What a great labor day weekend we had at the Pointe. Old friends Billy and Nancy Sexton with their son Billy Jr. and grandson Jimmy, along with Paul and Karen Verrocchi, joined us, as did a full house of first timers. As always, Paul and I spent a lot of time on the water and what a beautiful weekend we had. Hot doesn't come close to describing the heat index, more like blistering, but due to the lack of wind we were able to fish far and wide.
From the river to the Gulf to far south of the Skyway Bridge, we saw most of Tampa Bay. The bait getting was easy at the Skyway. On Saturday Paul and I headed to the Fort Desoto area and found plenty of reds but only one that was hungry. Nice catch and release by Paul; that's him and his over sized red in the picture. Sunday we headed south of the Skyway where we had plenty of action and again, Paul had the hot hand for reds. I managed to land a really nice snook.
Monday I was very pleased that Paul and I were joined by my son George, and Billy and his son were joined by my son Travis. All I can say about Monday is that although no fish were actually landed, at least conventionally, I can't remember the last time I had so much fun and laughed so hard. After being broken off by what I assumed was a large red I called over to Travis on Billy's boat and told him to be on the lookout for my yellow Cajan Rattler. The next thing we heard was that Travis had also been busted off. I cannot describe the enthusiasm Billy, BJ and Travis displayed in their efforts to catch up to and retrieve both floats and fish. Trust me; the Marx brothers would have been proud. After what must have been an hour Paul, George and I decided that maybe two boats would be better than one; besides we weren't catching any fish so what the heck. Travis did confirm that he had gotten close enough to my float to identify a large red. He was sure that if mine was a red, his must be also, and was not about to give up. I never was able to catch my redfish but Travis, due to perseverance I have rarely seen in him, did manage to catch his eventually. Man, that was a beautiful sailcat!Thanks to everyone for all the great food and companionship. We look forward to seeing you next time.