Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
May 21, 2000
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

FISHING REPORT FOR PINE ISLAND SOUND FOR THE WEEK ENDING 4/29/00

It seems that every week I'm whining and complaining about the weather, in particular, the wind. Well, I'm sorry, but I guess I'm going to do it again. Will these fronts ever stop coming? Will the wind ever quit blowing? It's beginning to look doubtful!

On a positive note, every trip this week was with friends/customers that I have fished with before, and they're all great. It was sort of like old home week.

First up for the week were Scott (Gib) and Colleen (Col) Gibney of Hoboken, New Jersey. I just love these guys. They're the most fun you can have in public without being arrested! Col is the official Queen of the BarHopp'R fleet! She's just gorgeous, and Gib ain't a bad looking stud, either! I was hoping for a descent day, so we could duplicate the day we had last year, but we wound up with a southwest wind a 25 knots. It was blowing!

We headed to Picnic Island for bait, and managed to get plenty. We were off! On top of the wind, we had a miserable tide through the morning hours. In fact, we had miserable, flat, no water moving tides in the morning nearly all week. Because of the southwest wind, the water level was up much more than the NOAH forecast. That meant the trees, bars, flats, etc. were be covered early. I hoped that would work to our advantage on the stagnant tide.

Gib and Col worked hard, as did I, fighting a really nasty wind, and put 8 or 9 nice snook in the boat, including several keepers, 1 big redfish of 27 inches, and 1 trout. They got their Slam! We had hit several beautiful spots that I knew were full of fish, and had broken up the day with a wonderful Waterfront Restaurant lunch. We also made plans to meet at the Seafood Center and Crabhouse for dinner on Tuesday evening. We'd made a great day out of a nasty one.

Tuesday morning things had moderated just slightly for my two boat trip with Tom Baird and his friends Fred Watson, Carl Steele, and Steve Tipps, a super bunch of guys from Signal Mountain, Tennessee. The wind was down to around 20. By mid-day, it had flipped around to the northwest. Capt. John Shearer was the number two boat, and he took Carl and Steve. We stopped at Picnic Island for bait, but wound up finishing up at Chino Island before we had enough to fish.

Early in the trip Tom and Fred boated four snook and lost or missed quite a few. Once the tide was right, I headed to one of my favorite flats to work on the redfish, and began chumming. When I arrived and went to work, the wind was just south of west. Just as the action got going my friend Capt. Rick DePaiva pulled in on our port side. Rick had no more than anchored his boat than the wind shifted to the northwest, blowing us off our fish, and Rick right around onto them. Rick immediately got a good bite going with cut ladyfish. I was forced to move and resituate my boat around behind and to Rick's port side to get back into the fish. Once we did that, everyone was catching. I called John and the boys and told them to come join us for the fun. John, Carl and Steve joined us on my port side, and although they caught several reds, they didn't enjoy the bite that Rick and I had. We finished the day with 14 or 15 big redfish to 12 pounds, and a couple of stingrays thrown in to keep us honest. I was good to see Tom again, but I must admit I wasn't in the best of spirits, and I hope I didn't get on Tom's and Fred's nerves.

My spirits were lifted that afternoon when I found my wife had come down from Sarasota to spend a few days with me. That evening we met Gib and Col Gibney at the Seafood Center and Crab House, and had a fabulous evening with lots of laughs, and great food and drinks. The best part of having my little workhouse right near the ramp now, is that I can for the first time spend time with my friends and customers after the fishing trip. It's great because we get a chance to get to know each other better. I'm usually busy baiting, typing, coaching, and so on, and just don't have a lot of time to socialize. Being able to meet my customers outside of the fishing environment gives them a chance to see me as something other than their coach. I love it, but it's really eating into my web time.

Wednesday, I had a wonderful couple named Jim and Dee Vaigl, of Reston, Virginia, for their first BarHopp'R trip. The wind that morning was around to 15 plus from the northeast, and I knew that meant the front had passed, and the bite would be very slow. At that point, I had no idea just how tough, or I might have been tempted to cancel the trip. If I had, though, I would have missed a day with some really nice folks.

