Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
May 9, 2004
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 5/8/04 by Capt. Butch Rickey

Things slowed down a bit this week. I had a couple of days off because of weather and poor tides.

I woke up Monday morning wondering what the status of an approaching front would be. I quickly checked radar and the forecast, and there was plenty of weather in the Gulf and a 60% chance of rain and thunderstorms. Not a good forecast. I tried to call my new customers Bill and Nancy Schrader, of Newark, New York, to see if there was a possibility of rescheduling. I was surprised to find the switchboard at Sundial is unmanned after hours. Hard to believe! So, I began making my morning preparations.

Later, I met Bill and Nancy at the ramp and explained the options to them; basically that it would storm at some point in the day, but that the fish would eat well, if we went. It didn't take them long to make the decision to go fishing, and we were off to Tarpon Bay for bait. Bait was tough, and not knowing how long the weather would hold, I just wanted to get enough shiners and pinfish to fish with, and get going. I didn't see the wisdom in spending a lot of time catching a bunch of bait we may not get to use.

As we arrived at the first stop Nancy announced that she was feeling sick. I couldn't imagine she could be seasick, and she quickly explained that her abdomen was cramping bad because she had to use the bathroom. She was embarrassed, but hey, it happens! I told her the options were to use the bucket, get out on an oyster bar (not a good option), or squat in the very warm and shallow water. She opted for the latter, and was soon back aboard feeling much better.

Once Nancy was back in the boat we went ahead and fished right where we were, and never left that hole until we decided to try to get in under the weather. We had great action from the start. We started with snook action as we worked our way down a short shoreline with the south wind at our back. Bill got a beautiful slot snook of 10 pounds and 32 inches, and Nancy also got a slot fish. In all they put 10 snook in the boat. We turned our attention and bait presentations to redfish, using cut pinfish, and soon had some redfish action going. Of course, we also caught them on live shiners. Before the weather really began to threaten, Bill and Nancy had boated 12 redfish to 7 pounds, as well as 3 big trout to 4 pounds, and their 10 snook. It was a great, if a bit abbreviated morning of fishing. Nancy had truly christened that hole for us.

I explained that I could tell the weather was getting closer, and thought it would be prudent to get back to the ramp before the strong winds kicked, and we were forced to return home in nasty water, lightning, and heavy rain. We headed in at around eleven o'clock. We'd had a great time, and I knew I had made some great new friends.

I was to fish with my old friend Mike Howard, on Tuesday, but I knew that the day after the passing of what turned out to be a very active front, the fishing would be awful. I called Mike, and we rescheduled our outing to Thursday.

I knew it was a 50/50 shot at descent fishing on Wednesday, for my first trip with Mike Ortiz, who now resides here in Ft. Myers. But, Bill had told me he wanted this to be primarily a learning trip, and with that objective in mind, catching was not that important. So, we headed to Tarpon Bay to begin our day. Again, bait was not easy, but we got plenty for what we were going to do.

I spent the morning showing Mike the things that make a place good for snook and good for redfish. Knowing what the fish want in the way of cover and conditions is more important than learning specific spots. Also, knowing what lies beneath the water is very important. We went from spot to spot fishing for just a few minutes at each, and talking about the features of each spot. The snook were in that hit and run mode they so often assume after the passing of a front. In addition, we were just coming off the full moon, which makes them hard to catch.

We did run into a hot bite at a hole near Joselyn Island. We had quickly caught 6 or 7 snook when I decided to see how serious Mike was about the instruction part of the trip, and suggested we move on and leave the snook biting. Mike surprised me when he agreed. We moved on to cover a few more spots before the tide was done, or he reached mental overload. Mike was fun, and a good student, and I enjoyed my day with him.

Thursday was the last trip for the week. I met my friend Mike Howard at the Waterfront Restaurant, and we headed to Tarpon Bay, where my buddy Capt. Butch Boteler was already in the process of catching bait. We joined him, and doubled-teamed the bait. Once we both had plenty, we went our separate ways.

