Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
August 5, 2000
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 7/29/2000

by

Capt. Butch Rickey

A three day weekend and a day lost sitting in the local Dodge dealership made it an abbreviated work week for me. Although it started off slowly, it ended pretty well. Here's how it went.

My long time friend and customer, Bob McGuire, was up for Tuesday. We've fished together many times and never had a bad day. This would be a stinker that ended that streak. We had a high tide first thing in the morning, which meant it would be falling all day long, and the fish would have full tummies. Kinda like fishing on the full moon.

There were a lot of storms around, and I wasn't even sure we'd even get to fish the morning out. We got beautiful bait at Chino, once again. The problem was we couldn't find fish that were interested in eating it. Because the snook on the inside are mostly small, we targeted redfish for most of the morning. We've been catching a lot of yearling snook, fish that are 11 to 13 inches, that are the byproduct of last summer's spawn. It appears that we had a very successful spawn last year, which will be good for the fishery. As for the reds, we were on fish, but they refused to eat, no matter how much chum I threw at them. Maybe if I'd had some ladyfish, they would have eated that. But, I didn't have any in the boat.

After trying thye reds in several places, we opted to try to catch a few snook before the water disappeared from the flats. We caught 3 small snook and a trout, and that was the catch for the morning. We ended our morning at the Waterfront Restaurant, where we heard stories that echoed our own experience that morning. No one had caught much of anything. But, Bob is one of my favorite folks, and he's easy going as they come, and we had a good time in spite of the poor catching.

Thursday morning I finally met Bob Langbehn, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, who I'd been eager to meet for some time. His son Ken, and Ken's friend Mike were along. Bob has four boats, if you can believe that, and one is a ProCat like BarHopp'R I. His boat is serial number 1, and has a large center console, bimini top, and a 90 hourse Tohotsu motor, and no trolling motor. Bob seemed to be in disbelief that our boats were of the same manufacture. My BarHopp'R looks bigger than it is with the small Action Craft console set off to the right side. Bob was amazed at the difference a 150 Yamaha motor made in the performance and ride.

We got plenty of pretty bait at Chino, once again, and were off. The Thursday tide was much better than it had been on Tuesday, and I was hopeful that I could really get the redfish going for the guys. But before that, I wanted to go check out the Stickbeach. It had been a good month since I've been able to get out there. Today, for the first time in weeks, we had an east wind. After making the time committment to get there, we were rejected by the snook, and didn't get the first bite! I gave it about half an hour, and fished out in the trough, and up on the wood without so much as a hit. I'm done with the Stickbeach for this year, and I guess that means forever, since it will soon disappear.

We headed back inside feeling sure I could get the reds going. At the first stop we only got one 29 inch fish to eat. I knew the fish were there, but couldn't figure out why they wouldn't turn on. I moved to another location where I knew the fish were holding, and started the chumming proceedure all over. Nothing. To prove a point, I pulled the boat up on where we had been chumming and casting, and sure enough, reds went scooting all over the place. I quickly anchored and tried again. We boated another 29 inch fish and a nice trout. Finally, in desparation, we went for snook, boating 4 small fish.

We finished the day with Bob's first trip to the Waterfront Restaurant. The boys assured me that our day would have been a great day of flats fishing on the east coast where they live, but I was really disappointed that I couldn't get the reds to bust loose for them. But, Bob is a big, jovial man who likes to laugh, and we just plain ole had a good time.

Friday my single angler was Dr. Tracy McKay, of Jacksonville, Florida. Tracy is in his last year and a half of residency, and a super nice fella. I had put him with Capt. Tommy Stephens back in May to fish up in Sarasota Bay. Tracy couldn't say enough good things about Tom, and had a great trip with him. It is the dog days of summer now, and I hoped and prayed that I could give him a trip that equalled his day with Tom. Tracy had caugh some nice snook with Tom, but no redfish, so I naturally wanted to get him on some reds. But the results of the previous two trips had me spooked. I decided to catch ladyfish first, assuring Tracy that if there was anything that would turn on the reds, it would be ladyfish bait. Tracy hooked many of the silver leapers, putting around half dozen in the boat before we headed out to catch shiners and pinfish. There was plenty of that bait still there at Chino, and it wasn't long before we were stalking the redfish. I went straight for the ladyfish. I used some of the shiners and pins for chum, but we presented the ladyfish as bait.

