Hernando Hideaway
By CAPT. MEL BERMAN, 970-WFLA

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Ya know, sometimes a fishing junkie like me can get really pushy. I hadn’t intended to fish, but when a last Thursday was scheduled to come up beautifully calm and warm, it really got my motor running. Now who could I call on Wednesday evening to promote an early Thursday morning fishing trip? Had to be someone with an amiable, outgoing attitude, who is also a die-hard fishing zealot like myself. It was immediately evident that this job description aptly fit but one guy – my good friend Capt. Frank Bourgeois of Hernando County.

“Hey Frank, how about going after some of those lunker trout I’ve been hearing about off Hernando Beach,” I asked. Luckily for me, this premier North Suncoast Guide was indeed available for a last minute fishing adventure.

Launching at Hernando Beach Ramp, Capt. Frank eased his way out the fog-shrouded channel on into the Gulf. Getting up on plane, we made a beeline for some secret spot he had about 9-miles out.

“I thought we were going trout fishing,” I said. “How come we’re running so far out in the Gulf?” “Just relax Mel, we’ll get you a trout or two,” said Capt Frank.

As we rode, it looked like the waters were getting deeper and deeper, and I was thinking, “I don’t have any heavier lures for working these greater depths.” But the weather was calm and comfortable, and I was on a fishing trip this glorious day, so who cares!

Finally, the skipper slowed the engine on his boat, easing his way over a shallow reef loaded with outcroppings of coral and sponges. The water this day was so crystal clear, it was like looking into an aquarium.

Down below there were huge schools of spadefish, large sheepshead and a few reds milling about. Then moments later, a marauding horde of hungry bluefish began erupting on the water’s smooth surface, chasing baits that were as big as fish we’d have been happy to catch.

But enough of this sight seeing. Time to get to work tossing lures!

My first selected bait was a the Mister Twister “Exude” slug tail. The color chosen was a red belly, with chartreuse sparkle back. The package identified this off-the-wall color combination as “Funky Chicken.”

Slipping the tail on a ¼-oz. jig head, I flipped it out just beyond where the bottom structure ended, and began working it back with a slow, twitchy retrieve. I didn’t get more that 3 or 4 cranks, before something huge and powerful nailed the bait. Keeping tension on the line and a good bend in the rod, I got this varmint to the boat. “What a beauty,” I exclaimed. “That trout has to be at least 30-inches!”

Easing it gently aboard, Capt. Frank measured this lunker sea trout. It was not the originally estimated 30-incher, but still an impressive 28-inches. “Wow,” I said, “let’s do it again. This time captain Frank, deploying a Love Lures pearl colored Slugger Tail, was reeling in yet another monster trout.

I know this is going to sound like a fisherman’s tall tail, but we stood there for over two hours catching trout, all of which were just too big to keep! “Aren’t there any keeper here,” I asked. After all this is the area north of the Pasco Pinellas line and it’s legal to take a fish for dinner. And though it okay to keep one over 20-inches, I just couldn’t see killing the big breeders.

Finally, I believe it was Frank who hooked a trout that was right at 20-inches, so we kept that one for dinner.

Meanwhile, those blues were swarming in again, and both Capt. Frank and I spent some time wresting with what I call these “fish with an attitude.”

Now, though the outgoing tide had stopped, we continued hooking up with a fish on virtually every cast. Incidentally, we had mashed down the barbs on all our hooks so as to facilitate easy and safe release of these beautiful fish.

When fish bite this enthusiastically, it’s time to try different lures. So I dug out all the lures I had in the tackle box and flung them out into the hungry melee. Reeling slowly, with an occasional slight twitch, the hungry monster trout annihilated these new lures. On each cast this bait wasn’t out there twitching for more than thirty seconds before I got a fervent fish strike.

Capt. Frank, also experimenting with an assortment of tails, cast out the Slimy Slug, Love Lures Slugger and the Saltwater Assassin Shad. All produced quick strikes like champs.

Now the incoming tide was rushing in at a brisk clip and, interestingly enough, the fishing activity began to slow down. It was now a bit after noontime and, as part of my inducement for taking me fishing on so short a notice, I told Capt. Frank, upon our return to shore, we would head for Hooters for some wings.

On the way in, I couldn’t help but thinking that this kind of day is what heroin is to a junkie. But Frank and I were, and will always be hooking on fishing.