It was really special to get to spend a day with Mike, again. It had been a number of years since we fished together. Mike is a tough lung cancer survivor who is coming up on his five years clean, and is looking better than ever. He bounces back and forth between New Hampshire, Orlando, and his place on Pine Island as he develops custom software across the net.

Mike told me he wanted this to be a relaxing, no pressure day for both of us, and he wanted me to catch some fish, too. I thought I'd try to show Mike some new territory that he could fish from his own Skinnywater. At one of our first stops, Mike caught his biggest redfish ever; a 15 pound beauty on a piece of sliced and diced pinfish. We couldn't get any others to eat, and moved on.

At our next stop, we got on a good snook bite. They weren't big ones, but they were willing and fun. At our next stop we caught only a couple more, but nearly every bait we tossed got hit. By the time we moved on, we had a total of around 15 snook. Eventually, we headed back to the spot where Mike had caught his big red to see if we could catch more on the top of the tide. Mike only got one more red, but it was nearly 14 pounds. We also caught around a dozen big trout to 5 pounds. Once we began catching catfish and stingrays we knew the tide was done, and headed back to the Waterfront to finish with a great lunch. It was great to spend a day with my friend after so long, and good to see him happy, prosperous, and especially healthy.

Next week is a week of very poor tides for a good part of the week, and the schedule is not full. So, it's maintenance time, and the Talon went to see my friend Danny Fowler at Fowler Marine, mainly for piddly stuff like repairing the jackplate, replacing broken battery hold downs, etc. Monday I go to the doctor for license renewal X-rays, and for the associated drug test.

The weather prospects are good, so maybe by the latter half of the week the fishing will turn on.

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 5/1/04 by Capt. Butch Rickey

It was a week of mostly tough tides, and lots of wind. Ironically, the numbers dwindled as the tides got better, and bait wasn't easy, either. Two of my trips were instructional in nature, so the emphasis was not on catching. It WAS a week of quality fish, with some great outsized reds coming to the boat.

First up on Monday was Sonny Stelmak, of Stafford Springs, Connecticut. We actually had the worst tide of the week, yet had the best production of the week in terms of numbers, and quality. Bait came pretty easily, as well. Once we were fishing Sonny did well, and put together an impressive day. By the time we were done, Sonny had boated 8 snook including 2 keepers, 6 big speckled trout, and 12 big redfish. He redfish included the largest I can remember catching on the shallow flats of Pine Island Sound; a 16 pound monster. I've caught bigger fish on the beach and offshore, but that's a great fish on the flats. Usually, redfish are long gone from the flats before they reach that size.

We had a great day. Sonny also owns a home here in Cape Coral to which he hopes to soon retire. He has been out with another guide here, and had a blast, but didn't realize we had such nice fish here to catch.

Tuesday it was time for my bi-annual date with my dermatologist. Even though he has cut on me more than I like, I always enjoy my visit to Dr. Jay Herbst's office, up in North Port Charlotte. Thank God, I got a clean bill of health this time around.

Wednesday, I as back on the water with my old friends Ed Mahoney, and Tom and Mike. These are a great, fun bunch of guys, and a blast to fish with. We've had some great days. We'd had a front pass through on Tuesday. I warned Ed that between the wind and tide, we'd probably have a tough day, but he didn't believe me. We guides usually know before we leave the dock, though, how it's going to go.

We headed to Tarpon Bay, where we got bait, but it didn't come easily. A big east wind didn't make things any easier. We headed up into the Sound, and because of the wind, I had pretty much made the decision to stay on the east side. We hit a few spots without much going on. Finally, we found some fish that would eat. We had some slow, but steady action that gave us 3 big reds including 12 and 13.5 pound fish, 2 big trout, and 1 keeper snook. Only 6 fish, but they were quality fish. It was a slow day by BarHopp'R standards, but with all the laughing and cutting up with Ed, Mike, and Tom, we had a blast.