We got bait at Chino Island. I think it was during the bait catching that Dee told me she could just sit and stare at the end of a pole all day long. Unfortunately, that's about what it turned into! No matter what I did, I just couldn't get a bite going. I felt sure that I just stayed with it, the fish would eventually eat, but they didn't. We caught one trout, one stingray, and one catfish, and lost one snook, all morning long. The secondary culprit was the tide. It laid still and didn't move all day long. There was no water movement until very late in the evening, long after we were gone. When you couple that with a passing front and north winds, you have a formula for fishing disaster. It's what I call a golfing day. Jim and Dee took it all in stride, and didn't complain the first bit. We actually had plenty of time to chat, and we had a very enjoyable day on the water. It was just very short on fish!

To make a point about the tides, the tide that followed on Thursday was so poor that I scheduled the day as an off day. I could have booked the day many times over, but just had to be out there flogging the water with customers who want to catch fish when I know there will be no bite. Thursday night Jean and I had dinner with Harald Tollrian, my German friend from the previous week, and his lovely lady Karen and son Daniel. After dinner we came back to the fish camp to visit for a while, and I gave Harald some snook and redfish I had just caught. It was a great evening.

The week ended with my friend Carl Pearce, of Venice, Florida, and his brother Steven, and a friend. Somehow, the wind had come around the compass overnight, and was now out of the west at around 15. I wanted to get Carl and the boys out on the Stickbeach, since that's where the majority of the snook are, but I knew it would be rough. I hoped it would settle down by the time we'd caught bait at Picnic Island, but it didn't. We made our way out to the beach in some pretty bumpy water. The bite was slow. We boated 6 to 8 snook and a trout, and we were paying a comfort price for it.

I headed inside to flat water and hopefully a redfish bite on a flat somewhere. I did my usually chumming routine, but could not attract the first redfish. All that would come to the chum were stingrays. In fact, the rays were everywhere. After giving it plenty of time to work, I decided to get on the pole and see if I could get eyeball to eyeball with some fish. To my surprise, there were no individual, free swimming, or schooled redfish on the flat. Every single fish I saw was following one of the big rays cruising the flats. The rays would have one to three fish following. It was peculiar behavior that we rarely see here, but it at least gave us a chance to sight-fish the big reds. The wind was making it impossible to get more than one shot at a fish, but almost at the end of the flat I spotted a ray that had a big red on it. I told Carl where and how to cast, and he executed a perfect cast. A few seconds went by, and I was thinking that I couldn't believe Carl's perfect cast went ignored, when all of a sudden I saw the line tighten and heard the drag go. Fish on! It had just taken the big red a while to decide to eat. It was a perfect, top of the slot 27 inch fish, and we were all as happy as Carl was at the catch. There's something special about seeing a fish, making the perfect cast, and having everything hold together for the catch. It was a great way to end our day, and although we hadn't caught lots of fish, we had caught some nice fish, gotten our Slam, and had a great time. Isn't that what it's all about?

As I left my fish camp that morning, Jean told me she'd probably be bald when I got home. I found the idea that one's hair could fall out in one day, for any reason including chemo treatments. She assured me it could. Sure as hell, when I arrived home Friday afternoon, Jean had only a little peach fuzz left, and for the first time in thirty-one years, I saw my beautiful wife's perfectly round head. She had taken on the look of a little Buddhist monk. The whole thing doesn't seem to be bothering her, and her attitude is great. My thanks to all of you out there who continue to pray for her.

FISHING REPORT FOR PINE ISLAND SOUND FOR THE WEEK ENDING 5/6/00

The work week began with Sunday, and made for a long week, but it was a week filled with old friends and some pretty good fishing.

Somehow, I let Matt Steinman, of Atlanta, Georgia, talk me into working Sunday, since it was the only day I had for fish with Matt and his brothers Steve and Andy. I had fished with Matt before, but not his brothers. I generally hate working weekends, but we got started early, and it wasn't too busy. We had a brisk 15 knot breeze out of the north, signaling the passing of yet another front. I hoped as we left the docks that the fish would eat. We chummed up bait at Picnic Island, and we were off .

