On the River and More

I have fished every hole in the Homosassa, Little Homosassa and St. Martin’s River.  Well, I might have missed one or two.  

Many times I wanted to be first and first there to the fish spot. It required getting up at 4am to be on river or gulf before dawn to catch the first fish before anyone.  Only 3 species qualified for uncivilized hours.  Tarpon, reds and grouper.(I’ll touch base on a story or two.  No way to get them all unless I write a volume.) And just a mish-mash of events.

Normal time to leave the dock was 8am. Those were Gentleman rules between the guides who met to agree on prices and departure and arriving times from the dock, etc.(I know, price fixing is illegal).  This is shit I hated.  Communism on the river by the guides asso.  No one tells me what to do with my paying customers, etc.  The g.a. was good for large groups but applicable mostly to large groups where all the guides in town were busy.

Each and every year they would return and for me in the 70’s that was considered an honor to be asked to fish with them.  The downside was you never knew who you were going to have on your boat.  They would get drunk the night before and having a good time.  But they paid the piper the next day.  Huge hangovers.

He would leave a little earlier than the rest of guides unless it was a multi-guide trip. Shotgun start.  For redfish to come into the river, the first cold snap with frost on the ground is required.  Temps in the mid- 30’s was ideal.  Dad would hail me and I woke up to the smell of bacon popping.  (Sidebar)

Last night, I PMed my friend, Rob and wrote, “I’m going to put you in a category by yourself.” He posts the most on Facebook among my crowd and Rufus is neck and neck.   But it is cool.  He’s got it happening, writing about his adventures and his children.  He pumps his wife’s ego to the hilt.  Anyway, he responded, “ha ha, I get bored!”  He just so happens to be my star pupil, my fishing guide partner who owns a 70K Hells Bay Professional.  

Well, this sounds like bragging.  It’s not, just fact and history.  It might make you cringe.  Well don’t.  You have to remember, those were the days of a 12” size limit and no bag.  123 redfish landed and sold to the restaurant so we could have food on the table.  

In modern times we have caught and released 88 that were 5 pounds and up.  And these fish can be caught over and over again.  Most of those river reds back in the 70’s would be fished out in a few days and they average 15”.

I was one of many who traveled to Tallahassee to ask the Governor to make redfish a game fish(no sale status).  Many spoke. Ted was first and I was second.  We did it and the rest is history.  

Except for one change, in Florida allowing the bag limit of redfish from 1 to 2 redfish.  That is the most ignorant rule change of all time.  Keep in mind ignorant is the word.  There’s no big schools anymore.  Just do the math.  It is simple addition, multiplication and subtraction.  20 boats, 5 anglers, 1 fish each, 100 reds taken, 200 reds taken with 2 fish each; times 30 days = 3,000 for one fish limit and 6,000 for two fish limit.

Keep in mind, this is a very low number.  We are losing hundreds of thousands along the west coast every year.  The loss of revenue for Florida is in the millions of dollars.  We should set an example that we are the sport fish release state of the country.