The First Big Cold Front Blows the Week Out!
Capt. Butch Rickey
November 8, 2010
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
It was supposed to be a three trip week, with two trips in the Talon and one kayak trip. But, Mother Nature had other ideas. The first powerful cold front arrived this week, very early, blowing out Thursday and Friday. And, that front could be a harbinger of things to come. Another miserably cold winter?
The one trip I did get in was with my dear friends Ron and Pat Hunter, TW the Texas Wader! We've been fishing together for years, and have been friends for nearly as long. We'd been trying to get a trip in since April, and kept running in to bad weather days on our chose days. Since Ron and Pat live in Palmetto, they have the luxury of choosing their days, and we were determined to get 'er done this day.
We knew we had a big front coming, and it had apparently moved across the country quicker than originally anticipated, as the early forecast was for the weekend. We had a good chance of rain and storms, so I decided to stay close to home in case the weather turned on us.
We headed over to B span for bait. We already had a brisk southeast wind blowing atop an incoming tide, and the water was just screaming in. Pat took over the chumming, as she always does, and she had to put the the chum in the water around amidships. Sometimes it can be tough to catch bait when the water is moving so hard, but we were quickly loaded to the gills in four throws or so. We were ready to fish.
I made the observation that this time of year there are usually lots of trout, mackerel, ladyfish, and other stuff popping bait early in the morning. But, I had seen none thus far. But, I no more than got that out of my mouth and saw trout begin to pop bait and mackerel begin to jump.
We had already decided the best plan was to just try to keep a pull on the end of the lines since trout are now closed to harvest, snook are probably closed indefinitely, and redfish are hard to come by. So, we decided to see what we could catch right there.
Ron and Pat caught a bunch of trout, had lots of hooks stolen by the macks, and caught plenty of ladyfish, all of which are fun. Ron said he thought we could have taken home plenty of trout if the season hadn't been closed.
Once things slowed there we moved to another flat and were again back in action. There were lots of ladyfish, trout, and mackerel in those waters, too, and there was a big school of ladyfish crushing baits for a long time about a quarter mile away.
As the water moved in we turned our attention to trying to find a redfish. We fished the mangroves, anchoring, chumming, and fishing, moving, anchoring, chumming, and fishing our way down the long and beautiful mangrove shoreline. The tide was charging and we were on the new moon, but the fish didn't care. We never got a take on either livebait, cut ladyfish, or lure.
We were busy most of the morning, and it flew by. At noon we headed for the Waterfront Restaurant for lunch. For those of you locals who don't yet know it, JD has by popular demand put his fantastic Bahamanian Conch on the menu. Yeah, Baby!
After lunch we went to a beautiful little snook spot where there were glass minnows spraying all over the place. They bring the snook. It was snook stalking them from underneath that makes them spray out of the water. Pat immediately caught a small snook on a shiner, and although it was only a couple of pounds, she had fun with it. Ron caught another one a bit later. At that point it was mid-afternoon and hips, knees, and backs were growing weary. We headed home. We'd had a blast. I love being out with good friends. We kept a pull on our lines for most of the day, although we had not brought anything home for the table. But, good friends and a pull on your line are a perfect recipe for fun!
Target Species:
A tug on the line!
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