We didn't find a roaring good bite, but the Steinmans were a lot of fun, and we caught enough fish to keep most people more than happy. The boys caught 5 or 6 nice reds to 26 inches, broke off a couple, and missed a few, too. They also got at least a half dozen snook, one trout a big stingray, and a nurse shark. Of course, we had fun busting each other when someone pulled the trigger too quickly and missed a fish, but by the time we had fished the tide, I was glad we had gone. It had turned out to be a pretty nice Sunday.

Monday saw both BarHopp'R I and II in service as Capt. Rick DePaiva and I did a two boat trip I had really been looking forward to with my friends Rich and Liz Lewis, of Orlando. I had fished with Rich and Liz a couple of years ago, along with their friends Matt and Brenda, and had a great time. This year, Rich and Liz had a large group of friends all sharing a home on North Captiva, and six of them wanted to go on the trip. Rick used BarHopp'R II, and took Matt and Brenda and their two friends.

Since we had to run all the way to Safety Harbor to pick them up, I decided to gamble on catching bait way north, and after picking up the crew we all headed north to Cayo Costa. We found beautiful, big, plentiful shiners, far superior to any bait I had seen in the southern end of the Sound, and far easier to catch. It wasn't long before we had both boats full of shiners and were on our way. I decided right then and there I'd keep going there for bait as long as it remained there. It was Rick's first time in a tunnel boat, and he was just amazed at the room and stability of BarHopp'R II as he easily accommodated four anglers.

Well, we all had a blast and caught lots of fish, although we had a pretty stiff 15 to 20 blowing out of the east. That made it the perfect day to start on the outside for snook. There were, of course, lots of trout on the beach, too, if you fished off the beach a little, so it was easy for Rick to keep his four anglers in lots of action. Rich and Liz caught around a dozen nice snook, and half dozen nice trout. Rick's gang of four caught a couple dozen big trout and one nice redfish. Once we ran back inside, Rich and Liz caught several more snook, and ended the day with several nice keepers to nearly 29 inches.

The Lewis party wanted to keep enough fish to keep everyone fed for the week, so Rich and Liz kept some nice snook and trout, and Rick's gang kept nearly 20 big trout. When we arrived back at the dock we looked like a commercial fishing operation unloading our catch. It had been a great day, and wonderful to see the Lewis again.

As I left the dock to pick up my friends and loyal customers Kevin Haag and Jim Dougall, of Cape Coral, at the Waterfront Restaurant, I could see that the breezes were swinging a little more southerly, and hoped that the effect on the fishing would be positive. After picking up Kev and Jim, we headed north to Cayo Costa again. I'm sure Kevin wondered why we were running so far for bait, but I assured him it would be worth it. It was, and we were soon exploring Stickbeach for some new snook spots.

The beach was completely rearranged by all the late season near misses and winter storms, and is badly silted in as well. The result is that not one piece of wood is where is used to be, and we're having to learn it all over again. We've had so few days when the weather would allow us to get out there that at this point none of us who fish it are very familiar with it. On this day, we had a good bite, especially trout. Kev and Jim boated more than 20 big trout to four pounds, and 6 to 8 snook to 28 inches. Once things slowed on the outside, we headed inside to try for some redfish. With some chumming we soon had a good bite going and the boys boated 12 to 15 redfish to 27 inches, and broke off 3 big stingrays. Now, that's a pretty good day of fishing with multiple Slams!

I left the dock Wednesday morning knowing we had a great tide and some good weather, and feeling good about the prospects for the day. I was with Russ Hubbard, who's name you've read many times on these pages, and who is one of my most loyal customers and friends, and his customers Andrew Kuperman, of Ft. Myers, and Jeff Stevens, of Naples.

