Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
June 27, 2005
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 6/25/05 by Capt. Butch Rickey

It was another week of rainy weather. What’s new? We had a freak low pressure front sag down over the middle of the state and lay there for the first part of the week, and although it’s moved into the Atlantic, we are still under its influence. In addition, it’s been a slow June. I’ve talked to a number of guides this week who say they’re also having a very slow month.

First up on Sunday was my old friend John Hitt. We met at 6:30, and headed straight out toward Redfish Pass, where I knew there would be plenty of bait that wouldn’t take long to catch. Knowing the snook should be on the beach, we wanted to try to be the first boat out there. We got bait quickly, and were on our way, but my friend Kelly Kaminski was already there and on the magic spot.

We were able to also fish the spot without getting too close, and it was action from the get-go. We had a good bite going without having to do any chumming. But, the snook did a good job of messing with us. We both missed a lot of fish for some reason, but caught plenty, too. Kelly’s guys were steady catching, too. I noticed that although the beach is very different since hurricane Charlie, the mean average snook seems to be a bit larger this summer.

Another thing that’s different. Every time I’ve been out to fish the beaches this year, I’ve seen large barracuda cruising the beach. This day was no different. Kelly showed us a snook head that was left after a cuda ate his customer’s fish. Shortly afterward, I noticed the fish had joined us, and was laying just off the side of the boat in about three feet of water. That cuda had to be 8 feet long! It’s the largest one I’ve ever seen. I was just a monster. If I hadn’t known we had one in the area already, I would have mistaken it for a tarpon, at first.

So, John and I had a blast catching snook on the beach that morning. Best we could figure we boated around 40, and probably missed just as many. We decided to head inside to see how the conditions were on the flats before calling it a day. We wanted to try to find some redfish and invite a couple home for dinner. But, the flats were still such a mess with floating islands of seaweed, we literally couldn’t fish. We tried for a while, but our attempts were frustrated by the conditions and a tide that had quit moving. We called it a day, and a fun Fathers’ Day it had been.

Monday morning brought the sound of rain and thunder that went on throughout the day. Dittos for Tuesday and Wednesday. With an onshore westerly breeze that usually means a reversed weather pattern for us on the west coast. I had been invited to fish with my friend Bruce Miller from his boat on Wednesday, but the early morning radar put a damper on that. There was lots of weather brewing up just offshore and heading our way. We’d have to go another day.

Thursday the weather broke enough for me to get a trip in with Brian Rush, and his two sons Justin and Skylar. Skylar is the avid fisherman of the three. Justin, twenty-four, is in the Air Force, and about to head to Iraq. This trip was for him.

After another round of rains, I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as bait or fishing went. I decided to stop at Tarpon Bay, since I’d heard from a friend that he’d gotten great bait there over the previous weekend. Kelly was on the flat chumming, but didn’t have any whitebait, yet. We took up position talking distance away and went to work. It took a long time to get the first shiner in the boat. Too long! We stayed with it, and finally caught a couple dozen with lots of work. Kelly wasn’t having much luck, either. Finally, I decided to head to Redfish Pass to finish with bait. I was concerned about getting a spot to fish on the beach, as I knew the fishing in the Sound would be very tough.

Bait at Redfish Pass was quick and easy, and we were soon on our way to the beach. The water on the outside was almost flat, with just small ground swells, and it was a nice ride to the fishing. Given that we were running late (by my schedule), I was shocked that we were the first boat there. We got set up on our spot, and it was snook on from the first cast! It became evident that Skylar was indeed a fisherman. He quickly got the hang of the circle hooks, and wasn’t missing many fish. Justin was having a hard time getting the hang of it, but was having fun trying as Brian and I razzed him after each miss. The boys were having a blast. Especially Brian.

After catching around 40 snook and 1 trout on the beach, we all decided we wanted to go and at least try for a quick redfish before the tide quit running. As we made our final approach to the flat we were going to fish, the Yamaha went into alarm. We were overheated. We had apparently picked up a big ball of seaweed on the lower unit, blocking the water intake to the motor. She apparently got pretty hot, as it took a long time before it came out of alarm mode. Once it did, we trolled onto the flat, and set lines, including two cut pinfish rigs and one shiner under a float. After one move, we hit a beautiful redfish of 10 plus pounds. Justin got the honors. But, as he got the fish to the boat, he forgot what he’d learned earlier in “steering school”, and let the fish swim into the lower unit and wrap itself up. It quickly cut the line, and was free. We counted it as a catch, since he’d gotten it to the boat, but he took a lot of flack from the three of us about letting that big red get away.

A short time later Skylar boated a nice snook on the live bait rig. Our wind and tide had now died, and we were literally projectile sweating. The heat was overwhelming. Feeling sure that it was probably over, we opted to turn on the air conditioner and head for the ramp. We also had storms brewing all around us that aided us with the decision, and we just made it in under the weather. I did what cleaning up I did in the rain.

It had been a great day with some great guys. I had met Brian years ago when my old bud Mark Bess and I were fishing together a lot. I had been booked, and referred him to Mark, who showed him a great time. I met him that morning as Mark and I caught bait together. I told Brian that when Justin returned safely next year, I would take him on a trip on me, as a token of my appreciation of his service to our country. Brian said Justin’s response was, “Awesome!”

It was a short, but great work week. Looks like we’re still well on track for a record wet June.

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