It didn't take long to get things going. It didn't take Tracy long to get into the groove, either. I think he only missed two fish all morning, and one was to a cut line. Tracy had a blast, and I had a blast keeping him busy. We kept three lines in the water, and had numberous doubles and a couple of triple hookups. One of the rigs I'd brought along was my Shimano Stella 2500 on a Shimano V Rod. Those of you who know me know I have fished Daiwa Emblem Z's for a couple of years now, with much greater reliability and performance than the Shimano Stradics ever gave me. But, I've got to tell you that the Stella is one exquisit piece of fishing machinery. The drag is unequalled in all of fishing, and it is so smooth and free as to be as close to a perpetual motion machine as you could get. To catch a fish with it is a real fishing high. Well, Tracey let me land one big red with it. What a tool.

Tracy's count was 17 big redfish, two of which were small enough to go home with us. Most of the rest were 7 to 10 pounds. One of those fish had an incredible 84 spots on it. It ws one of the most beautiful redfish I've ever seen. Once the breeze layed down at around eleven o'clock, it became unbearably hot very quickly, and Tracy and I decided we'd had enough fun. Oh, the fish were still eating, but we were heading to the oasis know as the Waterfront. I called Tracy up on the bow as I trolling motored off the flat as I was sure we would be able to spot a few of the reds we'd been catching scooting off the flats. We weren't ready for what we saw! Once I got up to where we'd been casting, and just a little beyond, the bigs reds were everywhere. There had to be hundreds of them gliding through the waters all around and in front of us. What a beautiful sight! We could probably have stayed and caught reds for a couple more hours, but we'd had enough.

Tracy wants to settle somewhere in our area between Venice and Naples. He's going to bring his wife down on a fishing trip, in hopes that a good day of fishing like this one will really turn her on to living in this area. I hope he settles in the Ft. Myers area, as he's going to make a great family doctor, and I want to be among his first patients.

In closing this report I'd like to leave you with an update on my wife Jean. She has completed her chemotherapy recently, and is now doing radiation treatments. She has five weeks of those left. She's starting to grow some new fuzz, and is doing very well, thanks to all of you who have offered your prayers and to a great group of doctors looking after her. But even with insurance we are left with many unpaid medical bills. They just seem to be falling out of the sky, at times. For this reason, I am seriously considering selling my backup boat, BarHopp'R II, which is the 96 Paradise. Some of you have fished from it. It is the same hull as BarHopp'R I, but with a different deck configuration. The first thing I did to it was get rid of the big console and cooler seat, and rerig it with the same Action Craft console. It is nothing but wide open fishing machine, very stable, plenty fast, and shallow running beyond belief. It is considerably lighter than #1 due to the difference in deck design, and Kledgecell construction, and will run shallower than #1. She has less than 300 hours on her, and has always had the best of TLC. I'll be looking for around $15K for her, so, if you are interested drop me an email.

FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 8/5/2000

by

Capt. Butch Rickey

Did you notice that foul odor of rotten fish as you opened this report? Well, that's the smell of this report! The week started off OK, but as the days passed the fishing deteriorated to the point where I did something I've never done in my career; I canceled my Friday trip because I felt sure it would be the worse trip of the week. I think I did the right thing.

First up on Monday was my friend Charles Ruston, who is a local boy who works and lives in the Czech Republic via Texas. Last year I fished several times with Charles and his lovely wife Deb and brother Don. This year, I got to meet his eleven year old son, Phillip, who is quite a nice young man.

I wanted to target redfish, and figured that if we could catch some ladyfish, we would surely be able to catch at least a few. Reds have a real hard time turning down a dinner invitation when ladyfish is the main course. So, Charles, Phil, and I headed to an area where ladyfish usually hang out in hopes of scoring some quick bait. I was really interested in quick, as there were storms lined up offshore, and I was worried that we may not get to fish the whole morning before having to run from them. The ladyfish were there, along with some jacks and trout, and the boys boated 4 of about 10 ladyfish, a couple of jacks, and 4 nice trout.

We headed right to the redfish. I used the heads and tails as chum, and steaked the ladyfish in sections about 3/4 inch thick. The advantage of steaked ladyfish are several. They are very desirable to the redfish (snook, too), the bait lasts a long time on the hook, and most importantly, they cast like a cannonball. That's a real advantage when you're trying to catch reds on a shallow flat. Those fish will only come so close to a boat. I have had occasions where there have been redfish all around my boat, and it's an incredible thing to see, but it's also very rare. They can feel the boat's presence with their lateral lines. They don't have to see it. They know we're there. So, a bait that gives the ability to cast 130 or 140 feet gives the angler a tremendous advantage. He can get the bait to the fish before the fish is aware of, or threatened by his presence.

Our smelly baits lured 9 redfish to our hooks, but the boys predictably had some problems getting the hang of setting the hook through such a long, light line. They boated three reds to seven pounds. Those steaks also attracted three big stingrays and a couple of catfish. At the end of the morning we switched gears and caught half dozen or so snook. We finished the day at the Waterfront Restaurant, and Charles told me the trip was exactly what he wanted for Phillip. In a couple of weeks Charles and I will be back out for a couple of days with Deb and Don.