We made the long tide to Cayo Costa and were soon baited up and on our way to the Stickbeach. The bite was slow and the boys only boated around 6 snook, 6 trout, and a mackerel. While we were fishing I kept watching tarpon roll only 100 to 200 yards behind up. They were everywhere. As we weighed anchor to head inside for redfish, I asked Russ if he'd like to catch a tarpon. He quickly assured me that he'd love to hook a couple and jump them, but had no interest in fighting one to the boat. It's too much work. I assured Russ that our chances of doing more that jumping one of the silver kings on 12 pound snook tackle were slim, anyway.

We pulled near the first pod and Russ launched one of the huge shiners we had in front of them. Boom! The line snatched tight, the drag let out a scream of shear panic, and the rod lurched toward the water as the tarpon of around 110 pounds launched herself skyward like a Polaris missile leaving the bowels of a Trident sub. She spit the hook, and Russ was happy with a successful launch.

We got back on a new pod and tossed another big bait. It was immediately consumed by another poon of around 115 pounds. Skyward she went completely out of the water, but she didn't get rid of the hook. She jumped again and took off southward down the beach. We were still connected and loosing line of the Daiwa Emblem Z 3000 quickly. I fired the engine and idled toward the fish so Russ could get some valuable line back. Russ had been trying to get rid of the fish, but at this point realized that he might have to fight her to the finish, or at least until the 30 pound leader or #1 Mustad short shank hook pulled or straightened. She jumped a third time, and still was connected. Russ just couldn't shake her. Russ had beaten down lots of tarpon, and know how to do it. Even though only armed with this light snook rig which was mounted to a St. Croix 7 ft. Premier rod, Russ quickly had the fish turned over and at the boat. He broke her at boatside, and I guess the sting sent her into the air for a fourth jump. We headed inside for redfish, and what was still the best to come.

Once on the flats and chumming, we had a heck of a redfish bite. It was hard to keep track but the boys all figured they caught at least ten reds a piece, for 30 or more, and we hooked and broke four stingrays. It had been a fantastic day of fishing, and Russ had gotten a Grand Slam. I forgot to ask him if he'd ever gotten the Grand Slam before, but it's not easy to do. Now, how's that for a great 50 fish day of fishing??

What a difference a day can make. Bill Alexander was over for two days of fishing for the first time in a while. Seems every time Bill is scheduled to fish with me, the weather turns nasty. This time the weather would cooperate, but the fish wouldn't. Oh, we caught some fish Thursday, but after the spectacular bite of the day before, it was very slow. Bill had his friend Jeff Hill with him, whom I'd referred recently to Capt. Tom Stephens in Sarasota for a day of cobia fishing from Jeff's boat. Jeff told me it was his best guided trip ever, and he caught 8 (I think) nice cobia. Of course, I had visions of making one of our two days his best trip ever, but the fish had other ideas.

We got our bait at Cayo Costa once again, and although I chummed hard, and tried every trick in my book, Jeff and Bill only caught 5 redfish and 4 snook. I've had many people tell me that would be a great day of fishing, but I wasn't happy with it. But, compared to Friday, it was a great day. Talking about Friday's trip is a bit like stepping into the confessional and talking about all your sins. We had beautiful bait, and decided to stay on the east side of the Sound to try to get something going, but by day's end we had only caught 3 snook and lost 2. Tommy's best trip title is safe for now. Bill, Jeff and I did have a great evening and dinner Thursday night at the Seafood Center and Crab House, just up the street from my fish camp.

And, that's the way it went; four days of great fishing, dropping off to very slow at the end of the week. And, as a preview of next week, the slow bite lasted through Monday, then things heated back up again. Go figure! I guess it's just further proof of why they call it fishing, not catching.

FISHING REPORT FOR PINE ISLAND SOUND FOR THE WEEK ENDING 5/13/00

This week started slow, and was plagued with some mechanical problems, but ended with a bang. Read on!

My good friend and loyal customer Bob Woodward was first up and last up for the week. He was to fish Monday with his friend Jack, and Saturday with his lovely daughter Maura. In all the times we've fished together we've not had a bad trip. As I alluded in my last report, this would be the first stinker. But, Saturday would make up for the stinker.

