Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
June 20, 2004
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 6/19/04 by Capt. Butch Rickey

The condition of my back was again the big issue this week. It had not improved over the weekend of rest at Don Pedro Island. I knew the constant pounding it was taking fishing on the beaches was not a good thing. Oh, the Talon has a great ride, but when the wind is southeast, south, or southwest at more than about 10 MPH, it makes the beaches rough to the point it doesn't matter what you're in if you have a back problem. Standing on a constantly moving platform once you're fishing further aggravates the situation. I was fast coming to the conclusion that I was going to have to stay out of the Gulf.

But, Monday would be a tough day because I had another pickup at North Captiva, which meant a lot of sitting and riding, and if things were rough, bouncing. My guests were Mark Goldman and his son Grif, and Mark's friend Bill. It was our first trip together, and I wanted to be at my best, but when I crawled out of bed that morning and almost fell on my face, I knew it would be a long day.

I limped my way to the ramp and headed to Picnic Island for bait. I wanted to catch bait and be on the way to pick mark up by 7 AM, but that was not to be. Bait was tough, and that was aggravated by my trouble throwing the net, and by constantly interrupting the chumming to do so. It was past eight o'clock by the time I had enough bait to fish with, and by then there was a strong southeast wind blowing. I dreaded the ride to pick up Mark and the boys. I knew it would be rough, at least in proximity to the passes.

It was around 8:30 by the time I got to North Captiva, and I had problems reaching Mark on the phone to tell him I was finally on my way. But, Mark, Grif, and Bill were on the beach in front of the runway with smiles on. I have to be honest and tell you that the rest of the day was blurred by the pain I was in. As I recall I made the decision to stay inside and fish the flats both because of my back and because of the travel time involved to get to good snook action.

I honestly don't remember what the boys caught, but I believe they caught a few snook, and around a dozen reds. We had an early tide, and by the time the sun got overhead well, everything came to a screeching halt. We hadn't set the world on fire, but the boys let me know they were happy with the fish they'd caught, had a great time, and were happy to take home a limit of redfish for dinner.

The episode has brought home to me how serious pain can alter your perspective, patience, attitude, mood, and even memory. By the time I got home that evening, I knew I had to seek some professional help. My Tuesday trip was to be with George Rogers, of Lakeland, Florida, who had won a trip I had donated to the March of Dimes. I knew I needed help, and needed off the water, and called George and asked him to please allow a reschedule. George was very nice, and more than understanding, and I then made an appointment with James M. Kolodziej (ziej pronounced jay), a chiropractor here in Fr. Myers. I've never been a believer in chiropractic methods, but did so at the urging of those who care about me.

My Tuesday session with Mr. Kolodziej made a believer out of me. After X-rays, some consultation, and some therapy, I practically skipped out of the office. Oh, I still had pain, but nothing like before the visit. I thought I had been cured in one miraculous visit, though. The next morning, however, I knew that wasn't the case.

My long time friend Russ Hubbard had come over Tuesday evening. We had dinner and he spent the night at the fish camp, so we could get an early start. He was taking his customer, John Staffeld, fishing. By the time we had caught bait with my buddy Capt. Butch Boteler at Picnic that morning, I was still feeling pretty good. But, by the time we went around the outside of Sanibel to the Stickbeach for snook, I was hurting, and knew the road to recovery wouldn't be as short as I had hoped.

On the beach we had a pretty good bite for a while, and caught a good 30 snook, a couple of big Spanish mackerel, and a couple of trout. We were all a bit off, and did a lot of joking about it being amateur hour, as we all missed connecting to too many fish.

Once the bite slowed on the beach we headed inside to see if we could scare up some redfish. I needed flat water! Our first stop on a normally great redfish flat, revealed that the flat was absolutely lifeless. There weren't even mullet jumping, which is most unusual. I worked my way along the flat for a while, and even found a pod of redfish all by themselves, but they were not about to eat.

We moved on, and after some chumming and adjusting finally found some redfish. We missed several good hits, but did manage to put three reds to 12 pounds into the boat before the tide was done. We headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for lunch. Later that afternoon, after cleaning the boat and preparing for the next day's trip, I went back to Jim Kolodziej for my second visit. Although I left with a dull pain in my right lower back, the next morning I felt like a new man.

I sped around to Sanibel Harbor to once again meet Dave Adair, for our second trip. Fortunately, Dave had already told me he wanted to do as we had done last year, and make the second trip a trip fishing the flats and mangroves in the Sound, instead of going for the sure snook action on the beach. I knew that would be good for my back.

