Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
October 18, 2002
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 10/19/2002 by Capt. Butch Rickey

It was a short workweek for me, but man, what great fishing. The first big winter front of the fall season seems to have pushed the big snook inside, and has the redfish on the move, too. Not only did they eat like crazy as the front approached, but after it passed, as well, when they should have been shut down!

After a four day weekend for my family reunion, I was back to work on Wednesday, on my first outing with Lenny and Carol Hall, of Boscawen, New Hampshire. Lenny is an experienced fisherman, but Carol was pretty much new to the sport.

We left the dock at first light, and headed right to Chino for bait. It was a pretty nasty ride with a strong 25 knot wind blowing out of the WNW. I don't think Lenny and Carol, not having experience with other flats boats, realized just how well the Talon chewed up the churning waters. With the wind blowing so hard, and the water chopping so bad, I was afraid bait would be a problem, but it came to us almost immediately, and we were loaded in two throws.

I decided the Sound was way too nasty to entertain crossing, and to try to get the job done on the east side. Our first stop was a nearby spot, and from the first cast, we had great action. The redfish and snook seemed to be everywhere. We only hit five spots that whole morning, and had great action at each. Carol had the fish of the day with a snook that would have to have been 38 to 40 inches, and got it to the boat ready to land when it managed to find the trolling motor. Lenny got the next best snook at just under 34 inches, and about 12 pounds. There were snook of 29, 26, 26, etc., and countless redfish. We also got the odd gag grouper, jack crevalle, and ladyfish, and finished up with a couple of speckled trout just to complete the Slam. We didn't manage to keep a fish by fish count, but I'm sure we caught around three dozen snook and redfish. It was a great day, with lots of quality fish.

I was pretty sure things would be very tough on Thursday for my friend Eric DJ-X Muniz and his friend Dr. Fred Keiber. The front had pushed on through during the night. The wind was now straight out of the north, and the temperatures much lower. The classic winter front. I was afraid DJ might cancel when I told him things would be tough, but to his credit, he hung in there with me, saying that he had never had a bad day with me, even when I'd told him to expect it.

Well, the fishing Gods were with us again, as things went well right from the start. We had so much bait in the net on the first throw, that I couldn't lift it without risking hurting my back or knee, and Fred helped me get it into the boat. We had whitebait and pinfish all over the boat. I dumped the bulk of it straight into the well, and by the time we got the rest in there was so much bait in there that I was concerned about loosing it all. But, the Talon well is very efficient and large and the fish soon stabilized, and we were off.

Much to my surprise, we had a great bite, especially considering that a big front had just passed. We began our day at a snook hole, but the hole was full of those pesky old redfish!! Nice redfish. What a nice surprise. We caught some snook, too, and trout, and Slammed at the first stop. We didn't leave until we were sure it was over.

It was the same thing at the second stop, and we slammed again. We caught great snook, redfish, and trout. I was amazed the fish were eating so well. I knew they were there. I just didn't think they'd eat. At the last stop we got into some bigger redfish, and DJ got the biggest at 11 pounds. We headed back to the Waterfront, where I'd picked them up that morning, and had a great lunch to complete a great day.

It's pretty early for winter fronts to be pushing this far south. Makes me wonder if we aren't in store for a harsh winter. One thing is for sure; the cooler weather sure is nice.

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