Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
January 21, 2001
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 12/23/2000 by Capt. Butch Rickey

It was another week of unseasonably cold weather by Florida standards. I did manage to fish Monday and Friday, but through the middle of the week, it was just too cold and blowin to fish. Here's how it went.

Monday, I had a delightful couple, Joe Sweeda and Kelly Scott, from Idaho. They showed up at the dock that morning in shorts and short sleeves. I was layered up in long johns, etc., and still worried about being warm enough. I warned them that they'd likely freeze once we were under way, but they assured me that they would be all right.

We headed up river for some easy ladyfish and jack action first. It was midday, and the tide was slowing, but the fish were there by the thousands, and we had a good time catching tons of ladyfish, 6 jacks, and a nice pompano. Kelly seemed to be having a blast with those fish, and was cute as she could be.

Once the action slowed, we headed out to the marker for bait. It took a couple of attempts to get anchored properly, but once I did, Kelly dropped a little chum. I told Kelly that sometimes you can catch more bait than you can use in one throw, and darned if that's not what happened. After only a couple of minutes of chumming, I threw the net, and could barely get it into the boat. Kelly was so excited to see all those fish, she was nearly beside herself. We poured maybe a third of what I had in the well, and dumped the rest back over the side. We were ready!

We headed up the Sound. I wasn't real hopeful of having much of a snook bite because of all the bad weather, and the wind was north at around 15. But, we were treated to a potpourri of fish; 3 snook, 3 trout to 18 inches, 3 nice gag grouper including one keeper, and a couple of catfish. So, Joe and Kel took home a nice grouper and a pompano, enough for a great fish dinner. What amazed me most was that Joe and Kel never once complained or admitted to being cold. Those Iowans are tough.

After some really tough weather during the week, Paul Bastron and his fourteen year-old twins Phil and Pat, from Chicago, ventured out with me Friday morning in low 40 degree temps. Paul was primarily interested in getting the boys into some action. That meant up the river for ladyfish again. Neither of the boys had ever used open face spinning reels, so they had to have a quick course on the fine points of spin fishing. They caught on quickly, though, and were soon reeling in ladyfish one right after another!

The Bastrons had to be in early, and I didn't want to waste their fishing time catching bait, so I had shrimp on board. I planned to go after speckled trout after the jaunt up the river. The boys are used to catching rainbows back home. Actually, with the barometer at over 30.30, I was surprised that the ladyfish even ate. We visited some of my favorite, and very fertile winter trout holes, and the trout just weren't interested. We only managed to catch half dozen or so of the beautiful spotted seatrout. When the fish did start to bite pretty well, they would push our shrimp to the top of the water, and the birds came from everywhere to harass us, making it impossible to fish. We made the best of a cold day, and the boys had a good time.

This is, of course, the last report before the Christmas Holiday. I want to first thank everyone who has taken the time to send Christmas cards, and apologize for not responding in kind. A few years ago, I just had to quit sending cards, as my list grew to nearly 2000 customers and friends, and the whole idea became unmanageable. But, I want each and every one of you to know that you, my customers and friends, many veterans of many BarHopp'R trips, are the most important thing in the world to me. Without you, I would not be one of the busiest guides in southwest Florida. But, I want you all to know that more important than your loyalty as customers, is the value of your friendship. I have said many times that the best, most rewarding part of being a professional guide, is the wonderful friends I've made. That continues to be true, and remains the driving force behind my passion for the business. Please accept this report as my Christmas card to you.

I also want to once again thank all of you who offered your prayers and good wishes for Jean's recovery from breast cancer. Without all those prayers, things could have very well turned out differently. And, while we're on the ugly subject, I'd like to ask all of you who believe in the power of prayer, to offer a special Christmas prayer for Donald Hunter, brother of my good friend Texas Wader, Ron Hunter. Donald was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer, and has a long, difficult road ahead of him. Ron, is understandably feeling pretty helpless right now. Ron is a special guy. When we first fished together, I don't think he quite knew what to make of me. But, in the time that has followed, Ron has kind of turned into one of my biggest fans and a good friend, and I hate to see him anguish over his brother. So, let's try to get him well.

Here's wishing each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas, a wonderful holiday season, and a healthy, wealthy, and fishy New Year!

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 1/6/2001 by Capt. Butch Rickey

I probably don't have to tell anyone, anywhere, the weather has been nearly as miserable here in southwest Florida as it has been all across the country. We've had fronts and freezes one right after the other, which has resulted in the coldest waters we've seen in at least eleven years. On top of the weather, the tides this week were poor. Beside being the slowest time of year for us guides, we're losing a lot of time to the weather. Monday, of course, was the holiday, but I did manage to get in two trips this week.

Tuesday, I ran an afternoon trip with Brian Gigliotti and his friend Ken Hilse (spl), of Lawrence, Mass. We had northeast winds at around 15, and were hoping to see a high of around 60. Brian warned me that Ken was a total neophyte, having never fished! I really like going up the river for ladyfish first thing, as it gives everyone a chance to get familiar with the equipment, gives me a chance to teach folks like Ken the essentials to be able to handle new equipment, and it gives everyone lots of action right off the bat. It's always good to start off catching something.

