Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
November 4, 2004
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 10/30/04

It was a fun week with old friends and some good fishing and good times thrown in.

As I mentioned in the last report, my good friends Ron and Pat Kolata came to town for their annual October week on Sanibel on the weekend. Ron and I had three days booked, as well as plans for dinner. One of the days was to be a day for Pat to come along and do some shelling, and take in a lunch at one of the restaurants.

Monday with Ron was a great day. We headed to Picnic Island for bait, and were soon loaded with pinfish and small shiners. We were finally getting into some good incoming tides, and I couldn't wait to get to a flat and start chumming.

On the flat, things went well. Not long after we took up position and began chumming and putting out baits, we had the first strike. It was a nice red. Ron caught redfish after redfish, and eventually boated 20 or more of the beautiful, deep bronze fish. It was a great time, but there was more to come.

Once we were sure the redfish action was over, we moved to the deep edge of a nearby flat where we saw bait spraying all over the place, and fish busting in the bait. It was a typical fall scenario, but perhaps a bit late this year because of the hurricane season. I knew there would be lots of trout, ladyfish, and probably some jacks in the fray, and we stopped and began to fish. Bait was flashing and spraying for as far as we could see! We began using live bait, but the bite was hot, and the live-baiting was just too slow. So, we tied on some Cotee jig heads and dressed them with Bass Assassin bodies, and were off to the races. For the next couple of hours we caught trout after trout on nearly every cast. What a hoot! There were also a couple of ladyfish, a gag grouper, the ever present gaftop sail catfish, and Ron even caught a big pinfish on the jig! What a day! We topped the day off with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant.

Tuesday, Ron and I began the day fishing potholes near Wulfert Keys for trout. The fish weren't in the mood. We moved to another area nearby, and fished the hole there, catching some nice trout. But, the cloudy conditions and deeply tannin stained water made finding the potholes very difficult, if not impossible. One the tide had moved up some, we turned our attention to redfish. The redfish weren't as hungry or cooperative, but Ron still managed to boat 5 nice fish. There were a couple of nice snook to the boat, as well. Later, Ron and I went back to the scene of all the previous day's trout action, and although the wind had the fish invisible, we still caught plenty. It was another great day topped off with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant.

Wednesday we changed our tact a bit. Ron's wife Pat and her new friend Dorothy were along, and the emphasis was no longer on fishing. Oh, we caught some bait, and did some fishing, but not very much. After bait we fished for a while and Ron caught several trout and one snook. With the action slow, we decided to go ahead and take the girls to North Captiva and drop them for some shelling, and go do some nearby exploration around the new pass at North Captiva.

As we approached the shallow water on the north side of the new pass, the water suddenly erupted with jack crevalle in a feeding frenzy. Ron and I quickly grabbed a couple of the light trout rigs and flipped our Bass Assassins into the school. A fast, steady retrieve soon had two nice jacks on the end of the line. By the time Ron got both of the fish landed, the school was long gone. We dropped the girls on the beach.

Being that close to Redfish Pass, a drift or two along The Wall seemed in order. We bumped live pinfish along the bottom, with one small gag grouper to show for our efforts. We couldn't draw another bite. So, we soon moved to the area of the new pass, and spent a lot of time crawling along on the trolling motor, exploring.

Eventually, the girls called and were ready to go. We headed to the Green Flash for lunch. The food there is normally quite good, but I have to admit that after bragging to Ron and Pat about the food and view, I was disappointed with it. Perhaps they're not back into the swing of things this soon after the storms. Anyway, that was our day. We headed for the ramp after a very enjoyable day with absolutely no pressure or expectations.

We did have another invite to dinner with the Kolata to help them dispose of their food supplies before the week ended. Pat is a wonderful cook, and makes some unusual and very delicious dishes. We had a great time both nights with them, and I can't thank them enough for their hospitality and friendship.

Thursday was the last workday of the week before heading to Jacksonville on Friday to visit with a life-long friend, Nancy Holley, who recently lost her older sister. It was my second instructional trip with Eric Olauson, of Cape Coral. Eric had let me know that he was catching more fish than he had dreamed of catching, and had even had a 30 redfish day since our fist teaching trip, but that he wasn't consistent. He suspected that his problem was his lack of understanding of the tides, and their effect on inshore fishing, and he was right. So, since we are on the threshold of winter, it seemed appropriate to make the primary thrust of the trip toward winter pothole fishing, and the tides.

So, after catching bait we headed to the land of potholes while the tide was low. It wasn't as low as we see in the winter, though, and the holes were hard to find in the dark water. But, we found enough to teach Eric about potholes, how the tides affect them, and what makes a good pothole. And, we caught some trout in the process.

