Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
July 30, 2005
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 7/30/05 by Capt. Butch Rickey

Although it was a short week of three work days, and a week of miserable tides, it was certainly a memorable one for me. I met a couple of the nicest folks you'd ever want to meet, and had some tough, but fun days with new friends. Read on.

I had Monday and Tuesday scheduled with Chris Sanders, who first signed my guestbook back in 2001, I think. Chris put himself through college at UCF as a guide. He's a serious fisherman, and has been a successful tournament fisherman. I know! You're wondering, just as I did, why he needs me! Well, Chris knows Tampa Bay and surrounding areas like the back of his hand, having grown up there. But, as a very successful public speaker, he is on the road over two hundred days a year, and in the five years he's been here in the Ft. Myers area, has had little time to try to learn our waters. He hired me to give him a crash course on fishing the Sound, so to speak. He had been following my escapades on my website for years, and decided I was the man for the job.

I'm so glad he did. We not only had a great two days on the water, but I sense that I have made a life-long friend for what I have left of it. Chris was mainly interested in learning, and was not worried about catching bait, which was a welcome reprieve for my testy back. We tied on some DOA's to play with when we got the urge, and went exploring.

I began in Tarpon Bay, and area that offers lots of fishing, but which I seldom frequent any more because of the long, arduous manatee zones. We putzed around in there for a good hour or so, and worked around the oyster bars there, but didn't catch a thing on the DOA's. Chris had some hits, but didn't manage to hook up.

We had a falling tide, which I hate to fish, but like for teaching because it exposes all the features around the mangrove keys, oyster bars, etc. So, figuring our best shot at catching something was past, we made our way around the Sound. As we went, I pointed out what made each spot a desirable place to fish, and what made so much of the area undesirable. We talked about tides, moons, winds, seasons, etc., but the best part was Chris sharing stories of his adventures over the years in the Tampa Bay area. It was great fun! And, Chris said it was exactly what he needed to get him going on the right track. We finished up the day at the Waterfront Restaurant over a great lunch.

Chris decided we would do some fishing on Tuesday. For one thing, he was interested in my techniques for chumming and fishing redfish on the open flats. So, we headed to where I had last gotten bait; just north of Flamingo Channel. Although there were tons of seaweed floating everywhere, we did some chumming, and were delighted to load the Talon with bunches of shiners and pinfish of all sizes. We didn't dilly-dally, as the clock was running on the tide. I knew we had a very narrow window of opportunity to catch some reds on that falling water.

Fortunately, once we were at our first and only redfish stop on the tide, we had action quickly. But, as expected, it was short-lived. We boated 3 nice reds before the first spot dried up as the water receded. I decided to try another spot that usually has redfish cruising on the falling tide, but we weren't able to get anything going there. So, we shifted gears. We headed into Ding Darling Sanctuary.

We didn't have much air moving, and as soon as we were behind the cover of the mangroves, it was brutally hot. So, I tried to put us on a few fish near the outside where we could still get a little moving air. The big female snook weren't home, but the boys were, and we caught about 20 small, but feisty snook on our live shiners. Finally, we headed back deeper into the sanctuary, where we got another nice redfish and a grouper. The heat, the sun overhead, and tide had served to shut things down. It was time for lunch, and Chris was thinking about two big palm trees that he had left to plant when he got home. So, it was back to the Waterfront to cool down and rehydrate before parting company.

I thoroughly enjoyed my two days with Chris, and inside or outside of work, I look forward to spending time with him as our schedules permit.

Thursday was my first time out with Cal Santarelli, who is a VP with Allied Engineering, the firm heading up the new Sanibel Causeway project, here. Cal's daughter Chelsea and son Dane were here visiting from California, and he wanted to get them out for a day on the water. I did explain to Cal that the tides were awful, and the fishing would likely be, as well. He was willing to take his chances. I had been repeatedly awakened by the rumble of thunder all through the night, and the storms were still around just skirting the coastline. I wasn't at all sure we'd even get to get a full morning of fishing in.

We headed to the flats north of Flamingo Channel once again, to see if our bait was still there. It was, and with Dane chumming to the rumble of thunder nearby, we quickly had more than enough for a day of fishing, even when one might expect a big bite. I didn't!

I certainly was hopeful though, we'd be able to put a handful of redfish into the boat. But, it was not to be. We had a very strange northerly breeze, that kept flipping about enough to make it all but impossible for me to do my kind of cut-bait fishing. We fished several premier spots without a fish in the boat. I was frustrated to say the least. Here I've got three folks dying in the intense heat and nothing going on!! Oh, we had four hits, I think, one of which was a snook, but no fish in the boat. Hence, nothing going on.

Finally, I decided it would be better to try to find something that would eat than to continue with nothing going on. We headed out to a trout flat where the trout fishing has been absolutely splendid for our conditions this summer, but even the trout weren't much interested. At this point, we didn't even have enough air moving to keep us on a drift. I had to use the trolling motor. Oh, we caught a few fish, but most were small, and we only managed two keepers. Tough!

We were running out of time and endurance, and the weather was definitely percolating. I didn't think we'd be able to stay out there too much longer in safety. We headed to the Sanctuary in hopes of finding some snook willing to eat. The gang did catch some snook, but we certainly didn't set the world on fire. And, I believe it was Dane that lost a nice one just off a mangrove outsell. The big snook cleaned his clock before he could blink his eyes. Don't think he'd ever experienced a hit quite like that one.

I could see the weather building quickly in what seemed to be all directions. Cal being a local boy, too, agreed that it was time to get going. And, by the time we got back to the ramp the weather was about on us. I apologized to Cal for the poor fishing, which I had predicted. He assured me that he had been on many fishing trips where there was little to nothing caught. Doesn't make it any easier, though, when you're the guide.

Well, that's how it went. It was a great week, but surely a tough fishing week. I talked to quite a few other guides, and predictably, they all reported the same kind of results. Once Mother Nature gives marching orders to her creatures, there's not much mere mortals can do to change their minds.

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