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• Seaworthy: Start the season right

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“That’s about the size we use as a bait fish back home,” was the critical retort made that morning by John Hammond as he swung a borderline keeper size mangrove snapper aboard.

Howling winds and tumultuous seas had cancelled John’s offshore charter that morning and he scrambled to find a backwater boat that could fish his family, party of three, and fortunately (or unfortunately) I was the backwater boat he found.

With applauding smirks on the faces of the other two in the party, I attempted to explain that backwater is different in many ways. One of the unique features is that you are, in essence, fishing in the estuary for all but the pelagic fish in the Gulf — this is where they are hatched and live the first months and years of their lives.

Expounding and making clear that, even those small snapper are considered keepers at 10 inches in length, their filet is more like a nugget. It is a shame to take fish that size.

I remember saying, “Small is in, back here, but not necessarily so!” as part of an oration that stopped John in his tracks as he countered with, “Explain, if you will.”

There are plenty of snapper — 15 and 16 inches in the backwaters as well as redfish that’s in the mid 20-inch range and beyond. Additionally, there are good size black drum to the mid 20-inch range, snook to mega size and don’t forget the tarpon action. And finally, there is the “icing-on-the-cake” of Florida pompano as well as spotted seatrout available in the passes under most conditions, and all that available on delicate light tackle versus the broomstick rods and hawser line used offshore.

After this long explanation, I stopped the spiel, waiting for a reaction.

John was the point of the group ... “OK, let’s do it. All small fish released and we target and only take fish with shoulders. Let’s go.” And off we went.

We had one handicap as we commenced our big backwater fish adventure, live bait. Those same sea conditions that kept John’s offshore boat in port would prevent us from hooking some live bait at the sea buoys. So we would go with live shrimp and a few pinfish saved from a prior trip. We could make what was available, work!

Our first fishing spot was admittedly a long shot. It had occasionally produced mega snapper and was tough to bypass, so we stopped and got our gear in the water quickly. Action was quick and fast; unfortunately, on small snapper — John’s bait fish.

Now, during the years of getting stuck catching small fish, you learn that like-sized fish hang together. Kind of like the sophomores don’t like being seen with the freshmen. But anyway, after but a few minutes we pulled the gear and moved on.

Next spot was slower and deeper water, just off the main current and was high on my mega-possibility list. And that didn’t take long to confirm as John swung a 15-inch class beautiful snapper my way.

“This is our minimum size on snapper today guys — all the rest go back,” trumpeted John.

We worked that snapper hole for a good half hour and finished with four nice mega fish and loads of returnees. John was starting to smile.

We targeted redfish next and moved deep up into the backwaters as the tide flooded. Now redfish aren’t generally as segmental as the snapper, and you can find small ones mixed in with over-slot size redfish (27-inch) but here the bait and its presentation can make the difference.

But wouldn’t you know it! Our first spot along a mangrove edge was loaded with puppy redfish in the 12 to 15-inch range. So we moved on. So much for my redfish theory!

Now we went really deep into the backwaters and were right on the edge of a tidal flat only available at extreme high tides. We moved as quietly as possible and as close in as good judgment would allow, and voilà! There they were. Large redfish were tailing all along the just-flooded flat, rooting out crustaceans. With great care and precision, we set up to cast freelined jumbo shrimp in the middle of the redfish feed. The casts were all on the mark and the action was instant.

John had a larger-than-slot-size redfish flopping alongside the boat and his son and daughter had what looked like slot fish being worked port and starboard. We released John’s gingerly and kept just one of the kids’ fish. The other went back, too.

“Fantastic fighting fish. Gorgeous with their copper and white color. Too nice to take,” was John’s summary of this segment of the effort. We fished on for another half hour or so with all fish released. John’s smile was just a bit broader.

The final leg of our backwater fishing extravaganza was triggered by the backwater slack tide. We headed for the Capri Pass while changing rigs to white jigs on fluorocarbon leader. Our target would be the ever-challenging Florida pompano.

Enroute John inquired, “What’s the story on these pompano?”

“Pompano legal size is 11 inches, fork length, which is a nice fish that will give you a tussle and then some but a mega-battler will go anywhere from 15 to 18 inches, and it would be nice to make those fish our targets. What say?” was my version of the “story.”

“So be it... 15 inches minimum,” was John’s retort and the die was cast.

The pompano were there. In a smaller patch of green water just off the start of the outgoing current they were waiting for us — all sizes of them, all hungry and tougher than nails.

We had big and little ones and all fought the three Hammond’s like banshees. But true to their word, all but those 15-inch and bigger were carefully released. As a result, the fish box had but two takers.

Our day finished there. John’s first experience at backwater fishing was a learning experience of how to target your species and adopt a self-imposed limit as to what size fish would be taken.

It was a “feel-good” experience that anyone of us can adopt every time we fish. Why not make your keepers something special and above the ordinary?

Capt. Bill Walsh owns an established Marco Island charter fishing business and holds a current U.S. Coast Guard license. Send comments or questions to dawnpatrolcharters@compuserve.com