Well, although Ken was a newcomer to fishing, he followed my instruction well, and was a quick study. He was fishing and catching in no time, and looked like he'd been fishing all his life. After many ladyfish and making sure Ken was in the groove, we headed up the sound in search of pothole trout. We found them quickly and caught somewhere between 15 and 20. We went to another area in search of the big winter trout and a shot at redfish, but they weren't playing. We started with a bang, and ended quietly, but had a great time.

Wednesday will probably go down as one of the worst days of the year, and it was only January 3. Didn't take long to get that one out of the way. Jeff Lane, a long time BarHopp'R friend was down from a visit to Sarasota from Maine with his friend Rob. Jeff's wife Peggy wisely decided to stay in the warm at home. We still had northeast wind, and the high was only to be around 50. I guess the cold nights finally got the water temperature to the point where nothing was willing to expend much energy to run down a bait.

Up the river the ladyfish wouldn't even play. Jeff caught the only 3 or 4 that were caught. I couldn't even figure out what they wanted in the way of presentation. I could feel the fish tap the lure very lightly, but couldn't get one to take. Dittos for Rob. it was the same with everything we tried. The trout were lockjawed, too. We had two big winter trout of about five pounds hooked and coming to the boat, but both escaped with their lives. I guess it's hard to get the hook to penetrate a frozen jaw. The only other fish that came to the boat were 2 flounder and a small snapper. Needless to say, the two flounder went home to Jeff's sashimi platter.

Although it was miserably cold, and the fishing sucked, it was great to see Jeff again, and get out with him. We had fun trying! Jeff has seen some great snook fishing, on our last trip together, I believe. So, he knows how it can be.

The weather for the rest of the week was pretty nasty, and that was the last I got out. Our water temperature got all the way down to 56 degrees. That's low enough to make snook comatose, and even shut down grouper fishing. Not good. The worst part is that there are more freezing temperatures on the way for next week. We're going to have to have a pretty good warm spell before things begin to get back to normal. If this keeps up, we'll be drilling holes so we can fish!

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 1/13/2001 by Capt. Butch Rickey

The big news here is still unseasonably cold weather, or perhaps I should say, unbelievably cold water for this part of the country. The water temperature here in Southwest Florida actually got down to 55 degrees. That's cold enough to make some of our species begin going belly up, and most of the others, including wade fishermen go comatose. It's cold enough to shut down the grouper bite. So, that leaves the main fishing for species that aren't as affected by the cold; ladyfish, flounder, sheephead, and trout. It also makes for somewhat generic sounding fishing reports, and not many days worked.

Of the four days I had booked for this week, I only got to fish two. Monday and Tuesday were canceled because of health problems, and in this slow season, didn't get filled. Wednesday, I met a new customer, Marc Denton, of Little Silver, New Jersey, and his friend Rod Diaz, at the docks at 10:00 AM. Marc has been coming to our area for many years, and has fished with some very good guides. Naturally, I wanted to give Marc and his friend Rod, a brand new angler, a great trip full of redfish and snook, but I knew it was not practical to pursue with the water as cold as it is, and the fish as lethargic as they are.

So, to put lots of pulls on the end of our new angler's line, we headed up the river to the ladyfish flat. The fish were there in huge numbers, and for Marc it was a fish nearly every cast. Rod quickly caught on to casting and jigging and getting tight on the fish, and was soon catching plenty of the silver leapers, himself. Once Marc and Rod had tired of the ladyfish, we headed up into the Sound to look for trout.

To my surprise, the water was cold enough to have the trout in a very lethargic mood. We could only muster 7 or 8 or the speckled beauties, and had no keepers. Although I knew it was futile, Marc and I decided to go spend an hour or so trying to find and catch a redfish or two. We did find some fish, but they were simply laying still on the now bare mud bottom of the flats trying to soak up some sun, and weren't the least bit interested in eating.

It certainly had not been a day to impress Marc with my guiding abilities, but being a veteran angler Marc seemed very understanding of the situation. Marc was a very patient, low pressure guy, and a lot of fun to be on the boat with, and I was looking forward to having a much better catching day with him next Monday.

Friday, my first trip with Jim Cowee and his friend, Don Miller, was pretty much a repeat of Wednesday's plan, except with much better results. There were tons of ladyfish to catch in the river, of course, but unlike Wednesday, the trout were much more willing participants. I wasn't able to keep track, but the boys caught plenty of them, all in the slot limit, up to nearly five pounds. We had plenty of action, which during a cold winter as we are experiencing, can be a big blessing to a guide. In my opinion, during winter it's much more prudent to fish for what is willing to bite in the cold water, rather than chasing fish that you know aren't going to eat. After all, action of some kind is what most folks really want.

The good news for next week is that we have a warming trend on the way. We desperately need our water warmed at least back into the sixties before we're going to find much in the way of snook or redfish action.

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