One Week. One Trip.
Capt. Butch Rickey
September 2, 2011
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
Just one trip again this week, as the dog days of summer and the heat continue.
My trip was on Friday, and was with a great E. R. doctor, John Cunha, who comes over from the east coast of Florida to decompress on a regular basis. John had kayaked before, but never fished from a kayak. He was eager to try it out to see if he'd like it, and was eager to learn. Although hurricane Irene was now just to our north off the east coast, there was still a possibility of unexpected weather, and we opted to fish Estero Bay. Estero Bay gets very big tides compared to the Sound, and the tide was scheduled to be full high at 11:18 at 3.2 ft. It was just before the new moon, and I thought we'd have a pretty good chance at a strong bite. That ultimately proved not to be the case at all.
We arrived at the Lovers Key ramp around 6:30, got the boats ready, and pushed off. It was a beautiful morning with a slight breeze and lighting offshore to the north and south. We headed to our first spot. A spot that until this morning had never failed to give me a good redfish bite.
As soon as I had John anchored and casting to the target area, I realized that the one and first objective would be to teach John how to use open face spinning gear, and had to distance cast. John was holding his rod with his left hand with the reel upside down, and cranking with his right hand. That could not be left to stand. One can't possibly use a spinning reel in the manner it must be used in fighting a fish, nor ever make distance casts, with the reel up top. First, I asked John if he was right handed. He was. I then showed John the proper way to hold the rod/reel and how to use his right index finger to trap the line against the cork when opening the bail.
John was also doing what almost all anglers who've never done any casting do; start the cast from behind his body. You can't load a rod from behind your body unless perhaps you're casting a one pound window sash with a broomstick! I gave John a casting clinic, explaining each part of the rod and its purpose, and how to properly make the casting strokes that would give him max load on the rod, and the corresponding longest cast. I knew from years of teaching anglers, that would be the end of the teach for our first trip. People get so focused on trying to put all the pieces together, that it wrecks their timing for most of the rest of the day. But, when it does come together, they're making much better casts. It's foolish to teach anything else, as it will be distracting and soon forgotten. Being able to make long, accurate casts is essential to shallow water fishing. Once that is automatic, the rest of the tricks can be taught.
John worked on his casting as we fished that first spot. I had to remind him occasionally his rod speed was too slow, especially on the back cast. That's where the loading happens. John didn't mind being reminded. By the end of the day his casting was much improved, but he still needs to get his back cast speed up, and the transition instantaneous. We did have some hits at the first stop, but not actually hooking up there was a harbinger of things to come.
We moved on to the second spot. It was more of the same. Hard, if not impossible hits to feel, they left the weedguard on our spoons mangled as only a redfish can do. We were rotating between gold spoons, silver spoons, and jigs with DOA CAL baits attached.
The breeze was still just right and the weather seemed to be stable, so I suggested we go to the other side of the bay to see if we could find some willing fish there. At our first spot there were small finger mullet and other baitfish spraying constantly around the cover. There were no birds above that were spooking them. They were being run on by predators. Plus, there were tons of mature mullet in the water, too. There was no question in my mind there would be plenty of redfish there.
And, there were. We caught a handful of redfish including a keeper, and John had a snook on for a short time. It had hit his jig charging toward him, and he could not get tight to the fish before it jumped and spit his jig back at him.
As that bite was happening the wind kicked up and made the bay very choppy. Estero Bay being a small body of water, gets exaggerated currents on descent tides. When you put a strong wind across that current in the opposite direction, it can get very sloppy. Of course, once the wind kicks it usually doesn't drop until late into the day. I decided it would be prudent to get back across the bay before it got any rougher.
We spend the last hour or so fishing the early spots again now that they were really covered with the big tide. We got more bent weedguards and missed hits, but didn't connect with anything else. As we approached noon storm cells began building and my lightning detector began marking strikes. It was time to head to the ramp.
We didn't set the world on fire, for sure. But, John assured me that he had really enjoyed the day, and that just being out on the kayaks was wonderful therapy. John is a genuinely nice guy, a very interesting conversationalist, and a willing and good student. He did great handling the kayak systems and tackle on a challenging day. And, I know the next time I see John he'll be making those long casts and be ready for the next lesson.
Target Species:
Redfish and snook
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