Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
July 1, 2006
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 7/1/06 by Capt. Butch Rickey

After a short vacation I was back on the water for one trip this week. It was a good day.

My Thursday trip was with my old friend Bob McGuire, of Line Lexington, Pennsylvania. His company has been working him hard, and he was beyond ready for a fishing trip. I hadn’t run the Maverick in quite some time, and thought this would be a good time to do so. I met Bob at the ramp at six o’clock, and we were off through the darkness, headed for the bar off Marker 32.

As we arrived we could see bait spraying everywhere. Knowing much of it was threadfin herring, we anchored and began to chum, just to pull the shiners out of the mix and make them easy to catch. We were loaded to the gills in three throws, and ready to fish. The question was, where/ We had a slow crawling outgoing tide in the bay for the whole morning, which meant that if we were forced to fish inside, we would no doubt struggle. The movement would be almost imperceptible.

I had expected an onshore breeze, which would make fishing on the beaches impossible, but as we wrapped up our bait catching, I realized the we had a nice easterly breeze which would mean the gulf should be pretty flat. The one other unknown was the brown algae that has been in the news, lately. There was so much of it blown in with the last tropical weather, that it now laying rotting and stinking on many of the beaches. Word is many staying on Ft. Myers Beach have checked out and gone elsewhere. We wouldn’t know the condition of the beach until we got out there, but if the water wasn’t too trashed up, that would be our best option for action.

So, we made the run. As we pulled up to a stretch of beach it looked pretty good. Most of the seaweed was washed well up on the sand and the water was clear. I had planned to move slowly along the beach on the trolling motor until we hit fish, but Bob’s first bait was smashed by a snook, and we never looked back from there. The bite was on, and I quickly got the Maverick anchored.

Bob had a blast for the next three hours until at around ten o’clock, in the heating of the day, the bite came to an end. I knew that once we were back inside, we’d have a tough time catching anything. The ride back into the Sound was much needed. We had been cooking for the last hour or so, as we lost our breeze. The wind on our wet bodies was wonderful, and gave us a chance to dry out.

Back inside, there was a boat parked close enough to my first choice of spots to keep me from trying to fish it, so we moved on. I decided to move closer to the mouth of the river in hopes of finding some water moving. A lot of chumming revealed the presence of a lot of fish, but they weren’t about to eat a bait with a hook in it. It was near noon, now, and we were cooking. I have to admit I was happy when I heard Bob say, “Butchie! We’ve had a fantastic day! Let’s head in.” Man! It felt so good to put that Maverick on step and get that wind in our faces! It had been a great day with one of my all-time favorite fishing partners.

Many of your regular readers have seen the smiling face of my good friend Dr. John Hitt on these pages many times. I know a lot of my customers from the Orlando area follow John’s career in the local news and papers. I’m sad to say that John suffered a heart attack last week, but very happy to say that he survived, and is doing well. Still, I ask that those of you who believe in the power of prayer remember him in your prayers.

I’ll be back next week with a few trips to report on. Until then. Tight Lines!

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