Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
January 10, 2004
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 1/10/2004 by Capt. Butch Rickey

Finally! Trout season is open. And my fishing buddy John Hitt and I were ready to go out for our last trip of the holidays and bring home some trout fillets. Trout are one of he and Martha’s favorite fish on the table. So, Sunday morning, John and I were off in search of trout. We had a very early incoming tide, so we got right to it. We hoped to be able to get some trout action on the potholes before the water got high enough to push the fish out.

We tossed a variety of jigs, but the best seemed to be a little white split-tailed jig made by Capt. Ricky Banks, who John used to fish with over on the east coast. The trout were hitting nearly anything, but they seemed to like that the best on this day. We had a pretty good bite as we worked from spot to spot, and caught probably 5 dozen trout, a flounder, and finished with 3 gag grouper. We had a nice limit of 8 beautiful specked trout to take home.

Late in the morning we were fishing a deep hole adjacent to a mangrove island, and were catching big trout out of it. A couple of guys in a nearby aluminum john boat saw us catching, and moved right over and parked on the hole where we were throwing our lures! Unbelievable! We managed to catch a couple more before they totally ruined the hole. I’m happy to say they didn’t catch anything. It still amazes me that people can be so thoughtless.

We had great weather through Tuesday, but that night another cold front came through, and Wednesday morning it was howling out of the northeast for my buddy Marc Denton, and his new friends John, and John’s son Sterling. They had all met the previous year while on a headboat trip, and become friends. One of the great things about fishing! Marc warned me that John is usually the entertainment on the headboats!

It was cold Wednesday morning. Yet, John and Sterling showed up dressed lightly. John was in short sleeves without a jacket. Sterling did have a windbreaker, but was not dressed warmly. Marc always shows up in shorts and sandals, no matter what the weather. Tougher guys than I!!

Well, we wanted action, so we headed up the river to the ladyfish grounds, and the dymnamic trio caught ladyfish until they were blue in the face. How many? Who knows? Once John and Sterling got the hang of it, which didn’t take long, it was fish on practically every cast. After an hour or so of ladyfish action we decided to head up into the Sound in search of food. That pretty much means trout this time of year. The problem was, where would we fish?

We had one of the lowest tides I’ve ever seen. It was scheduled to be a -0.8 at around 9 AM, but with the postfrontal wind briskly blowing from the north, it was way lower than that. There was lots of previously undiscovered land showing everywhere! After a short stop for some bait that my best Bud Capt. Butch Boteler had found during the warm weather, we headed to a spot I hadn’t fished in years, to see if there might be some flounder on the mud. Although flounder will take jigs, etc., they just love shiners, and we (John) managed to dredge up 5 of them, much to Sterling’s chagrin. In fact, Sterling was freezing to death, and was more than ready to go home, and wasn’t bashful about telling the rest of us about it. Of course, that just brought teasing from the rest of us, and we all had a great time bantering back and forth.

We moved about 1/2 mile to another spot that holds grouper, and that’s where Sterling got warm. He caught several nice gag grouper, and noted that when you’re catching fish like that you forget you’re cold! But, we wanted some meat for the table. Finally, the water had begun to flood the flats enough that we could get into some of the shallow potholes with a fully loaded boat.

We began our hunt for trout, and on the full moon, it wasn’t easy. We were trying to feed fish with plastic that were already full of the real thing. We hopped from hole to hole catching a keeper trout here and there, and by the time we were done, we had about eight keepers in the well. More importantly though, the four of us had a blast, and John and Sterling were definitely the entertainment Marc had promised.

I was off on Thursday because of a cancellation that hadn’t refilled, but back on the water Friday for my first trip with Terry Fleming , and his son Travis, of Morgantown, West Virginia. We had a chance of rain with another approaching front, but my biggest concern was that I had talked to one of my guide friends at the ramp that morning and learned that on the previous day fishing had been so bad that four very good guides only managed to catch 3 fish!! Holy mackeral!

Terry told me as we left the ramp that he had fished for many years in the fly-in outposts of Canada, and had some fabulous days of fishing. Ironically, he’s been coming here for some time, but had not fished here before. I was kind of worried that our full moon, post front, winter fishing day might be a disaster for him and Travis, but he left the call to me as to what we did. I wanted to start them off with some great action, so I headed to ladyfish heaven.

Once anchored I showed Terry and Travis how to hook and land the ladys, and they were in the grove within ten minutes. After that they were hooking fish on every cast, and it didn’t seem to matter much what kind of jig we tossed their way. The boys were having fun, but I knew Terry was really having a blast because he just kept giggling and talking about the fish. Little did any of us know on this day, the best was yet to come.

Finally, we headed up into the Sound to search for keeping sized trout. Terry and Travis wanted some fish to take home. We fished some of my favorite potholes hard, but the trout were even harder. We had hooked a number of nice sized trout, but had lost them trying to get them into the boat. We only had 3 keepers in the well. We had also caught several flounder, finally including one keeper. We had a light south wind, but it was apparently enough to push the tide higher than had been forcast. I realized the oyster bars on the east side of the Sound were covering up with water. I told Terry and Travis we were going to shift gears, and fish for redfish, knowing there aren’t typically many around this time of year.

I tied on two Johnson Silver Minnow 1/2 oz. gold spoons, and one gold 4 inch Crystal Minnow. We began working the mangrove bars on the east side of the Sound. At the third spot, we drifted toward a cluster of bars, and began to hit puppy drum. I stopped with the Magic Anchor, and we worked the area. Good God, Girty! The place was crawling with juvenile redfish, and we caught fish two and three at a time for more than two hours. In fact, I think we had four triple hook-ups. Both the boys were just laughing and having a blast. They couldn’t get over how hard those small redfish fought compared to the fish they’re used to catching, and I couldn’t help but wonder how this stacked up against their Canadian fishing.

I finally declared an end to the day at 4 PM. The trip was officially over at 2 PM, but I am not one that would ever pull my customers away from a bite like we had there. We left with big smiles on our faces, and three nice trout, a flounder, and three redfish in the well. It had been a great day of fishing.

As we rode home, I pondered the week and the great new friends I’d made in John, Sterling, Terry, and Travis, and counted my blessings for the many wonderful freinds I’ve made in this business like John and Marc.

As I write this I’m looking out of the window at a dreary sky that looks for all the world like a snow storm coming. In fact, a cold front passed Friday night bringing a little rain, but the promise of a very cold week to come. My new week begins tomorrow, on Sunday, and the temperature is supposed to be near 40!! My God. The coldest weather of the year, so far. Who knows what the day will bring for my old friend Chuck George? Tune in next week to find out. It’s going to be a busy week if the weather permits.

More Fishing Reports:

• All Reports by Capt. Butch Rickey
• Pine Island Sound Fishing Reports
• Southwest Florida (Cape Sable to Boca Grande) Reports
• Florida Fishing Reports
• Browse All Fishing Reports