Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
August 14, 2003
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 8/16/03 by Capt. Butch Rickey

This will be the last fishing report for the month of August. The report includes two good days of fishing with two of my best customers, David Bernot and John Hitt.

The week began on Monday with David Bernot and his son Chris, whom I have watched grow from a very small boy into a fine young man. We met at 6:30, and headed straight to Tarpon Bay for bait. We quickly got plenty of pinfish and shiners, and were ready to go fishing. We had to wait on the tide to get moving, so I decided to go and check on the tarpon I had been fishing in the previous weeks. There were fish there and showing, but they weren't a bit interested in eating anything, probably because of the full moon.

Once the water got moving, I headed to a favorite redfish flat that usually produces on low water, and set about chumming with live and cut shiners, threadfins, and pinfish. I was afraid that we'd have a hell of a time catching anything because of the full moon, but to my surprise and delight, we got a bite! David and Chris put about 10 nice redfish to 9 pounds in the boat at that first stop before the bite was over. At the second stop the boys scored a nice snook and redfish, and a couple of reds at the last stop.

As redfishing has gone this year, it was a very good day, and we made it even better with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant. David and Chris are good friends, and have been fishing with me for many years, and it's always great to see them, and renew old friendship.

Dittos for my old friend Dr. John Hitt. We met at his dock at 7:30 AM on Tuesday morning, and it looked to be another glorious day. Far better looking than the previous Friday that we had tried to fish. We quickly had John's new Coastal 21 ready for action, and were on our way down the river. We went straight to Tarpon Bay again for bait, and were quickly loaded. John's Action Craft Coastal has a very nice console bait well similar to the one in my Talon, and it sure is nice. I will never understand why flats boats manufacturers insist upon putting all the bait and release wells in the rear of the boat in front of the motor.

We were off! We had a while to wait on the water to move, so I decided to show John a couple of spots where I'd been jumping the tarpon. We saw a few fish at the first stop, but didn't have enough to throw a bait at. At the second stop, we had tarpon all around us, and put bait after bait right on top of them, but the story was the same. They wouldn't eat! Frustrating, but fun to see the fish.

In our stubborn determination to jump one of the poons, we stayed to long with them, and I feared we may have missed a shot at good redfish action. But, it was not the case. The wind was from the opposite direction, so we had to make a different approach and setup, but we went back to where I had caught the reds the day before, and managed to get them going again.

We got our bite, but with one difference; the fish were much bigger. John caught several redfish that were 12 pounds and over, and put a total of 9 in the boat to 12.5 pounds. There was not a single fish small enough to keep! So, once we were sure the action was over, we hit a snook hole for a few minutes without a bite, and then went to a spot where all the redfish have been in the slot. Within just minutes, we had a beautiful dark bronze 26 inch keeper fish in the well. John and I were happy campers. We finished with 10 nice redfish.

You regular readers see John's name in my reports on a regular basis. He'll be conspicuously absent until October, however, as part of his duties as President of the University of Central Florida, is to travel with the football team to all their games, and entertain visiting friends. Well, someone has to do it! But, it means that he doesn't get down to our paradise until fall.

Well, that's it. I'm off for the rest of the month, and won't be back on the air until the first week of September. I hope that all of you who are out there fishing in the meantime have great catches, and lots of fun on the water. Until September; Adios!

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 8/9/03 by Capt. Butch Rickey

I resolved some time ago to take the month of August off because it's some blazing hot and the fishing really slows down. I know a couple of other guides up and down the coast that do that, and it seems to make a lot of sense to me. We're back in a reverse weather pattern once again, with onshore winds giving birth to coastal showers and thunderstorms in the mornings.

My good friend Dr. John Hitt and I did manage to get out for a few hours in his new Coastal 21 center console. He'd just finished his 20 hour break-in period, and it was my first ride. We were uncertain about leaving John's dock Friday morning, as storms were already upon us. We decided to wait a few minutes, and see how things looked. Once the storms passed through, we decided to take a chance, and off we went.

We headed down the river and across San Carlos Bay to Tarpon Bay for bait, and got plenty of shiners, and some pinfish, but none were in the 2 - 2.5 inch range that I like for redfish under a popping cork. So, we decided to head to Chino Island flat, which is almost always full of small pins. But, before we could even get there the weather was looking iffy. We did manage to get some small pinfish, and headed to the first stop for redfish, but the weather was beginning to look threatening. We quickly hit a snook, then two nice redfish within a half hour or so, which was fortunate, as the weather seemed to be closing in around us. We were seeing lightning in several directions, and John and I decided as he put it, not to try and prove we were lightning proof. So, were took off, hoping we could get back up the river to safety before the storms hit.

Talk about being chased by a storm; we were! We had to run right at one, but we were pretty sure it was moving away from us. It turned out to be the right call as we got away from it as we rounded the corner at York Island, but the one coming onshore behind us seemed to be gaining on us, and we were running over 40 MPH. It was growing uglier by the minute, and we hit John's dock with just enough time to get the boat situated on the lift so that he could leave the livewells running on the bait and fish.

Weather has been the story this weekend, delivering record rainfalls up and down the coast of southwest Florida. I have two remaining trips for August, on Monday and Tuesday. Right now, I don't know if the weather will even let me do those. Here's hoping.

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