That's My Story

OVERLOOKED HONEY HOLES

Originally published the week of January 3, 2007 in Western Outdoor News

Sometimes, you just gotta make do.

People…especially fishermen, can get pretty snarly and grumpy after a few days not being able to fish which sometimes happens during the winter months. Sometimes the water is too big or it’s just too windy or some other seasonal thing.

Usually after the first day, most guys are pretty understanding and you hear a lot of “ Well, that’s fishing!” By day three, you’re usually getting blamed for not only the weather and water but the restaurant food, water in the hotel shower, and even the lack of English spoken by the bellman in the lobby becomes MY fault.

Several seasons ago, I had a small group that was in just such a tizzy and with each passing day their shorts were bunching up tighter and tighter. I warned them that coming down in January was hit-or-miss, but they insisted on traveling and now we had been holed up for several days. I had already promised them refunds, but that wasn’t the point. If I couldn’t find the magic wall switch to turn off the winds and make the ocean flatten out there would be hell to pay.

What I did out’ve desperation became a lesson I’ll never forget. I rounded up a bunch of my freshwater rigs; went to the fish market and bought up a bunch of scraps and stopped off at the local variety store and bought a pack of balloons.

I gathered up my grumpy anglers and told them I was going to do one of my special “inshore fishing seminars.” I told them I usually charge as much as $75 a head for this, but was going to do it for free. Of course, there was no such thing as an inshore fishing seminar, but I had to think of something. So I trucked ‘em all down to the local marina. With an additional FREE ice chest of beer, I could tell spirits were rising.

I had all of them go into my tackle box and rig up plastic swim baits; crank baits; chrome spoons or bait rigs. I pretended I knew what I was talking about but I had remembered something Dick Gaumer, one of the masters of bay fishing had told me years ago. He said, “Lots of people are put off fishing in marinas, jetties and docks. You should always look at a body of water like that as a goldmine of structure. Each boat; piling, or dock is one more place for a fish to hide.”

OK, Dick…here goes nothing because I knew as I looked at that brown/ green water that I was winging it.

I told my anglers I had a secret “honey hole” here at the marina as they rigged up and I embellished the “seminar” with all kinds of “bits and pieces” of information; stories and tackle tips. While talking I chopped up the scraps of fish I had bought and gave each angler a little zip lock bag of “goodies.”

I also took a few larger pieces of bait and tied each to a balloon with a piece of mono. I finished my little talk then started tossing a few handfuls of “chum” into the little side basin of moored boats. I took a few of the “balloon baits” and heaved them in as well and dropped a few into a few empty slips.

I told the guys, “Just watch what happens!” Of course, I had never done this, but I had my fingers crossed and I prayed like heck but at least, I could tell I sure had the attention of my anglers!

Within minutes, there was a splash; then ripples and breaks. Dark shapes started to materialize in the greenish marina water. Several of the balloons dipped, bobbed and would run then stop and run again! The little basin was suddenly alive with fish!

“Go to it, guys!” I said. And each guy happily found a spot and started casting. Amid whoops and hollers over the next 2 hours, I think the guys must’ve hooked over a dozen different species of fish. At times, it was like a stocked pond! Where’d all these fish come from? Sometimes, it was non-stop action catching and releasing as quick as they could go. It was like some of these fish had never seen a hook or lure! The best kind!

Small jack crevalle, roosterfish, bay bass, barracuda, snapper and pargo were just a few. Several fish, like some of the jacks and roosters went over 10 pounds and the guys yelled and laughed like they were hooked on big blue water sluggers. With the light freshwater gear some of the fish gave ‘em quite a tussle and keeping the fish outta pilings and other structure really tested fishing skills.

Of course, I grinned like the amateur magician who pulls does the card trick and it actually works! And yes, I gladly took all of the credit for being the “best thing since slicked bread” from my anglers! Hey, if it’s my fault the wind’s blowing then I can certainly take credit that I just found a honey hole full of fish!

It was the first, but hardly the last time I’ve taken frowning anglers to the marina to fish, but you gotta do what you gotta do to keep ‘em smiling.

That’s my story. If you ever want to reach me, my e-mail is riplipboy@aol.com.