Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
October 10, 2002
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 10/5/2002 by Capt. Butch Rickey

Seems I picked a good week to be off the water with back to back tropical storms affecting our weather. Isodore foiled most of my plans for the week, but that’s better than loosing a bunch of trips. I went back to work on Thursday and managed to run three trips. They were good ones.

My long time fishing buddy Bob McGuire, of Line Lexington, PA, was up on Thursday. I sheepishly explained to Bob that he was the first trip after over a week off, and that he was pretty much a guinea pig. I had heard stories of no bait and tough fishing, and was expecting a tough time on the first day back out on the water.

We headed to Chino Island with the new Yamaha singing. There was bait everywhere, and we were loaded to the gills in two throws. Actually, in one throw, but we guides are bait hogs of the first order. I decided to fish north and stay on the east side of the Sound, at least to start. I headed to a spot where the reds had been pretty plentiful before I went on vacation. It didn’t take but a minute or so before we had our first redfish in the boat, and before it was over Bob had boated 8 to 10 big reds, most pushing 29 inches.

Once the redfish action slowed we headed to a nearby island for snook. I figured it was about time for the snook to be showing up there as they move back inside from the beaches. They were there in spades, and we caught a dozen or so, up to 28 inches. Bob also caught his first barracuda at that spot. We also caught a dozen or so nice trout, and 3 jack crevalle to give us the Slam and round out the day. Bob and I were happy campers. It had been a great day, and Bob suggested I go on vacation every time before he comes to fish.

Friday’s trip was with another old friend, Rod Heflin, of Miami, and his two friends Todd Schmidt and Tim. Rod has a place in Cherry Estates on Pine Island, so I picked them up at the Waterfront Restaurant. We headed straight to Chino for bait, and once again were overloaded in two throws. While Rod and I caught bait, I had Todd and Tim throwing plugs for the early morning trout, and they caught a dozen or so. We headed right back to where I had gotten on the reds so well with Bob, and of course, there was not a redfish to be seen, nor a snook. Hmmm. I was sure they were there, and worked them hard, but if they were there, they weren’t buying what we were selling. A move was in order.

I headed to a flat a few miles away that often has redfish on the right tide. There was another guide boat nearby, not catching. I anchored and began chumming, and put out four long range shiner rigs using Cajun floats. They are hard plastic floats that have rattles in them, clip easily onto the line, and cast like cannonballs! They’re great. They give me extra casting range away from the boat. A real advantage on a shallow, clear flat. Within ten minutes, I had the fish going. The bite was on, and we were having a blast. I guess the nearby guide got tired of having his customers watch, and cranked up his big motor and left. I will never understand why some of these guys refuse to invest in a trolling motor. Any flat will hold more fish, more often, more predictably, if you’re not making a bunch of noise when you’re coming and going. Da! Well, anyway! By the time it was over, Rod, Todd, and Tim had tangled with around 30 redfish, and managed to land the majority of them. We had a blast, and by the time the bite ended with the tide, everyone was ready for lunch.

It’s Saturday! God, I hate fishing weekends! But, it was the only time my good friend Mike Schwartz could get away from Gourmet-to-Go, his business in Denver, for some fishing. I had introduced him to another of my best fishing buds, Russ Hubbard, on his previous trip, and the hit it off, and it helps them both defray the cost of a trip, allowing them to both fish twice as much for the same dollars. So, Russ was once again coming to fish with Mike, and they both stayed here at the fish camp with me. That’s always a good time. To my chagrin, though, we found that there were several tournaments going that weekend, and it was an absolute zoo on the water. Boats everywhere. I counted several times during the day, and I could look in any given direction from any given spot, and count about 20 boats!! Not good for the fishing prospects.

Well, at least bait was easy. The usual two throws and we were overloaded. The fish had other ideas, though. We fished our hearts out trying to get redfish and snook to eat, and only boated one redfish and two snook the entire morning. Finally, Russ proclaimed it trout time. Russ loves fishing for the “mighty seatrout”, as he calls them, and could do it all day. I fish trout mostly as a backup on tough days, mostly because the mortality is usually so high. They are bad about taking the hooks deep, and they are quite fragile fish, as well. But, one does what one has to do to get fish into the boat.

We stopped at a flat near Regla Island expecting to find a lot of trout there, but didn’t. We did get a nice bonus there, though. We spotted what looked from our angle like a boat wake coming at us. It was long and narrow, and fooled me. But, as we watched the suspicious looking water, we began seeing bait blasted out of the water by some really big fish. I cranked up and ran around and up from the school and got into position. They sounded! We put our baits out, and boom, we instantly had a triple hookup of monster jack crevalle. They are the hardest fighting fish for their size in our waters, and these guys were all running 15 to 20 pounds. Russ landed the biggest one, which we estimated at around 23 pounds, as it easily tilted the scale on my Boga-Grip. That fish kicked Russ’s butt, and got him fish of the week.

From there we headed to the flats at Chino for trout. I was sure there were plenty there, and there were. We caught nice trout two and three at a time for the better part of a couple of hours, and although it was impossible to count, we easily caught 50 or more fish. It was the fun we were looking for, and a great way to end what had began as a tough day.

Well, that’s how it went the first three days back in the Captain’s chair on the F-16. The weather for next week is supposed to be very dry, as high pressure kills our chances for rain. I hope it doesn’t kill the fishing.

More Fishing Reports:

• All Reports by Capt. Butch Rickey
• Pine Island Sound Fishing Reports
• Southwest Florida (Cape Sable to Boca Grande) Reports
• Florida Fishing Reports
• Browse All Fishing Reports