Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida
Capt. Butch Rickey
October 31, 2007
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fort Myers Weather Forecast, FL (33908)
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FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 10/27/07
by
Capt. Butch Rickey
As the week began I had five trips on the books. But, by the time the week was over that had been reduced to two days. That's more the norm than the exception in the fishing business. Weather can be our biggest enemy, as it was this week.
I was to fish with my long-time friend Dr. Ron Kolata on Monday. But, as I waited at the ramp that morning Pat pulled in and told me that Ron was so sick he couldn't get out of bed. Ron is an avid angler, and we love fishing together, and one thing was for sure. If he didn't show up for a fishing date, he was very sick. I was bummed for Ron because we had a great tide, the fishing has been great, and I knew we were in for a great day.
I met my old friend Mike McMahon, of St. Leonard, Maryland, Tuesday morning anticipating a great day. We headed over to the B Span flats, where bait proved a bit illusive. The first thing that showed up were balihoo. I managed to catch quite a few in the net, and saved about a dozen to use for redfish. Before the day was over I was wishing I had a well full. We moved twice on the flat, but didn't really score a good load of shiners until the sun was well up. We eventually loaded the Talon's ample well, and were off.
There were quite a few boats out, and I was glad to see as we neared the area I wanted to fish, that there was no one around. I made a long approach on the trolling motor, and Mike and I fished our way down the shoreline to our final destination. We were immediately on fish. The first two fish were snook and redfish. We had the first Slam out of the way in no time. We had a great bite going, and Mike was having a blast. I was having a blast, as well.
FALL FISHING HEATS UP!
We had begun using shiners. Once into the action I cut one of the balihoo into little steaks about an inch long. Man, the redfish just went nuts for those little morsels. We had several multiple hookups, and before we knew it were about out of ballyhoo. I won't be letting any go next time I catch them.
FALL FISHING HEATS UP!
We never left our spot. We spent the whole morning right there until the tide was done. When it was all over, Mike had boated some 25 redfish, 5 snook, 6 speckled trout, 6 snapper, and collected some negative style points for a couple of catfish! Mike's only disappointment was loosing a great snook right at the boat. Mike told me that he was worn out, and that he'd caught more fish than he needed. We celebrated our great day with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant before heading back home. There's just no better way to top off a day on the water in this neck of the woods!
FALL FISHING HEATS UP!
Wednesday was promising to be another great day with some more of my favorite people, Darin and Julie May, and their four year old son, Carson. I've known them since they were married on Sanibel years ago, and they are a wonderful young couple. We've always had fun, no matter how the fishing is going, but having Carson in the boat is really cool. This is Carson's second trip.
A front that had been approaching for several days was now on our door step. It was at least partly responsible for the great bite for Mike on Tuesday. We would have to keep an eye on the weather.
We headed off to B Span again for bait, where it came very quickly. But, unlike the day before, the balihoo didn't show up. We would be "hooless". We did catch one ladyfish in the net, though. And, reds love their ladies!
I headed back to my spot knowing the fish would be right there. And, they were. I had resurrected an old short spinning rod from the graveyard, and put a new Mitchell Avocet 2500 on it, filled with ten pound Power Pro. It was for Carson to fish with, so that if he happened to have his rig ripped from his little hands, I wouldn't be loosing one of my hi-dollar rigs.
Well, don't you know Carson caught the first two fish! A snook and a redfish. He's so darned cute, and he's the perfect little student, meticulously trying to do exactly what I showed him. I generally discourage parents from bringing kids that young on the boat, or a number of reasons. One is that their attention span is so short, and they're easily bored. Another is that they generally just don't have the strength or motor skills to handle snook and redfish. But, Carson is definitely the exception.
FALL FISHING HEATS UP!
Even though we didn't have ballyhoo, we had a good bite. It wasn't quite as good as the day before, but it was good. I think the fish had eaten so well the day before they were still digesting their treasures. Darin and Julie missed their share of fish, too. But, that's to be expected when you only get to do this kind of fishing once a year. Still, Darren, Julie, and Carson boated a half dozen redfish and half dozen or more snook, as well as the ever present catfish, and a stingray.
FALL FISHING HEATS UP!
The weather was deteriorating, and I wanted to try to get on another bite before things got ugly. The wind was around to the southeast, and was due to come around to the south and kick. The east side of the sound is not the place to be going home from with a big south wind blowing, so we crossed over to the Sanibel side before the wind got any higher. Now, we could make our trip home in the lee of Sanibel, protected most of the way from the higher south wind.
From the time we anchored on our spot and made our first cast, we were on fish. The first one was another redfish. But, after that it was all snook. As the May fishing team caught snook after snook, I kept one eye on the fish and one eye on the sky. It was growing very threatening, and I was not comfortable with staying any longer. We could have caught more snook, no doubt, but Darren and Julie were in agreement that it was time to head home. We decided we'd forgo a trip to the Waterfront in favor of getting safely back to the dock.
FALL FISHING HEATS UP!
Carson was a crackup. When we were running, Darin would cradle him between his legs and arms, and Carson would go limp and fall asleep almost as soon as I was on plane. He slept all the way back to the ramp, even through the one rough section of water we traversed. Talk about feeling safe in Daddy's arms!
We beat the weather in. It hit about an hour after I got everything cleaned up. It had been a great day. But, I knew the passing front spelled bad news for fishing Thursday and Friday. I knew that even if the wind was tolerable, the fish weren't about to eat. Yes. All of us guides really need to work. It's been a tough year. But, I'm not one who can take customers out there knowing before I leave the dock the fish aren't going to eat. Especially if it's a new customer.
My party for Thursday, Capt. Randy Mosley and his wife, were new customers, and I didn't want to take them out there and beat them up in the wind and catch little or nothing to boot. Randy knew what I knew, and was in complete agreement. We will fish this coming spring.
Same thing for Friday. I didn't want to take my friend Dale Grantman and his two friends out in wind and rain for no fish, especially when Dale has the option to reschedule. So, we set a new date in November.
The week was made even better in that I was able to join Ron and Pat Kolata for dinner at their condo Tuesday night, Darin and Julie May for dinner at Pinchers on Wednesday night, and Mike and Jo McMahon for dinner at Traders on Sanibel on Friday night. If you visit Sanibel and haven't been to Traders, you've got to check it out on your next trip. It's awesome!
Well, the front that spoiled the end of the week is still hanging around. And now, we have a tropical storm headed in our direction that will be affecting our weather in the next day or two. So, what will happen this coming week is anyone's guess. I expect it will be more juggling trips trying to get a few descent weather days!
Be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!
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