Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
November 21, 2000
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 11/18/2000 by Capt. Butch Rickey

As I mentioned in my last report, this was a week away from work for me. However, as hoped, I did manage to get out twice with friends of mine for some good old just for fun fishin.

I spent Monday with my long time friend Capt. Kevin Chamberlain, who guides out of Sarasota, and specializes in artificial and fly fishing. I love to lure fish, but rarely get a chance to do it, so I packed up my Stellas and Chronarchs and was eager to get out there and thrash the water.

We had a dead low tide to start with, and Kevin and I headed to and area known as Long Bar. We opted to fish the potholes that are surrounded by very skinny water on low tide. Kevin was throwing a top water plug, and I a spoon. It didn't take long to find the first good hole. One of the first hits of the day gave us a good laugh. I had a redfish on, and Kevin was watching me as he worked his topwater plug. We heard the characteristic snook crash in front of Kevin, but Kevin didn't feel the fish. "Was that me?" he asked just as his line snapped tight. He landed a snook.

We had lots of hits in that hole. It was full of redfish, but many of them would just follow and tap the spoon at the rear where you couldn't hook them. Sometimes I'd bring my spoon back and the weed guard would be totally bent down or to the side, and I had not felt even a heaviness on the line. It always amazes me how they can do that! Anyway, we did manage to catch around half dozen fish from that hole.

Once it slowed, Kevin poled us down the flat looking for more productive holes. We were amazed to find a snook laying in practically every small hole we saw. They were everywhere! But they were just laying, and not eating. I think we finished the day with 7 or 8 reds and 2 snook. It was a fun day.

Friday, I joined my good friend Dave Latimer, of St. Pete, for a day of fishing in the Bishop's Harbor area of Tampa Bay. Dave's nickname is Fishaholic Dave! Need I say more? This man is hard-core! He loves to fish more than anything. He also loves the lure, and has had some great days recently fishing in the Port Manatee area with artificials.

We had a falling tide all morning, which is not very desirable. We did manage to catch a few fish including a few redfish, a couple of large flounder, and a couple of big trout. As I brought the first trout alongside the boat, we saw a big silver flash behind it. We both thought it was another trout, but soon realized that it had been a shark, when I raised the fish into the boat to find the last third of it mangled and missing. Poor guy never had a chance. With trout season closed, we couldn't even keep what was left of it. Most of those falling tide fish came out of potholes.

I took Dave further south to the area I had often fished before my business took me south to Pine Island Sound. It's a beautiful area with lots of mangrove keys and oyster bars. There were no fish, but I was pretty sure that since the grass looked real healthy they would be in there on the incoming water.

We headed back to Dave's good luck flat once the tide started in, and the reds showed up almost magically. Several passes through the area produced several nice redfish. As the water got up, I suggested we head back down to the area I'd shown Dave. My gut was right, and there were plenty of redfish there. We saw and spooked a lot more than we caught, but we had a good time. I became a fan of a new bait on this trip; the Crystal Minnow. I'd bought some a year ago or so, but had never had a chance to really try them out. The Crystal Minnow caught 1 of the big flounder, 2 big trout, and several nice redfish. The most unusual catch was a large redfish Dave and I saw laying in a hole near an oyster bar. Dave tossed his spoon to it, but it was ignored. I tossed the Crystal Minnow to within three feet of the hole, and thought as I began my retrieve that I was too far off the mark, but we watched as the red darted out of the hole and smashed the minnow. How cool! We finished the day with a dozen reds, 2 trout, 2 flounder, and a jack.

The perfect day was marred only by the fast approaching front that came through late in the afternoon. I kept telling Dave it was time to go as I watched the weather approaching. But, Fishaholic Dave wasn't about to leave before it was time! By the time he realized the weather was on us it was too late. We got soaked to the bone. It rained so hard we couldn't see anything in any direction for a while. To add insult to our injury, we got caught in some really skinny water, and had to walk the boat off the shallows. Fortunately, because it was a winter frontal rain, it was not a cold, freezing rain like those that fall from the super high altitude anvils of our summer thunderstorms. We were soaked, but our spirits weren't dampened. Besides, we'd had a great day of plug chunking, and had some nice fish in the livewell.

As I sit authoring this report, I'm listening to the weather forecast for the coming week. It isn't sounding good at all. I'm scheduled to fish the three days before the Thanksgiving holiday, then I'm headed to Georgia, but we have a big front on our doorstep that's bringing with it the coldest weather of the year, and lots of wind. There may not be much to talk about in the next report except canceled trips.

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