Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
May 31, 2004
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 5/29/04 by Capt. Butch Rickey

It was a week of very poor tides, and for that reason I booked only two trips at the end of the week. During the first part of the week my best friend Capt. Butch Boteler drew upon his many and varied carpentry skills to make some much needed repairs on the fish camp. Like all small projects, it turned into a major project, but Butch has a way of making things look very easy.

I was back on the water Thursday with my good friends Roland and Shannon Hartich, and Roland's Dad, Michael. The wind forecast was for 10 to 15 MPH from the south/southwest. We headed straight to Chino Island for bait, and it came quickly. The bait on the Chino flat is beautiful, now. Soon, we were rinsed and off to our first stop. I had decided to try to catch fish inside, even though the tide was poor, based upon the wind forecast. I was concerned that I would have some unhappy anglers if the wind kicked, and the Gulf waters became rough.

As we headed in the general direction of Regla Island I watched the water carefully, because it's usually this time of year that tarpon show up in the waters in front of Regla. I hadn't run more than a mile when I saw them. There were tarpon everywhere; rolling, finning, and free jumping. The gang was all for stopping to see if we could jump a few of this majestic fish that seemed to be begging to have a bait thrown at them.

I threw a large shiner under a Cajun float in front of a rolling tarpon. I handed the rod to Michael. Soon, we all saw the beautiful sight of a large fish rolling on it's side in plain view, as it lazily inhaled the shiner. Then for a split second, all hell broke loose. Mike understandably freaked at what he had seen, and after a short spurt of screaming drag, the line was limp. The beast was free.

I maneuvered the Talon on the trolling motor and soon we had tarpon all over the place, in every direction. We were getting quite a show. We threw bait after bait at rolling fish, and even had several fish roll close enough to reach out and touch. But, they were just taunting us, and wouldn't eat. We never got another hit. It was exciting, just the same.

My good friend Capt. Bobby Dumont was also fishing, and I knew he was going to try to get outside to check on the beach snook. Bobby had agreed to call me on the radio of the water was not too rough, and the fish were biting, thereby saving me a long ride and lots of fuel burned if the conditions weren't right. I kept hoping to hear from him as the morning passed, and we struggled with trying to find a hungry fish on the flats. But, the radio never sounded. The Hartichs missed a few snook and a redfish along the way, but only managed to put two fish into the boat for the rest of the morning; a snook and a nice trout.

it was the hardest day of fishing I can remember in a long time. As we were preparing the boat for the ride home, my radio finally called me. It was Bobby. He said that he had tried to call me several times, to let me know the water was good and the fish were eating, but we had not gotten his call or his alert. They had caught nearly 50 snook on the beach! Sometimes the best laid plans just don't work out.

We had a fantastic lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant along the way home. At the ramp we gave our one trout its freedom. It didn't make much sense to keep one fish. It had been great to get out with my friends for a second time during their visit, but I felt awful that I hadn't just gone ahead outside to check on things.

Friday, it was my old friend Jeff Stevens, of Stevens Industries in Naples taking his customer Jim out for a day of fishing. Jim is an experienced fisherman, and has a 17 ft. Bonito bay boat with lots of years on her. We headed straight to Chino for bait, as I wanted to get it quickly and try to be the first to the Stickbeach. I didn't have to worry about the water, as I had two experienced Florida fishermen who didn't care how bumpy it might get.

We had our bait and were on our way in about three throws, and were the first boat on the beach with our choice of spots. We fished for a good hour and a half before we saw another boat, and then they came quickly. But, we had been catching since we arrived, and had already had a great morning of snook fishing.

As the sun rose in the eastern sky, and crept toward the tops of the trees on the beach, it became unbearably hot. Our breeze had also disappeared. By ten o'clock Jim had taken two breaks, and the heat was getting to me, as well. We decided it was time to crank up the Yamaha air conditioner and head inside for a shot at a redfish or two. The heating of the day had slowed the bite on the beach to nearly nothing.

Back inside I ran several flats without so much as pushing a redfish, and the prospects looked grim. I moved on to another area, and pushed lots of singles and small groups, but no big schools. The fish were spooky as hell, as the water was shallow, clear, and slick. We were very visible! We couldn't get close enough to a red to catch one. I moved on to a deeper portion of the flat, where I usually find redfish, and put out two shiners under Cajun floats and one cut bait. I hadn't seen fish there, but was confident that there were redfish there from years of experience.

Soon, Jeff had something messing with his bait, and after a couple of fresh baits, a redfish ate. While Jeff was bringing his red to the boat, Jeff had a decisive hit on his shiner, and we had two reds in the boat. We gave it a few more minutes, and had no action. It seemed we had caught a short bite on the end of the tide. We were content to head to the Waterfront Restaurant, and the cool-down ride was wonderful.

Along the way, Jim told me that he was most impressed with the Talon, from it's stability at rest, and huge, roomy fishing platform, to it's unbelievably soft and dry ride. He said that he had been looking for a boat to replace his Bonito for some time, but had not seen anything that impressed him. When he told me at the ramp that morning that he had a 16 ft. boat, I asked him how long he thought the Talon was. He looked around at her, and replied that it was at least 19 feet. He was shocked when I told him it was 16.5 feet long, but with a beam of nearly 9 feet, front to back. He couldn't believe how big it was. He was definitely interested in pursuing a Talon as his next boat.

Once we get the Memorial Day holiday out of the way, I have a full week. We have some pretty good looking tides, and I'm fishing with old friends all week. Should be a great, fun week.

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