Thursday was another fun day with a couple of great new guys, John Kennedy and his good friend Paul Lulgjuraj (pronouced loose-your-eye), of Tallahassee. John's family owns one of the remaining stilt houses up near Captiva Rocks. He's a local boy, and it was my first trip with him. He was interested in learning some of my techniques for fishing the Sound.

Bait was a bit tough, but we got plenty as we watched my friend Ed, Tom, and Mike from Wednesday, in Tom's red Action Craft, the Knumb Knots. They also got enough bait. The wind was still up, and the fishing wasn't easy. At the first stop, John and Paul boated 3 or 4 snook and a flounder, and missed several others. The snook were in the hit and run mode, and just knocking the scales off the bait and crippling it, but not wanting to eat it. The next stop yielded the boys 1 redfish, but at 12 pounds, it was a great one!

We made a big move to a favorite flat of mine where we were able to see pods of big redfish moving and flashing in the shallow water. I began my chumming routine in an effort to get the fish to stay in front of us and eat our offerings. The fish didn't go into a frenzy by any means, but the boys did delight in catching 12 of the big reds, along with a couple of big trout. As the tide came to a stop Paul finished the day with a small blacktip shark. It had been a fun day under tough conditions.

The last day of the week was with another new customer, Eric Olauson, who has been in the area for a couple of years. He has read of some of my instructional trips, and after two years of fishing nearly every day some weeks, and not catching a snook or redfish, wanted to learn how to catch them. I asked Eric that morning, just to make sure, whether the emphasis should be on catching, or teaching, and he assured me he wanted it on teaching.

The first part of the lesson was on catching bait. I tried to give him not just facts like what kind of chum to use, but also to teach him how to reach the subtle intricacies of the water and wind. Bait was tough, and again Ed and the boys were nearby also having a hard time, but we all managed to get plenty of bait to fish with.

I began the lessons with snook, and what makes a good snook hole, when to fish, how to fish, how to present the bait, et al. We only fished a few minutes here and there as I showed him different aspects of snooking. The lessons continued with redfish. Eventually, as we moved and explored, Eric caught his first snook, and missed several others, as well. I wanted him to catch his first big red, too, so we moved to one of my favorite redfish flats, where we found another guide nearby. They managed to catch several puppy drum (juvenile redfish) on shiners, but I knew the big reds couldn't be far away. Eric also caught several small reds, but I still wanted him to get his first big red.

The other guide moved on, but we stayed with it. I could see the reds I wanted to catch out in front of us, and knew it would be a matter of time before we caught one. Persistence finally paid off, and Eric boated his first big red, a fish of nearly 10 pounds. He was thrilled. Our redfishing with cut bait also yielded 3 nice speckled trout, which gave Eric the Slam.

So, Eric went home with his first snook and redfish, and the knowledge he needs to catch them in the future. His dilemma was boats. He has an 18 ft. Grady White, which he knows is not the proper boat for the kind of fishing we do here. He fell in love with the Talon, but is too impatient to wait the necessary time to have a custom boat built. So, he has to figure out what kind of boat to buy, to fish the flats. Perhaps, he'll want to take a trip in the Maverick.

And, speaking of the Mav, I picked her up from Fowler Marine, where my old friend Danny Fowler now does for himself what he did so well for Smith Marine. Danny took care of my old Barhopp'R's for several years, and kept them on the water, while he was at Smith Marine. After Craig lost his father, had a child, and morphed into something his friends and loyal customers didn't recognize, I lost track of Danny. Thanks to my cousin Capt. Sean Middleton for letting me know that Danny had opened his own business on the corner of Fowler Ave and Collins St. If you have an electrical problem or rigging challenge, Danny is your man. He's a fine young man, who knows his stuff, and really takes care of his customers. Anyway, Danny installed a Power Pole on the Maverick, as well as installing a couple of bow rod holders, a pop-up cleat on the poling platform, and replacing the bait well pump with a Rule cartridge unit. The Maverick is now, FINALLY, ready to go BarHopp'N!!

Thank you, Danny!

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