Once the tide was too high to concentrate on potholes, we shifted our attention to snook fishing around the myriad oyster bars in the Sound. Eric caught a few nice snook, and even had one run him behind a bar and eventually hang him in some hurricane debris nearby. The line held, and Eric made a slow, careful wade to the fish to free and land it. It was a good day, and Eric went home armed with new knowledge about winter flats fishing in southwest Florida, and a better understanding of the tides. Now he knows what days are the best to be out there.

And, that was the week. It was another fun week with good friends and good fishing. Next week, the first week of November, is a slow week of poor tides unless something comes along. So, it will be catch up time. But, November is stacking up to be a pretty good month, considering that it is usually a slow month. Stay tuned.

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 10/23/04

As promised, it was a busy week with six trips run. It felt so good to be working again, but I'm really bushed!

First up was what was to have been the second trip with my friend Capt. Rey Rodriguez, that became the first after canceling Saturday's trip because of weather. We were to pick up his party at the Waterfront Restaurant at 8 AM, and left the dock just before 7 AM to get bait. We headed to Picnic Island, where we were done catching bait and on our way to pick up by 7:50. We arrived at the Waterfront just on time. Rey was unsure the night before just how many anglers we would have but said it could be from 4 to 6. There were 6 to meet us at the dock. I was to take Ian McDonnell and his friend and young son, who was age 4. Rey took off with his party, and left us still waiting on Ian to come back from the restroom. Once he did and we were about to leave, I realized that I had no child's PFD on board. You see, it's the law that children under 6 must have a PFD on when underway in Florida. I had not been told there would be children involved, and don't normally keep child sized PFD's on board because of the space required, and the fact that we rarely take children that young. It's just too young for most kids to be spending a day on he water in a boat fishing.

The young lad was really excited about getting to go on the boat fishing, but I had to insist that he not come because of the PFD situation. The last thing I wanted was to get busted for not having a child properly safety equipped. I also knew that we would be fishing Redfish Pass, and that if a youngster fell out of the boat in the strong current without a PFD, he'd never been seen again. The father said it was perfectly OK, and that he understood the situation. He said he would take his son fishing on the pier at Bokeelia, and everything would be fine, and Ian's wife Louise could go on the trip, instead. So, I wound up with two very nice folks for the day, who were quick to tell me they never caught any fish!!

We had an awful tide to fish, and I felt sure the fishing would be very tough. I elected to first head on to Redfish Pass in hope of finding the nice redfish biting as I had done a few weeks earlier. But, the fish had other ideas, and after several drifts with no action, I elected to move on.

I headed to a nice grouper spot, where we found a great bite, but really tough fish to drag out of the cover. Ian and his wife had lots of really hard hits, and did manage to drag a few gag grouper out of the hole, but most of them that struck broke them off before they could blink and eye. They're really fierce little fish in shallow water!

Once the grouper action slowed, we headed to a nice trout flat to let them tangle with some nice trout that wouldn't be so hard for them to catch. Fortunately, we had a nice bite with the trout and they caught plenty of them, and had a great time. All in all, they had a really fun day, and were fun folks.

Once the tide was done we all met back at the Waterfront for a nice lunch, and everyone declared the day was a great success.

Monday was reserved for my old friends Mike and Joanne McMahon, of St. Leonard, Maryland. I had warned them that it would likely be a tough day of fishing, but their schedule wouldn't allow them to be here during a week with better tides, and they were ready to go and take what ever came their way.

We began the day with bait at Picnic Island, once again, and there was plenty of nice pinfish of all sizes along with some small shiners. It didn't take very long for us to load up and clean up and be on our way. I wanted to see if we could chum up a redfish or two before the water got completely off the flats, so that was our first stop. The water was already getting pretty low, and there were fish on the flat, but they weren't interested in eating anything, so after giving it a good try, we moved on and turned our attention to trout. We stopped on the edge of a flat that usually holds nice trout and some big snook, and did manage some nice trout, there.

I was perplexed at having no action at the Pass the day before, and felt sure the fish would be ready to eat by now. So, once the trout action slowed, we headed back to Redfish. The fish still weren't interested, much to my dismay. Not a thing. I told Mike and Jo about the grouper action the day before, and they were all for giving it a try. So, off we went across the Sound.

Once we were anchored on our grouper hole, Jo's eyes were as big a saucers when the first fish hit and immediately ran her into a buoy floating nearby. I knew it was a good fish, so I went in on the trolling motor and took the rod long enough to show her how to try to coax the fish off the cover. I took about four attempts, but we actually did get that fish out of there, and into the boat. Mike and Jo got several nice fish out of that place, and two of them had my rigs in them that had been lost the day before! It's easy to tell my rigs by the kind of hooks and knots I use.

So, although it had been a tough day in the beginning, it had been a great day with some wonderful old friends who just love to be out there fishing and enjoying what a day on our waters has to offer. Of course, lunch at the Waterfront was the perfect way to end our day, but I hated to see the day come to an end.

