Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
October 28, 2002
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 10/26/2002 by Capt. Butch Rickey

There are three trips to report on this week. The fishing was great for most of it.

First up on Monday was Bryan Thomas and his friend, of Clinton, Pennsylvania. Bryan and I had a great trip four years ago, and really hit it off and had a great time. I was excited about seeing him again.

I had heard from customers over the weekend that bait had virtually disappeared from Chino Island. There had been so much bait there, that I found it hard to believe. I decided to find out for myself, but started early in case bait was indeed, tough. Well, when I arrived at Chino there was bait flicking everywhere, and I couldn't imagine why folks had problems catching it the day before. We loaded up in two throws, while Bryan pitched a Yosuri Banana Boat and caught a few trout. After catching bait we stopped on a big feed near Regla Island and caught more trout, lots of ladyfish, and a couple of jacks.

After that we were ready to tackle redfish and snook, and hit a number of spots with limited success. Finally, we found snook, and later redfish in good numbers, and had a good time catching them. We ended the day with a couple of dozen or more snook, and around a dozen redfish. We'd caught a lot of fish all totaled, and had gotten the West Coast Slam many times over. I was really quite surprised at the action, considering that we were on the full moon.

Tuesday I was back at it with my old friends Mike and Joanne McMahon, of St. Leonard, Maryland. Mike, who's about 6 ft. 5 in. had lost about 40 pounds, and I barely recognized him. He's still a big boy, and looking good.

We headed straight to Chino for bait of course, and after a little chumming, Mike had to help me pull the net into the boat, it was so heavy with bait. I'm guessing we had 600 shiners, plus pinfish, and I couldn't see the bottom of the huge well in the Talon. One throw, and we were ready to go fishing. I wondered if the moon would be a factor as it usually is.

Well, it may have been a factor, but it didn't keep us from having a good day. It wasn't as good as the day before, but still good. Before it was over, Mike and Joanne had boated 2 big mackerel, several trout, 7 or 8 redfish, and 12 to 15 snook. The Slam was in the bag, and we finished the day with lunch at the Waterfront where I had my first delicious stone crabs of the season.

Wednesday, for whatever reason, was a different story for the redfish and snook. My good friend Russ Hubbard was over with his friend Mike Bernath, who was down from Canada. It was Mike's first BarHopp'R trip, and some of the first fishing he'd done, I believe. The guys had come in the night before, and spent the night at the fishcamp. We'd done a little partying, but didn't have to be up real early because of the tide.

Bait was easy at Chino once again, and we loaded the boat in two throws. We had Mike throwing a Yozuri trying to get him used to the equipment, but he didn't have long. So, we stopped at another big topwater feed and caught lots of ladyfish and jacks, and some speckled trout. After catching lots of fish, and getting Mike comfy with the gear, we were off to find bigger fish. Man, were they tough. The fish just didn't want to eat. For the rest of the trip we only managed 3 redfish, 2 snook, and lost 4 snook. The highlight for Mike was at our first stop, where he caught a nigh bonnethead shark around 4 feet long.

We'd caught a lot of fish, had a lot of fun, and even Slammed. But, the bright nights finally seemed to have taken their toll on the glamour fish. We finished the day with a great lunch at the Waterfront once again.

The tides for next week are really tough, and we're coming into our slow time of year. Also, our next front is due to arrive Wednesday or Thursday. So, it's hard to say what there will be to report on next week.

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