We ran north and got beautiful bait, then down to the snook beaches. The bite was non-existent! We came inside and tried to get it going on the flats, with the same results. I worked my butt off, and we fished hard, but the fish just wouldn't eat. Bob and Jack finished the day with 3 snook and 1 trout. It was a nice weather day, with a lousy tide in the AM, but a descent tide in the afternoon, but the fish just didn't care. It was every guide's worst nightmare!

Tuesday was scheduled with Steve Ladd, of Palm Beach Gardens, one of my favorite customers. Steve is possessed by the fishing devil. I can't think of too many guys who love to fish more than Steve, or who have as much fun at it, no matter what's happening. I was to pick Steve up at Jensen's dock, but fate had other ideas. As I ran through the skinny water behind York Island, I noticed my water pressure dropped to zero. That sometimes happens in tunnel boats in shallow water with the jackplate all the way up. But, usually the pressure will bounce around off zero. A few seconds later the overheat alarm went off, and the motor shut down, and I knew the pressure reading was for real. I checked everything out, and there was no trash on the intake, and no water coming out of the piss-tube. It appeared that I had lost a water pump. Damn!

Fortunately, my best bud Mark Bess was fishing that morning, and even more fortunately, he took the shortcut behind York Island, too. I was on the cell phone trying to call Steve to tell him of my problems when I saw Mark come through the cut. I wasn't able to get through to Steve, and knew he would be standing on the dock at Jensen's wondering where I was. Mark stopped to see what was up, and wound up towing me back to the Waterfront Restaurant, which was closed for several days. I off-loaded all my tackle onto Mark's boat and we were off to Jensen's to try to let Steve know what happened and reschedule him for the next day. Mark was fishing with Bob McIntire, a great guy who Mark and I have shared as customer and friend for some time, now, and his friend Bob. Bob fishes with which ever one of us has a day open when he calls.

Sure enough, Steve was standing at the dock when we arrived, and knew immediately something was amiss. I introduced him to everyone, told him I'd see him in the morning, and wished he could come with us. Steve said he'd rent a boat for the rest of the day.

We headed up to Cayo Costa to show Mark where I'd been getting this fabulous bait. Bait was easy, and we were soon off to the east side of the Sound to fish the islands around Rocky Channel area. Expecting another terrible day, I showed Mark where I'd managed to catch the only snook the day before. Much to our surprise and delight, the hole was full of redfish, and we sat right there and caught a dozen or so on live and cut baits. We also got a nurse shark.

Once the bite finally slowed, we headed south to a favorite high water spot and caught a few more reds, a couple of trout, and lost a snook. We headed back to the Waterfront in time to tow me back to the ramp, and give me time to get the boat to Smith Marine. Danny stayed late working on my boat, and found that the key which locks the impeller to the shaft had disappeared. He also repaired a couple of other minor problems, and finally sent me on my way around 7 PM. I thought I was ready for my trip with Steve on Wednesday morning.

Not so! I cranked the Yamaha that morning and saw the pressure gauge bounce up to 15 pounds. Good! I idled out the no wake zone and hit the throttle. The pressure rose to 15 pounds as I got up on step, but as soon as I did, it dropped to zero. I thought surely the gauge was playing tricks on me. I kept running. I'd had a problem similar to this long ago. When I ran slow for too long, the overheat alarm would come on. I'd have to let it cool, then I could continue on at cruise speeds. I slowed BarHopp'R I down to idle speed, and sure enough, she went into overheat. In addition, the piss-tube was barely passing water. It looked like a 90 year old man with prostrate problems trying to tinkle!! When she finally cooled, I was able to crank up and quickly run her back to the ramp. I called Steve and told him I'd pick him up at noon in BarHopp'R II, and headed for Smith Marine.

I hadn't fished out of BarHopp'R II in a while, and forgot what a nice boat it is to fish. I will always favor BarHopp'R I, as I've spent almost six years fishing from her. II is just different enough to keep me turned around wondering where things are sometimes, but it's much lighter, and actually rides better. It's much more utilitarian looking, as it has open gunwhales and is open under the rear deck, but she fishes very well.

