Fun With Old Friends, And HOW!
Capt. Butch Rickey
February 6, 2014
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
Week ending 1/18/14........
After being down with a bug for about two weeks, I did get back on the water for three days of fishing in this week.
The week began on Monday with my good friend Frank Faust, of Council Bluffs, Iowa. He wanted me to show him the area around Fisherman's Key, which is accessed from the A span of the Sanibel Causeway.
I met Frank at the Circle K at Summerlin and John Morris, and we headed on down to the causeway. We had our two Ultimates in the water and were on our way in a half hour. We had a very low tide, and were fishing behind another cold front. The water was cold and shallow. Not far from the launch, Frank bumped bottom with his trolling motor, and seemed to loose thrust. I went over to investigate, and soon found that the shear pin was indeed sheered. The shaft was spinning freely inside the prop. Frank was concerned that he'd screwed the motor up, but I assured him that I'd had this happen once before, and it turned out to be a pin that had rusted so badly it failed. But, when that happens the remains of the pin are rusted into the stainless steel shaft, and have to be drilled out on a drill press. He would be without a motor for the rest of the day.
We headed for a flat that drops off from shallow to deep water fairly quickly, and most always is full of speckled trout. Well, there were some trout there, but the area was so infested with ladyfish that it was all but impossible to catch trout. I told Frank I was going to go see if I could find some redfish, and thought he would stay there for the time being.
After making the crossing to Fisherman's Key, I realized Frank was not far behind me. I turned east toward my destination, and when I got there and turned around, Frank was nowhere to be found. After numerous attempts to contact Frank on the radio, he finally answered. He couldn't see me, but I thought perhaps I'd found him; a tiny indistinguishable speck on the horizon. I held up my yellow paddle and told him to look for it.. After several minutes he finally spotted me, and began his long paddle against wind and current, back to me. Frank had gotten preoccupied with tying lines and fishing , and didn't realize the brisk wind aided by a strong incoming tide was sweeping him away towards Matlacha Pass at a brisk rate. I stayed where Frank could see me and was finally able to get back to me, but it took quite a while.
I situated Frank on a great redfish spot I love to fish, and told him to chunk ladys and lures while I went hunting. I poled and motored along lots of mangrove shoreline looking for redfish, but the only fish I saw were buried underneath the seaweed tumbleweed trying to stay warm, and weren't visable when they bolted.
Finally, I decided to do something I used to do in Sarasota on those cold, windy winter days, that was quite effective. I went and found a deep edge close to the mangroves, and began to troll the bottom of the edge with a proper redfish jig. I didn't get 50 feet before a nice redfish crushed my bait and nearly flipped me out of the boat backward. Well, it fell that way! I used the reverse on the trolling motor to keep the fish from pulling me into the mangroves, and finally landed the fish. A beautiful red.
I knew instinctively there would be other redfish hold up there, and tried to call Frank in to me. He wasn't answering. I took off to get Frank, but when I came around the corner to where I'd left him, he was again nowhere to be seen. Arrgh! I couldn't raise him on the radio, and motored all the way to the far end of the key thinking I'd find him sitting back in a relief somewhere. Not so. Suddenly, the radio went off with Frank telling me he was back at the ramp. I headed back to the A span. We'd never found a good trout bite that day that was not impeded by selfish ladyfish, so I decided to troll my way back across the open water. About half way across in 5-6 ft. of water, I hit a trout. And, another, and another. I anchored, and in ten casts caught ten trout. Again, I tried to call Frank so that he could come catch some of these fish, and again he did not answer. I headed on in.
Back at the launch Frank was not happy with himself. He's gotten tired, and decided to go in. He should have told me, though.
That evening I removed the prop and found my suspicion confirmed. The pin had rusted away, and one good smack on the bottom, and it was sheared. I took that and the other motor which had done the same thing some time ago down to Fowler Marine and had Danny drill the pins out on the drill press. I replaced them with stainless steel split cotters. Now, they can be serviced on the water, if need be.
Friday, my old friend Dale Grantman, of Urbandale, Iowa, met again for a day of fishing fun at Port Comfort Marina. We were at the Marina by 7:30, and on the first spot by 8:00 AM. Dale broke the ice with 2 keeper trout and a nice flounder that was about 16 inches. We caught quite a few trout along the edge we were fishing, but it wasn't a big bite.