We got bait at Picnic Island, but not without some ado. It didn't come easily. We did get more than enough for the two of us, and soon headed up into the Sound. We began on the east side looking for snook action, and actually Slammed in the first hole. It was a nice surprise that we not only caught a few snook, but several trout, and 7 or 8 redfish in that hole. Moving on we caught several more redfish, but didn't get a good bite going at the second stop.

At our third stop we were all over redfish. We saw numerous fish as we made moves with the boat, but couldn't get the first one to eat. In frustration, I moved on, and that move was the charm. At the fourth stop we carved a ladyfish Dave had caught at the previous stop. That was the charm. We had immediate action, and much to the chagrin of another guide in the area, caught 8 or 9 nice redfish. The action was over when the tide stopped moving.

Dave and I headed to the Waterfront Restaurant feeling good about our day. Both Dave and I prefer the beauty and solitude of fishing in the Sound. We were happy with the day, and it had been the first day in two weeks that my back had not been a controlling issue. Fortunately, Dave and I were able to put together two great days during his vacation.

Thursday night, long after I had retired, I received a call from my old friend Dr. Jack Crozier, who was flying down just for a day of fishing. He left a message that he was stranded in Philadelphia, his flight having been canceled because of weather, and would not make our date. He was obviously very disappointed from the sound of his message, and I really felt bad for him. Well, Jack! I guess we'll just have to catch twice as many fish next time.

I had my third visit with the chiropractor Friday afternoon. I could feel great progress. It is Sunday as I am writing this report, and my back is very much improved. I don't think that would be the case without James Kolodziej. For any of you local readers who might have back problems, I highly recommend him.

We have some very tough tides next week. They're not a big factor when fishing on the beach, but they'll be a factor for me as long as I'm ordered off the beach by Mr. Kolodziej. I'll be thankful for anything we can put into the boat this coming week.

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 6/12/04 by Capt. Butch Rickey

I apologize for the fact that this report is nearly a week late. I damaged my lower back after a trip last week, and have been in much pain and unable to sit in front of a computer for more than a few minutes at a time.

After cleaning the Talon and getting her ready for the next day's fishing, I parked her as I always do in my boat yard next to the Maverick. But, apparently the large wooden block that I use under the tongue jack was sitting on uneven ground, or perhaps the trailer was, and it rolled off the block.

I guess I am in denial over my age, or perhaps my ability to do the things I did when I was young. Whatever! Without a thought, I grabbed the tongue of the tandem axle trailer, and lifted it. The problem was, I couldn't see below the tongue, and had to grope around with my foot to find the block, and then maneuver it under the tongue jack. It took me several tries, but I did it. It's a big trailer, built for a much bigger boat than the Talon. It's also a tandem axle trailer. Once it's off the block, you're not only lifting the tongue weight of the trailer, but you're fighting the unloaded torsion bar suspension of the rear axle, pushing the tongue down. I left the boat yard feeling fine. After all, I had done the same thing any number of times over the years without incident. It would be a long week!

The work week began on Monday with my old friend Bob Brockway, who had come over the night before from Pompano Beach, and spent the night here at the fish camp. Bob was interested in catching some fish, of course, but also wanted me to show him around, and give him some ideas about what to do and where to go on his short holiday over July 4th.

With that in mind we caught bait at Picnic Island, and headed out to the Stickbeach for some hot snook action. We fished for a couple of hours and put a good 40 snook in the boat before heading inside to scout around. We spent the rest of the morning running and looking, and hopefully planting the seeds for what Bob will do over the 4th.

Tuesday, my friend Chris Fredericks was back with his friend Lenney, from Charleston, SC, for a run at the snook. Chris was staying up at Safety Harbor on North Captiva, and I had to pick him up and deliver him back there. Although I certainly don't mind picking up there, it does add a lot of time to my day, consume a lot of extra fuel, and in general set the day back some, time-wise.

Catching bait is much more time consuming when you're doing it by yourself. Every time you stop chumming the bait to throw the net, you're interrupting the chum line, and starting over. That's just one of the reasons I love to have my customers with me when I catch bait. It's much easier, it's fun, and it gives my customers a greater appreciation of what we go through to catch bait.

Anyway, I knew that I would not be getting to the Stickbeach first, and would have to settle for a spot that was open. I picked up Chris and Lenny, and we headed straight out. We got a descent spot, and had a pretty good bite for a while. The guys caught a good two dozen snook, with the largest at nine pounds. Once the action slowed on the beach, I decided to show the boys some fishing spots in their own back yard, around North Captiva. Once we were done with the tour, we called it a day. It was good to see Chris, again, and meet Lenny.