I picked Steve up at noon as promised and we headed to Cayo Costa for bait. I wasn't sure the bait would be there so late in the day, but it was, and we got plenty without a problem. We headed to the hole where we'd caught all the reds the day before, but they were gone. We headed to another of my favorite north spots for snook, and managed 3 to 25 inches. From there we headed to a redfish flat and managed to get a bit going. Steve had a ball catching 14 of the bronze torpedoes. Steve is a real hoot when he's catching fish!

Thursday and Friday were reserved for John Eicher, of Orlando, his dad Chet, brother Scott, and friend Tim. Thursday we were facing a pretty lousy tide, and I decided that the Stickbeach and snook would be the best bet for getting a bite going. It was a good call, as the boys boated 12 to 15 snook, and 6 or more nice trout. Later, inside, we went for redfish, but the boys missed the only two hits we had. They did hook one stingray.

Friday, the tide was a bit better, and John told me they'd like to spend some time trying for redfish. I was certainly agreeable, as I just don't think you can beat the pull of a good red on light tackle, and they just never give up. We went and caught 8 to 10 snook and 3 trout early, while we were waiting on the tide to get right for redfishing, then moved to the reds at around 10:30 AM. It didn't take long with the beautiful bait we had to get a bite going. We all had a blast catching reds. Before it was over we had caught 15 - 16 redfish and were joined by Capts. John "Bubba" Shearer and Rick DePaiva, who shared in the fun.

It had been a great two days with four great guys. They worked me hard, and put me away wet, but it was a blast getting them into those fish.

Saturday was supposed to be my trip with Bob Woodward and his daughter Maura. I love fishing with them, and on our last trip I wore Maura out on the big redfish. After the Monday stinker with Bob, I couldn't wait to get out there and try to redeem myself. I was very disappointed when Bob told me Maura's flight was canceled due to bad weather up north, and she wouldn't be joining us.

We had a light breeze from the south which I figured might augment the 1.7 high scheduled at around noon. After catching bait, I went straight to the flats and began my chumming. We had an immediate bite, and it was a good one. The redfish were going crazy for the live baits tail hooked to keep them swimming away and near the surface. Bob and I were catching them two at a time at times. The spell of our fun was pierced by the words "Hey, Butchie!" I turned around to find my friend Steve Ladd in a Jensen's rental boat paddling his way in. I had told him he was welcome to join me anytime he saw me on a flat catching fish, but that he had to come quietly. Steve was coming as quietly as he could with the only method he had. I directed him around to my port side and showed him where to anchor. He didn't have live bait, nor a way to keep it alive, so he was rigged with Fin-S Fish black and gold shiner on a 1/8 oz. jig head. Steve caught a red on his first cast! He caught a red on his second cast....his third cast. You get the picture. He was ecstatic, and very vocal. He was able to catch faster than Bob was because he didn't have to rebait after each fish. Bob was taking this all in and turned to me and said, "God, I love this guy. Who is he? I've never seen anyone who was so enthusiastic about fishing." Bob was really taken with Steve, and I knew I have to introduce them when it was all over. Steve was putting on a show for us, and we were putting on a show for Steve. Then Capt. Paul Hobby pulled in on my starboard side and joined the action. They too benefited from the chumming and the wild bite, and were actually catching faster than we were on lures.

When it was all over and the dust had cleared, Steve had caught 16 nice redfish, Bob had caught more than 30, and I imagine Paul's crew caught 15 or more, too. We motored over to Steve and made introductions, and talked about the fun time we'd just had. Steve was pretty much in a state of shock and disbelief, and made it clear it was the best day of redfishing he'd ever experienced . It certainly had been a fantastic day. I'm sure sorry Maura had to miss it!

And that's the way it went. Except for that first slow day with Bob, it was a great week of flats fishing. I'd like to think it will hold up for my friends John and Martha Hitt, who I'm fishing three days next week, but the odds are it won't as the tides become less favorable. We'll see next week.

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