Time really flies. It is amazing how fast the days go by. It seems like summer just started but it's over already. Many people like fall but I'm a warm blooded creature who loves the hot weather. And that is one of the reasons why I love Florida so much. The other reason is because Florida has great fishing.

Many anglers vacation in Florida because of the fantastic fishing in that state. But there's also a great variety of salt water species in Florida. Sailfish, tarpon, snook and redfish are the first fish that come to mind when I hear of Florida fishing. In this adventure, we'll travel down to the west coast of Florida and fish with one of the best charter captains that I have ever met. His name is Capt. Kevin Lubold of Englewood, Florida. Kevin owns Kevin's Place, a nice bait and tackle shop located on Placida Road in Englewood, Florida. The shop has all the bait and tackle an angler could ever need. It also has a nice boat ramp and boat rentals for those who want to try fishing own their own. Kevin's wife, JoAnne runs the shop with Kevin.

When I first called Kevin and asked if he would be interested in being featured on our television show, ADVENTURES IN FISHING WITH CAPT. RAY KELLY, he told me how great the snook fishing is in that area. He also said that the redfishing is fantastic, and would be very much interested in getting involved with our show. I scheduled the filming for May, which he said was a great time to catch both snook and redfish. He said "You can catch 40-50 fish per day -- no problem!", which got me pretty excited. I couldn't wait to get down there.

I stayed at Placida Harbour located on Placida Road in Placida, Florida. It's a beautiful complex with a marina, clubhouse and a free ferry that will sail you over to Placida Beach. The townhouses are spacious and you really feel at home there. I even caught snook right off their seawall.

The day before the fishing trip I filmed Kevin's Place and met Kevin's wife JoAnne and his pretty daughter, Ashley who is 7 years old. Kevin took some time out and rigged a rod up for Ashley so she could do a little fishing right behind the shop. It was nice to see that Kevin makes time for his daughter and has her involved in fishing. Within three minutes, Ashley caught a small mangrove snapper and that was great.

I had made arrangements with Kevin to film him catching the live white bait (shiners). This meant I had to meet him the next morning at 6:00 AM because he catches the bait in Charlotte Harbor just after sunrise -- and it was a beautiful sunrise that morning. I feel it's also part of fishing to take time to notice the beauty of nature -- like a sunrise or pelicans flying by your boat. In this area of Florida you can even see manatees and porpoises.

Kevin has a beautiful custom made Intrepid Flats fishing boat with a tower over the center console which allows him to see baitfish as well as snook, redfish and other species. He 'chummed in' the baitfish and cast-netted about two-three hundred of them, put them in the live well, and we were off to his secret spot -- which was one of the mangrove islands in the Boca Grande area. It is amazing how those little islands all look alike.

Kevin was using light tackle with eight pound Triple Fish fishing line and a thirty pound leader. He put a lively shiner on the hook and made a nice cast about three feet from shore, right at the base of the mangroves. I couldn't believe it. Not ten seconds later, he was hooked up and in a nice fight resulting in the landing and quick release of a keeper snook. In Florida snook have to be 19 inches to be kept. Kevin believes in catch and release and we like to try to promote this idea whenever we can on the show. He put on another bait and cast again. This time it took three minutes before he was hooked up. The fish won this battle and spit the hook.

Kevin then caught a jack cravelle (a tough fighting fish) and released it. I couldn't wait for the chance to give it a try. He rigged me up, baited my hook and I cast. It took me quite awhile to cast properly. Kevin kept telling me to cast right to the base of the mangroves but I would hit a branch or cast short. In the meantime he caught a nice redfish (also known as Red Drum). They are noted for their spot or spots by their tails. The redfish was released for someone else to catch another day.

I hooked up but lost a fish. It takes some experience to land these snook and redfish. Kevin started the engine and moved the boat around the little island -- which I would say was about the size of a football field. He was up in the tower and noticed some fish out in a deeper white patch, about forty feet from shore. He immediately cut the engine grabbed his rod and cast. I saw a giant swirl where the bait had landed and Kevin's rod was bent so much I thought it might even break.

The fish took off straight for the mangroves. Kevin had the drag set loose so that the fish could run and not break the line. The fish got caught in the mangroves. I had seen what happened next on other television fishing shows, but now it was going to be on ours. Kevin jumped in the water (which was about two feet deep) and fought the fish in the water. He waded over towards the area where the fish was. I was amazed when the fish swam out of the cover.

Kevin fought the fish for about fifteen minutes before I really got a good look at it. It was a monster snook. You could see that the linesider was between three and four feet long. I was really hoping he would land it and he did. You could see the joy in his face. He yelled out "Now this is what people come to Florida for!" as he held the giant snook up for the camera. I zoomed the video camera right in because I knew this was going to be the highlight of the show. He estimated it to be 39 inches long, weighing 15 pounds or so. It had a female because the males don't get that big. It was full a eggs and so Kevin was to release it. He revived the fish and it quickly regained it's strength. As soon as Kevin let go of it's tail, the giant snook swam away.

I congratulated Kevin and told him that he was one of the best charter captains that I had the pleasure of filming. I wasn't lying when I told him that. Kevin and I fished for the rest of the day catching one snook after another.

At the end of the day Kevin took me to another secret spot where he said the snook are mixed in with big redfish. He wasn't lying. We caught more snook and there the big redfish he spoke of mixed in, but none topped the monster snook that Kevin had caught earlier. The day came to an end and I thanked him for getting involved with ADVENTURES IN FISHING.

We made a tentative date at filming tarpon next time. But if you want to experience snook fishing at it's finest, give Capt. Kevin Lubold of Kevin's Place in Englewood, Florida a call at 1-800-766-6536 or call ADVENTURES IN FISHING AT (516) 929-6711 and we will make all your fishing vacation arrangements for you.

Capt. Allan can be reached at 1-800-743-8898 or give us a call at (516) 929-6711 and we will arrange your fishing vacation for you.

Visit Capt. Ray at his website http://www.adventure-fishing.com or drop him a line at [email protected]