I went hunting for the big bite, and soon found it. I called Dale in to me, and we caught fish on nearly every cast. My friend Frank Faust showed up in the inflatable Hobie 12, and joined us. He and Dale caught 3 dozen trout each, best guess, as it's hard to keep track after a while. They also caught many, many ladyfish.
I went hunting for redfish, and did find some laid up on a shoreline, bu they wouldn't move until I was right on top of them. They were just laid up trying to keep warm. It was indeed a cold day.
Once the tide and bite were over, we headed toward home, and Frank immediately hooked something big on the Mirrodine he was trolling behind his boat. He had no idea what it might have been, but was sure pulling hard. We'd had a great day, and I finished the day for Dale with a ride through a mangrove tunnel.
I was up very early Saturday morning and on my way to Matlacha to participate in my first Heroes On the Water (HOW) kayak fishing event for our disabled Vets. Esteban "Blackbeard" Gutierrez recently founded the Lee County chapter, and this is the first event. We had folks come from Jacksonville, Orlando, Sarasota, and other places. We had a lot of kayakers there. I was there just before 7 AM, but things didn't get underway until around 8:30.
I was not familiar with fishing Matlacha area proper, at all. I met Tony Sappata, of Florida Paddlesports there that morning, and we wound up being assigned as guides for about eight guys, and we going to be joined by a young man named Coty, who knows the area well. That was the plan.
We were fairly well protected at the County Park ramp, but we could tell it was pretty windy, and coming out of the northeast. When we came out of the lagoon we were greeted with a strong wind, as well as a strong outgoing tide moving the same direction. We decided to head across to the east side to get out of the wind, but that meant going right up the gut going across. I was the only one with a trolling motor on my boat, so I elected to paddle along with everyone else. I have to say that the Ultimate paddled very nicely into that mess. I was half way across before I realized that most of our guys weren't with us. I radioed Tony to see what was up. He told me one of the boats was having difficulty, and to keep on going. I decided to put my motor down and punch on across and get to hunting.
I began by working water 3 to 5 feet deep, looking for speckled trout. Never got a hit. I moved in shallower, in hopes of finding a redfish, but that didn't pan out, either. I and several other kayakers gravitated to the mouth of an inlet at about the same time, having the same idea; finding a current blow on the outside of the inlet which might hold redfish on the falling tide. At that point no one was catching anything. I moved on inside to the lagoon to explore and look for deep pockets. But, the water was all shallow except for around the entrance. That was where the current blows were.
I went back to the deeper water. I caught a couple of small snook on my new penny jig. Tony had also made it to the spot, along with his girlfriend. We anchored up and began working the edge. Tony was fishing with shrimp, and I switched to a silver 3" Mirrodine, and began catching these small snook (12 – 15") on nearly every cast! Many times when I got hit, I didn't hook up, or lost the fish. I was quickly at a dozen snook, and told Tony I'd go for 20. It didn't take long before I was at 20, and decided to go for 30, and quit there if I got to 30. There were other guys back farther in the cut from us who were also catching plenty of small snook. Tony asked me for a plug, and although I didn't have another Mirrodine, I gave him a Mirrolure that I though should work. It was a red and white TW plug, and Tony managed to catch a dozen snook on it before it was time to go home. I did make my 30 snook just before it was time to head in.
All in all it was a good time, but the guiding assignments didn't work out as intended. People just went their own directions. It was the first event, and of course there will be some bugs to work out for future events. I asked Esteban if there was a suggestion box. He said yes, and my suggestion was that we assign one or two anglers maximum to each guide in future events. I know that in my guiding business more than two anglers is just not a good thing. The guide is spread too thin.
Back at the park we all had a wonderful barbequed pork, baked beans, and coleslaw lunch, and had a chance to mingle. Everyone got a grab bag, and there were folks that took group pictures of all the participants. There was also a fly fishing seminar/instruction.
It was a great day, and I'm sure that each successive event will be better and better as we learn and get our feet wet.
Target Species:
Redfish and Trout
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