Wednesday, I had my first of two trips with Dave Adair during the next two weeks. He was staying at Sanibel Harbor, just around the corner from our ramp, as he had when I first fished with him last year. Over the years, Dave had been out with several local guides, and we finally were able to hook up last June. We had two great days of fishing, and a new friendship was born. Like so many of the people I'm so blessed to have in the BarHopp'R fold, Dave is a guy that just loves to fish, and doesn't get to do nearly enough of it.

I picked up Dave and his brother Brian at the Sanibel Harbor Marina dock, and we headed straight to Picnic Island for bait. To our surprise, bait was tough, but we managed to get plenty to fish with and were off to the Stickbeach in hopes of getting my favorite hole.

This might be a good time to talk about the Stickbeach. It has always amazed me that on any given day there will be boats out there, line up from one end to the other, some catching, some not catching. If one could dive around the sticks and take a census, the numbers of snook would stagger the mind. Yet, not everyone catches. Some of the guides target the bigger females, and fish mostly grunts and pinfish on the bottom, usually off the beach a bit. They usually catch bigger fish on average, but not nearly the numbers that those guides who fish shiners in close. By fishing off the sticks a bit, they also increase their odds of getting the bigger females to the boat, as there aren't nearly as many cutoffs off the bank. I fish for the action. Most of our clients just don't know how to man-handle a big snook in the cutoffs, and it's nearly impossible to teach in one outing. I fish light tackle, which makes the snook that run from 2 to 6 pounds on average, a real handful. Every fish is a challenge, and on a good bite, the bait is barely wet before it's eaten.

That's how it was last year when Dave and I fished the beach. We racked up over a hundred snook in one morning of fishing. One this day we had a good bite, but not as crazy as last year. Brian couldn't for the life of him imagine how the bite could have been faster than what he was experiencing. But, Dave assured him that it had been. We finished the morning with a good 70 snook to the boat, and lots of misses and get-aways. It was a great morning of intense snook action.

Thursday was Sparky Marky day. Yes, it was my friend Mark Lucas, and his son Andrew, and Andrew's best friend Joe, of St. Anthony, Minnesota, back for some more snook fishin fun. Mark is an absolute hoot, and Andrew had grown at least a foot since last year.

We headed straight to Picnic Island for bait, and were quickly baited up and on our way to the Sticks. I got my favorite spot, and the bite was on. Sparky Marky quickly got into the groove, but the boys had some difficulty getting things right. It didn't matter. There were plenty of bites, and plenty of fish. By the time we were done, the boys had boated a good 50 snook, and missed at least that many. We had a blast!

My back had been making me (and probably my fishing friends!) miserable all week! But, when I awoke Friday morning for my trip with my old friend Tom Smith, I damned near fell flat on my face as I tried to get out of bed. My God! What had I done? I could hardly move. The pain was unbearable. I managed to straighten out and get on with things. I took a large dose of Ibuprofen. I managed to get to the ramp and get the Talon in the water, but I was seriously doubting my ability to pull off the trip with Tom, and his son Matt, and grandson Luke. The pain was at the limit of my tolerance; even worse than it had been all week long.

But, I'm not a guide who's willing to spoil plans for my customers over a personal issue, unless it's life threatening. I was determined to do the trip with Tom, Matt, and Luke. We headed out to Picnic for bait, and after lots of grunting and groaning, were soon on our way to the fish.

The fish were there. We had a pretty good bite. But, Tom was the only experienced angler of the group. It was the first time for Matt and Luke. They missed lots of fish, but it didn't matter. There were plenty of opportunities. It was a great bite, yet it was one of the toughest days I've spent on the water. I know the pain affected my ability to do my job, and affected my judgment and patience. As tough as it was for me to get through the day, Tom made it a bit easier. For some unknown reason, he just kept calling his grandson Luke, Jim. The more he did it, the funnier it became. We were all chiming in. It's probably the only thing that helped me keep my sanity.

Well, we all got through the morning, and had fun (I think). My apologies to Tom, Matt, and Luke, if I was short on patience. I spent the rest of the day and evening doing hot and cold therapy, and taking big doses of Ibuprofen. I had a trip long planned to Don Pedro Island to visit with my old friend Floyd "Bubba" Baker, and his family, and check out his new 22 Pathfinder. I wanted to make that trip, even if I had to spend the time on my back! I had enjoyed a great weekend with them over the July 4th weekend last year, and gotten to meet and fish with his multiple world record holder daughter Shelby, and his best friend Terry!! I was looking forward to getting on the beach with the gang and catching some more snook, and to relaxing and visiting with good friends.

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