Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
September 29, 2003
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 9/27/2003 by Capt. Butch Rickey

This turns out to be the tale of two fishing days. I thought there would be three days to report on, but a Wednesday trip with one of my best friends, Capt. Mark Bess, didn't work out.

The first day out was Tuesday, and it was the first trip with Eric Fairfield, who recently moved to Cape Coral from parts north, but who is originally from the Homestead area. Eric wanted to learn how to catch redfish, and was referred to me by my friend Capt. Ben Chancey, who's specialty is river fishing for snook. Ben had given me a high recommendation, and the pressure was on to not only teach, but produce.

I met Eric and his step-son at the ramp at 6:30, and we were on our way through the darkness to Tarpon Bay for bait. We were there chumming before the bait was even awake! But, it didn't take long and we had shiners, threadfins, and pinfish all over the place, and we were soon loaded and on our way.

Although the conditions weren't right, I took Eric to a great snook spot just to show him the kinds of things to look for in a good snook hole. We managed to catch one snook and missed several others. Then, we were off to pursue redfish, which was our main target.

I began to get itchy when after three stops and a lot of chumming, we hadn't had a take down. How could this be? We were on the new moon. The weather was good, the tide was perfect. Yes, the water was black, but it seems the fish have gotten used to that.

Well, the fourth spot was the charm. I decided to visit one of my favorite spots on the east side of the Sound. The wind was not right for fishing it, but I felt sure the reds would be there, along with a snook or two. I made a long quiet approach, and put out lines and chum. It only took a moment before a big red had gobbled one of our live pinfish dangled beneath a Cajun float. The bite was on. We had a steady bite until the tide was over, and the boys managed to boat at least a dozen of the 16 or so big reds that ate our baits. They also managed a couple of trout along the way, giving them the Slam.

We finished with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant, where the boys gave me the best compliment they could possibly give. The both agreed that of all the fishing they had done, they're trip with me was the most fun of all. Well, it was a great day for me, too, guys.

Thursday I was back on the water with my great friend Russ Hubbard, and his guest Tom Baldwin. We left the dock at 7:30 for Tarpon Bay, and quickly had a well full of bait. While we were catching bait, we frequently saw trout popping shiners and mackerel jumping in the distance. Russ loves to trout fish, so we decided to begin the fishing day right there, with shiners under popping corks. We caught trout after trout for about an hour, and kept a couple of nice ones for the table.

We decided to give snook a look while it was early on the tide, and at the second stop managed to catch half a dozen small fish to 24 inches. I've been seeing a lot of yearling snook in places I haven't seen them before, and believe we had a great spawn summer a year ago. That's good news.

From the snook grounds we headed in search of redfish. Nothing pulls quite like a big red in the shallows. The first stop was the last stop, as we had a bite right from the start through the end of the tide. It wasn't a wild bite, but a pace of hooking up about every ten minutes, or so. We'd get done with one fish, catching, pictures, revival, and soon after we'd have another fish on. Russ and Tom had a blast with the big reds that were mostly running ten to twelve pounds. They also managed another snook or two, and of course, the redfish gave them the Slam. They finished with 13/14 big reds. It was a great day of fishing capped off with another great trip to the Waterfront Restaurant.

Although things have been bleak during August and September, October is stacking up to be a very busy month. The fishing should also be great by any standard for most of our species, but redfish in particular. Snook should be much easier to trick in October, as well. Stay tuned.

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