Tuesday I had a two boat trip with Brian McGrath, his parents, Dana and Peggy, of Cape Coral, and their good friends who were down visiting, Mike and Hilda. Dana, Peggy, and Brian went with me, and Mike and Hilda went with my good friend Capt. Butch Boteler. We headed to the flats at Tarpon Bay for bait, where we were able to get plenty of pinfish of all sizes, and lots of small to medium shiners. Time to fish.

We went our separate ways, figuring we'd reconnect later to fish together, somewhere. I wanted to try to put a redfish or two into the boat while there was still some water on the flats, so I headed to an area that I can usually find reds until the water gets pretty low. The water was already pretty low with the tide running out, but we did manage to catch one nice red on a piece of cut pinfish before they all left the flats.

From the flats we went pothole fishing, hoping to find some nice trout and a snook or two. The snook didn't materialize, but Brian, Dana, and Peggy caught plenty of nice speckled trout there, and at the next stop. As the trout action slowed, I asked the gang if they'd like to go and try some very tough grouper. They were up for it, and we headed to one of my favorite grouper digs.

There we had good action, but the McGraths learned quickly how ferocious a 20" gag grouper can be in shallow water around heavy cover. Tough! They broke off more than they caught for sure, and kept me busy tying lines, but the also landed some nice grouper.

Once the grouper action slowed we were ready to head to the Waterfront Restaurant to meet up with Boteler, Mike, and Hilda, and have a great lunch. We were there first, and when the others arrived, I realized that Boteler was very under the weather from having a tooth pulled the day before. Everyone had fun, though, and all's well that ends well. I didn't get to spend that much time talking with Mike and Hilda, but I sure enjoyed spending the day with the McGraths.

Wednesday it was HB Enger, and his good friends Junior and Lil Billy, or Anniston, Alabama, in to try their luck. I knew when we met at the dock that morning, these guys would be fun, and we'd have a great time in spite of how the fishing went. It was another one of several slow, twelve hour outgoing tides that are so hard for flats guides to fish productively. We headed again to Tarpon Bay for bait, and were soon ready to fish.

Again, the decision was to chase redfish on the flats while there was still some water there in which to do so. We did manage to get a few fish to bite, but the boys only managed to get one into the boat. We were having fun, though, and the guys cut up and carried on all morning long, and I was right in the middle of it all. As we went from place to place we basically experienced a no bite situation. The fish just weren't interested. The boys did manage to catch one snook and one trout, which gave them a Slam with three fish! Later, we tried the grouper which had been so cooperative, but they were only able to pry one of those rascals out of the cover.

It didn't matter to the guys, though. They were having fun just being out there trying and enjoying the water, the wildlife, and the camaraderie. It was a good time. I look forward to their return.

It was a return engagement on Thursday, for Paul Fasano and his friend Fred, down from Carmen, New York. The tide was marginally better than the day before, and I had hopes we would find some fish that would eat. After catching bait at Tarpon Bay, we were ready to attack the day.

The plan was the same for the first part of the trip; redfish on the flats. We had water on the flats for a bit longer time. We staged on a good flat, and began chumming and putting out baits. It wasn't long before we had our first hit. The first red was in the boat. Then another, and another. There were some misses, too, but by the time the water was getting to thin to stay, Paul and Fred had bagged 5 nice redfish and a snook. It was time to move on.

It was time for pothole fishing on the low water. We headed to a favorite area, and were immediately into great trout action. We had only small shiners, which was fine with the trout. But, I kept seeing bait flashing everywhere, and it appeared to be much larger than our shiners. I decided to make a quick throw of the net and catch some. The flashers turned out to be nice sized threadfin herring, which are great bait, but very hard to keep alive and keep on a hook, as the bridge of their noses is very narrow and fragile. But, once we had the threads we immediately turned them into 2 beautiful 8 plus pound snook that really gave a great fight on the Stella 2500's mated to the new St. Croix Legend Tournament Series rods. Super light! Very strong!

The last stop of the day gave us more nice trout action. We had turned what could have been a very slow day into a very good day with some quality fish, and the West Coast Slam. And the best part is that those beautiful snook and big trout went free to fight another day!

It's Friday. I'm in the home stretch with my old friends Dr. Dave and Anne Kerschner, of Cooley, Ohio. I've known and fished with Dave and Anne for years, and they are among my very favorite friends and customers. They're so much fun, and just love to fish. I hadn't seen them in a while, and was really looking forward to spending the day with them.

The tide was just a bit better than the day before, and before, and I knew we would have some water on the flats for a good part of the morning. I figured we finally had a shot at getting a descent redfish bite going. I wanted to get bait quickly, and no waste one minute of the tide, and we were able to do so again at Tarpon Bay.

