Tough Fishing After The Blow!
Capt. Butch Rickey
November 23, 2012
Estero Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Week ending 11/10/12......
After watching if blow in the 20s for the second week, the wind forecast was finally down some for Thursday. The forecast was NE 7 – 15, gusting to 20!
This would be my first trip with Tim Frank, of Canton, Michigan, and I knew before ever getting a line wet it would be tough catching. First, we were under a big high pressure dome, as evidenced by the bluebird skies with not a cloud around. Second, we had a weak incoming tide, that had begun coming in around 3:30 AM. The volume of water movement was supposed to be 1.2 feet, but with the constant NE wind, I could not see that the water moved at all the whole morning. The easiest way to watch tide movement is to watch where the water is on the oyster bars. Still water means poor fishing. Third, it had been pretty cool for the past week, and our temperature that morning was up to 51. Tim and I would have to be patient, and just keep at it.
We were in the water at Lovers Key ramp by around 7 AM. The tide was at about a halfway point. We made our first stop at one of the many places I routinely catch lots of redfish, along with snook. The wind was already up. Tim caught the first redfish, which also turned out to be the only redfish of the day. Knowing the reds were there, we worked the area over well, but never got another fish. Eventually, we moved on to some spots that are deeper and have fish earlier on the tide.
We were now exposed to the full wind, and it was really chopping up the water. The bottom around our spot was hard, and anchoring in the wind and chop proved very difficult. We kept getting blown off our anchors. I got quite a few bites on both the jigs and spoons, and had my spoon mangled a couple of times. But, the fish were acting like they were just curious about our offerings, but not hungry. Tim also reported some hits. There is a lot of fishing there, and we spent quite a while working the area over.
We made another move, and I realized that the tide not only never moved for us, but was already turned around and being blown out by the wind. It was over an hour early going out. We fished hard, and there were just no takers. Not even a trout! Finally, I sent Tim back to the first spot where he'd caught his red, to see if perhaps they would eat now. As he did that, I went hunting for the reds that I've caught so many times laid up in the shallow flats on lower water. And, I did find them. I found a nice school of fish that looked to be 24 to 25 inches. There were lots of them, but do you think they would eat. I had a couple follow me almost to the boat, but no takers.
By now, the wind had the water really moving out on us, and I decided to go and see if we could catch some trout, so we could have some pulls on our lines. We did find about 4 or 5 each, but that was it. That bite stopped, and we couldn't find it, again.
Although Tim is a kayaker, this was his first time to kayak fish, and I wanted it to be a good catching trip for him, even though I knew the odds were heavily against it. Tim was very patient, and it proved to be a fun day even though the fish didn't cooperate. That's the great thing about kayak fishing. It's a lot of fun even when the critters don't play.
Back at the dock Tim promised he'd be back in April 2013, and that we'd fish again, then. I promised to comp him a day then, as well, to make up for the slow day we'd had. Tim is a good fishing partner, and I look forward to putting on some of those April redfish and snook.
Target Species:
Redfish & trout
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