frustrating, if not all too familiar this time of year; “Oh what a difference a day can make” or “Should have been here yesterday.” Don’t take it personally, the fickle weather has everything to do with it! The weather of late fall can play cruel tricks on fishing guides – fishing red hot one day and stone cold the next. We offer four examples to support our claim. The first occurred two weeks ago as three seasoned fishermen from South Carolina made their way to Sebastian, arriving with well-founded images of huge snook, redfish and tarpon filling their dreams. The action through the inlet and the adjoining flats had been red hot Thursday through Saturday. However, a slow moving, severe front settled in on Sunday afternoon and shut down the ‘bite’ by evening. Monday was not much better as the stout 35 mph winds and driving rain made fishing near impossible. In Saturday night pre-fishing, we had caught three breeder reds and one over-slot snook and Sunday we could not have dynamited a fish out of the inlet. Friday morning had featured 30 trout to 29 inches and a dozen reds to 27 while Monday barely darkened the fishbox. Example two came last Monday at the expense of Capt. Roland. Capt. Don and I had rocked Titusville the previous Saturday, catching a total of 26 redfish between the two boats in half-day charters. It was one of those golden days featuring multiple triple and double hook-ups. Naturally, Capt. Roland wanted his clients on Monday to join the fantastic action and brought them north to the same flats. However, a low pressure system settled over the river Sunday night and the fish flat refused to cooperate … how frustrating!Capt. Roland also gave us example three this past Thursday night after witnessing a solid ‘bounce-back’ action during the middle of the week Pre-fishing Sebastian Inlet on Wednesday night, the good captain caught three breeder reds and one large snook in four successive drifts and, once again, optimism ran high for the next night. However, our first cold front arrived Thursday evening sending air temperatures plunging 35 degrees, dropping the barometric pressure 20 points in an hour and kicking north winds to 30 mph. The results of the fishing trip sagged to one redfish, two bluefish and a couple of break-offs … from frustrating to infuriating! Finally, I was fooled on Friday giving us the fourth example. After Roland’s frustration in Titusville on Monday, pre-fishing was scheduled for Thursday in preparation for the charter on the following day. The flats were electric with a bazillion finger mullet and feeding fish everywhere. Seven redfish and one gator trout were caught quickly with the largest red measuring 50 inches. Expectations soared for the Friday charter. However, the same Siberian express that froze Roland Thursday night chilled the action for me on Friday. Despite having two veteran anglers onboard and covering nearly ten miles of flats, shorelines and deeper potholes, we found only one redfish. It was as if NASA had exploded a rocket over the river, driving all signs of life into outer space … enough to drive the sanest guide mad. (See below from a terrible pic of a terrific fish from the pre-fish – picture taken with an old disposable camera stored onboard for emergency purposes).
The moral of this sorry saga is simple: “if the fishing is bad and your guide has gone mad, don’t take it personally. If you could’ve seen it yesterday, you’d know what a difference a day can make!”Posted by Rocky Van Hoose on November 18, 2007 at 03:03:20 AM
Native Sons Fishing Guides
Captain Rocky Van Hoose
321-986-9588
rvanhoose@cfl.rr.com
Captain Brad Jones
321-626-5072
jonesmelb7@bellsouth.net
Captain Rocky Van Hoose
321-986-9588
rvanhoose@cfl.rr.com
Captain Brad Jones
321-626-5072
jonesmelb7@bellsouth.net
