Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
August 18, 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!

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