My old friend Bo Mack was back in town with his son Ed, who is quite a baseball player, and here for playoffs. That means Dad gets to go fishing on Tuesday! My plan was the same, except that I opted to fish the full incoming tide. That meant starting at 8:30 AM. The ladyfish had other ideas. They wouldn't bite. I wasn't sure whether it was because we were there later in the morning, or if they just weren't there. The trout did bite, though, and Bo and I caught at least a dozen nice trout.

Finally, giving up on the ladies, we headed for Chino Island to get pinfish and shiners. Bo had them chummed up in no time, and soon we were chasing redfish. I did get a bite going, but not a great one. Bo had 8 or 9 reds on, but only got 3 to the boat. Bo is funny as hell, and always keeps me laughing. Every time he'd miss a fish he'd offer some words about why he missed it. He said he couldn't blame his son, wife, or friends, because it was just him and me. He was frustrated with himself, but funny. He didn't miss the two stingrays that bit, though! Once the reds quit biting, we switched our attentions to snook, and boated 6 or more small fish. Bo is always a blast to fish with, and this day was no different. We made plans to have dinner later in the week.

Wednesday was my first trip with Jack Crozier, and his father Dave in my boat. We had fished together back in 1998, when my good friend Capt. Mark Bess and I had a fabulous day of redfishing next to each other. Mark's customers were Jack, Dave, and one other angler, and our two boats together caught well over 100 redfish. It was the day the picture on the front page of my website was taken. What a contrast this trip would be to that one.

The tides had continued to get worse as the week wore on. We were looking at a weak outgoing tide for most of the morning. We're in the dog days of summer. It's nearly impossible to get the fish to eat in the heat of the day. Trying to fish the tide later in the day is probably still the best plan, but then the afternoon thunderstorms become a factor to finishing a trip and getting home safely. What to do?

We headed to the ladyfish grounds, and were once again disappointed. It certainly seems the ladies are a night time and early morning gig, only. We caught three trout there, along with a nice pompano, and probably should have stayed and fished. We were greeted with lockjawed fish on the flats. Oh, I saw the reds more than once, and knew they were there, but they weren't about to eat. Even the stingrays and catfish weren't interested. We finally managed a small snook before heading in to avoid the fast approaching storms. I had told Dave it would be a tough day, but I didn't envision the fishing being quite that poor.

I told my Thursday customer Dan Dalke of the clearly emerging pattern of no fish when I talked with him Wednesday night. He was pretty wired to go fishing with me, and still wanted to go. I had to pick up Dan and his brother-in-law, Tom, at North Captiva. It would be a long day, and I was worried about getting back to Punta Rassa before the storms came.

I was up at my usually time; early thirty o'clock, and gone ladyfishing. There was a good bite as the sun rose, and I missed leaping fish after leaping fish. I managed to get three into the well before they disappeared. There was a great early trout bite, and I caught six big, beautiful trout on the TerrorEyez that my friend Capt. Rick DePaiva turned me on to, before leaving to catch shiners. I was wishing that Dan and Tom had been able to meet me at Punta Rassa and been with me for that part of the trip.

I headed to Chino and got plenty of nice pinfish and shiners, and called Dan shortly after eight o'clock to tell him I was on the way. I was loaded with all the best baits, yet I was dreading the trip. I knew it was going to be a dreadfully slow bite. But, Dan and Tom were super nice guys, and a lot of fun. More important, as fishermen, they were understanding and patient with the situation. By quitting time, Dan and Tom had caught a whopping four catfish and one snook. They had missed the only two reds that struck, and missed one other snook. By the time I dropped them off at the North Captiva airstrip and got back to Punta Rassa, the storms were coming fast. I just made it.

When Dave Calverley, of Tampa, called I was in the middle of getting the boat in from the storm. I told him that I was seriously considering canceling our trip because the fishing was so poor. He had boys from Texas with him on North Captiva, and those boys are used to catching fish. I knew Friday would be a repeat of Thursday. The fact that they we on North Captiva limited my options. This was the first time I had ever canceled a trip on the promise of poor fishing, but that's what we ultimately decided upon. Dave and I will hopefully put another trip together, later.

Thursday night, Bo Mack and his lovely wife Susan joined me at the Seafood Center and Crab House for dinner. Bo was his usual crazy self, and Sue is lots of fun, too. I introduced Bo to Dungeness crabs. He said that he learned at the Waterfront to order whatever I ordered, cause I always ordered good stuff. He wasn't disappointed with the crabs. They came by to check out the fish camp after dinner. It was a great way to end what had been a very disappointing week. I needed my spirits lifted!

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