I went straight to where I knew there would be plenty of redfish prowling the flats. The question would be whether or not they would eat. They did! It wasn't a raging bite, but a good bite, for sure. It was steady, and for the next several hours Dave and Anne boated 15 or more nice redfish, along with a couple of snook. Dave was in his glory. He loves to catch those redfish, and the light tackle was making it all the more fun for him. Of course, Anne was having a blast, too.

We stayed until we were sure the action was over, and that was the action for the morning. We fished a number of other great areas on the slack water, but only caught a large stingray, which gave Anne fits. We finally broke it off, and headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for lunch and conversation.

Once settled in at the Waterfront, JD, the owner told me he had 10 pounds of stone crabs that I could have if I wanted them. I accepted without the blink of an eye. They were jumbos, and were beautiful claws. The last two seasons have been very poor, and it was hard to find them anywhere. I was thrilled to have some.

It was the perfect end to a long, fun, and great week with lots of super folks. And, it was certainly great to be out there working, again. Next week is pretty busy as well, including three days with more of my favorite folks, Dr. Ron and Pat Kolata. I can't wait. Stay tuned. Ron's a good fisherman.

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 10/16/04

Finally! It seems we're beginning to get back to work down here. What began as a full week of seven days scheduled eventually became four trips scheduled for the week, but I only got to run three of them because of weather. I was happy to have what I had, though, after not working for so long.

First up on Monday was my friend Steven O'Rourke, and his good friends Stan Wray, and Steve Gardener, all of London. Steve O'Rourke is in the Fire Service and owns a couple of tackle shops in London. His friend Steve fishes professionally for England. Stan is also in the Fire Service. We had all gotten together on Saturday evening for a Bar-B-Que, and had a blast with them. Of course, we talked a lot about the upcoming Monday trip, and now it was time to fish.

We had the perfect tide just two days before the new moon, and I just knew the boys would do well. We headed to Picnic Island for bait, and got a great variety of small to large pinfish, and some small shiners. I was really just mainly interested in large pinfish that I could slice and dice. Soon we were off to chase reds.

As we approached the area I wanted to fish I could see a boat just getting set up on the flat. I thought, and hoped, it was a good friend whom I had told about the fish there. As I got closer I could see that it was. He was having trouble finding the fish, so I went on ahead of him looking. Soon, we had the first redfish in the boat, followed quickly by a few more. My friend pulled on up near us to join the action, but after catching several fish, decided to leave for greener pastures. I was surprised, and in the hours that followed my boys from Britain boated more than 60 redfish in what was an absolutely crazy morning of fishing. For most of the morning they were catching doubles, triples, and even a couple of quadruples of redfish. It was awesome! It was a day of fishing I think they won't soon forget.

Tuesday, with a tide even better, the fishing was totally different for my first trip with Mark Shives and his freind Todd, of Lake Placid, Florida. We had been forced to cancel and reschedule our trips a number of times because of the hurricanes, and this was finally the day. Bait was once again easy, and we were at the first stop in short order.

But, what should have been another great bite, didn't materialize. We had to work for our fish, and I don't really know what the difference was. I think the main factor was that we had a front on our doorstep on Monday, and the fish ate so well on the front they didn't want to eat on the following day. Oh, Mark and Todd caught some nice fish, and missed plenty, too. But, it wasn't the high intensity action I had expected. We had a great time, tough, and they were great guys.

Thursday I was back onthe water for my first trip with Bruce Angier, and his lovely new wife Kiki. There's something very special about fishing with honeymooners! I hoped to put a good trip together for them, but that morning at the dock I talked with a couple of guides that had worked the day before, and the reports were grim. Hard fishing with little caught! As it turned out, even the bait the bait was tough, but we got plenty.

As my friends had predicted, the fishing was very tough. It had gotten progressively tougher each day of this week. Bruce and Kiki fished hard, and I hit hole after hole where we were on fish that wouldn't eat. We finally found some great trout action in a pothole toward the bottom of the tide, but that was it. We didn't boat a redfish or a snook that day. Kiki was pretty well worn out from their previous night's activities, and we headed home after the trout action. She was really beat!

It's frustrating when you can't get the fish to cooperate like you'd like, but there are a host of possible conditions that are affecting our fishing. One of the biggest is the fresh water intrusion that we're experiencing from the draining down of Lake Okeechobee after the hurricanes. We are seeing trillions of gallons per hour dump into our estuary down the Caloosahatchee River. We also, oddly enough have a tremendous amount of new-hatch bait like shiners and threadfin herring virtually everywhere you go, right now. There is so much bait in the water I'm surprised we can get anything to eat! Then, there is the effect of weather as it comes and goes.

As we get into next week the tides are really awful; long, slow outgoing tides for most of the week. I expect the fishing with continue tough for most of next week, as well. Time will tell. The good news is that I have a very full week, and there should be lots to talk about. Stay tuned.

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