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Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
October 15, 2002
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 10/12/2002 by Capt. Butch Rickey

There are four trips to talk about for this week. The snook and redfish remained tough, and the breezes remained mostly out of the northeast. Here’s how it went.

After finishing last week with my buds Mike Schwartz and Russ Hubbard, they brought the new week in, too. We left the dock at 9 AM, and headed to Chino for bait. The bait is thick there, but not necessarily everywhere. Once you’re close to it, a little chum brings them in by the thousands. We were once again loaded up in two throws of the net.

We began our day chasing redfish and snook. Russ would have been happy to go straight to the trout, but Mike wanted to catch the glamour fish if at all possible. We worked the redfish and snook hard, but only caught 4 snook for our efforts. With a couple hours left to fish the tide, Mike agreed it was time to turn our attention to trout. We headed back to Chino where we had begun, and were immediately into the trout. We caught them two and three at a time, and easily caught 50 or more before heading in. I noticed some pain in my right knee, but didn’t think much of it.

Monday morning, as I got moving for my second trip with my old friend Bob McGuire, I could hardly move my leg, and hardly walk. I had extreme pain in my knee when I tried to lift my leg, or bend it. I couldn’t imagine what I’d done to it, but often hurt myself while working, and don’t know it until later. I had to work. Bob was counting on this second trip of his vacation, and I could not disappoint.

Getting the boat hooked up, loaded, fueled, and into the water was hell, but I stayed on time. Bob showed at 9 AM, and we were off. Bait was once again easy at Chino. I decided to stay on the east side and look for snook. We hit some great spots, but only came up with one snook and a jack. We found no reds.

So, I decided it was time to head to the west side of the Sound. We were way north, and I headed straight across and began my search. It wasn’t long before I found a big school of redfish. There were hundreds of fish in the school, and they were big ones. I saw fish that would probably have gone 4 ft. long. I got the Talon positioned to try to fish the big reds and began chumming with live and cut bait. As I had feared, the fish didn’t want to eat. The were very stubborn, but Bob did catch two and miss a third one. The two he caught were 9 and 10 pounds. Bob was very happy with that big redfish.

We worked the school hard, but couldn’t get them to turn on, so finally abandoned them in search of trout to complete our West Coast Slam. I of course ran right straight to Chino, since the trout have been so plentiful and hungry there, and of course, they were right there waiting on us. Bob and I caught them two at a time until we’d had enough, and put at least 40 in the boat.

Although the reds never went crazy for me, we did get a couple of beauties, a snook, and lots of trout, and had a great time. My knee pain had made it seem like a very long day, but we’d had fun. That’s what it’s all about.

Tuesday morning, the knee seemed even worse for my third trip with Bruce Miller, and his neighbor Chris, of Cape Coral. I seriously considered canceling, but Bruce said he’d help with things if needed. We met at 9 AM, and headed straight to Chino for bait. I had to move twice before getting into it, but once we did, we loaded up with beautiful shiners and pinfish.

We began on the low tide with pothole fishing for snook and trout. I decided to try a pothole I hadn’t fished since last spring, and we caught several big trout and a Bruce got a beautiful 29 inch snook out of it. From there we went to a similar spot and caught 7 or 8 more snook.

I told Bruce about the school of big reds I’d found the day before. I knew that eventually they would eat, and I really wanted to be there when it happened. Bruce loves to catch reds as much as I do, and was all for going to find them again.

I virtually drove right to them. What a beautiful school of fish! I chummed them hard, and even moved around some as I spotted fish. At one point, we had a bunch of big reds ease to within 10 feet of the boat. I told Bruce and Chris to be very still and look down to the right. They were shocked to see the fish right there. I slowly grabbed a net full of bait and pitched it right into the middle of them. They totally ignored the bait, and slowly swam away. Talk about frustrating. Well, at least the boys now knew that the fish were there, as they hadn’t seen all the other fish that I had seen.

We worked them hard, and never got the first bite. Bruce wanted to do some catching, so it was trout time. We of course headed right back to Chino, where we found several other boats on the flat that didn’t appear to have much going on. I eased into the area I wanted with the trolling motor, put the Power Pole down, and we immediately began catching. We boated a good 40 plus trout, and had caught some nice snook, but the redfish denied us our Slam.

Thursday was the last trip of the week, and the only one with new customers, John Zedde, of St. Claire, Michigan, and his brother Jerry Zedde, from Chicago. The knee was still killing me, and seemed to be getting worse, but I knew that if I could just get through the day, I could be off of it for several days. I knew as soon as I met the Zedde brothers it would be a fun day.

We headed straight to Chino for bait. Why do anywhere else when there is so much there? While John and I caught bait, I had Jerry pitching a lure to see if he could catch some trout. I think he caught two or three while we were at it.

I headed straight to the pothole where I’d found the snook for Bruce the day before, and was surprised to find another guide in it. I’d never seen him there before. In fact, I’ve rarely ever seen anyone in that particular spot. I’m guessing he saw me fishing it. I headed to the hole that had given up the snook the day before, but the boys only managed 1 snook. In fairness to the hole, they did miss a number of hits.

As the tide flooded the flats, we headed out in search of the big school of reds, again, but the water was now so dirty I couldn’t see to find them. I opted to move on to another flat and try our luck. I found redfish there, but they weren’t in an eating mood, either. We only managed to catch two, but at least we did catch a couple. We worked them hard, and finally decided to get our numbers and complete our Slam with trout fishing.

We finished with lots of big trout at Chino, and it was fun to watch John and Jerry heckle each other as they caught them two at a time for the most part. Jerry finally had to concede that John was the better fisherman, at least on this day, as he’d caught the biggest redfish, and had really figured out how to catch the trout on every cast. They were a lot of fun, and surely helped my day pass much more easily.

That’s how it went. Great trout fishing, but tough snook and red fishing. I think we’ll have to see a front come in here before things bust loose. Hopefully, by the time I get back from a family reunion next week, my knee will be back to normal.

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Top Florida fishing guide, Capt. Butch Rickey has fished the waters of Pine Island Sound around Sanibel, Captiva, and Pine Islands, as well as Charlotte Harbor, Sarasota Bay, Terra Ceia Bay, and southern Tampa Bay, for much of his 65 years. He now offers guided kayak fishing trips, as well as sightseeing and bird watching tours anywhere that can be reached by kayak from southern Tampa Bay to Estero Bay.

Contact Info:

BarHopp'R Kayak Fishing
11520 E Palm Drive
Ft. Myers, FL 33908
Phone: 239-628-3522
Alt. Phone: 239-633-5851
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