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Good Fishing And Tour Through A Mangrove Tunnel

Capt. Butch Rickey
December 21, 2013
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

Week ending 11/23/13...........

It was a very busy week, with a few trips, a long time friend in town, and a trip to Jacksonville.

The week began though, on Sunday, with a great half hour tour over Pine Island Sound and Matlacha Pass on Kingfisher Tours, with my life-long friend Ellen Hennigan and her good friend Nancy, with whom I did my "Coastal" module of the Florida Master Naturalist Program. It was a windy day, and I wondered if the pilot might reschedule our trip. He didn't.

The airport on Pine Island is a trip. But, totally cool. We met the pilot, and with his assistance, were soon seated in his aircraft. He said it only needed 600 feet of runway to get airborne. I don't doubt that a bit, as it took no time to be....airborne. We flew at around 6 to 700 feet altitude for most of the flight, best I could figure. It is just wonderful to fly at low altitude over the waters you fish. We saw manatees, dolphins, shark, and large flocks of roosting white pelicans. The pilot was great, and I highly recommend the trip.

I was up and at 'em at 4:30, Monday, and at Chic Bruning's home on Captiva by 6:00 AM for my trip with Chic and Tom Joseph, author of "Song of The Tides". I hadn't seen Chic in several years, and see Tom usually once a year, and was looking forward to the day with them.

Tom brought a cup of coffee down to our launch area for me. I spent a few minutes clearing out clumps of razor sharp oysters from our narrow launch site, that would surely carve up the hulls of my Ultimates. We were in the water and on our way shortly after 6:30.

Chic steered us to a wonderful mangrove tunnel that would save us tome time if we could get through it on the very low tide we had. The water was very shallow in the tunnel, and in places we were dragging bottom. But, the bottom was mostly very soft silt, and we were able to paddle across it without any problems. The tunnel eventually exited near the north end of Buck Key.

After a run south, I parked Chic and Tom on a hole that I fished many times over the years when there was hardly any water on the flats. It was always good for redfish and trout on extreme tides. I moved on up to another area where I hoped to find ladyfish that I could use later in the day for cut bait for redfish.

The ladyfish were there big time, but I had a heck of a time getting the first one to the boat. I lost eight of them before I stringered the first one. There were also trout in the hole, but nothing keeper size. So, after putting catching a bunch of trout and ladyfish, I moved on in search of keeper trout and redfish.

I anchored on a pothole that is usually very good, and was immediately on fish, including trout, jack crevalle, and ladyfish on nearly every cast. I called Tom and Chic in to join me. They had been doing well on trout where I'd parked them, and had several to 23 inches, but their bite had slowed. Once the guys were anchored with me, I moved on in search of redfish, and left them catching.

At my next stop, where I usually dig up nice redfish, I caught only more trout and ladyfish. I stayed there for a while, as the tide made its journey across the flats. I gathered up the guys and made another move to redfish country. We put out the first of our ladyfish and also fished lures. Tom got a nice redfish, and I got a nice slot snook, which performed a Houdini act at boat-side, as I grabbed the leader. The fish were not eating well at all, so I suggested we move to another normally very productive spot. It proved to be a pretty good move, as the guys caught more redfish and big trout. We took our limit of redfish home along with some nice, fat trout. It was a good day and a fun day with Chic and Tom.

Tuesday, I was back on Captiva to fish with my good friend and fishing buddy, Don Marano, from Salt Lake City. He and Dawn were at their timeshare at South Seas Plantation, and we would launch from their south marina. It's great facility, but there is no turn-around space. So, I dropped the trailer and turned the van around and then hooked up the trailer and launched the boats. Easy enough to do with the kayaks. My dear friend of around twenty-five years, Lee Dugger, had come in from Virginia, Monday night, and Don was happy to have him come along.

Once we were launched, we headed in the direction of Buck Key. We had a north wind which was following a cold front bringing high pressure and blue bird skies. Given that, I didn't expect a good bite. I parked Dona and Lee on their first spot of the day, and headed to my ladyfish spot in hopes of quickly putting a couple of big ones on the stringer. And, I did exactly that!

I moved on and quickly found a pretty good trout, jack, and ladyfish bite. I called the guys in. I moved on to find another productive hole, but because of the conditions, couldn't find it. As the tide moved in, we moved with it. At our next stop Don caught 2 snook and a redfish, and I got 1 redfish. That was it, though. We couldn't get the reds to turn on.

At what would be the last stop of the day, we finished with a 29 and 22" redfish. We had our limit of reds, and some trout, too. Actually, the bite wasn't great, but was indeed much better than I had anticipated.

Back at the marina there was a fish cleaning station adjacent to the ramp, and they also had fresh water which allowed me to clean up the Ultimate 12 that goes on the top bunk of the trailer. We had plenty of meat to divvy up. Twas a good day!

On Thursday, I took Lee on an Estero Bay Express II dolphin cruise out of Fishtale Marina. I'd won four tickets at a recent Florida SEE event, and thought it was a good time to use a couple. I thought the captain might cancel on us, as we were the only ones there. But, he didn't, and happily took us on a nice sightseeing and dolphin cruise. Any time on the water is good time. The captain was very personable, and made it a fun day. It's a very good activity to do when you're here visiting.

That was the week on the water. Some pretty good fishing with great folks. Hard to beat that!

Target Species:

The SLAM!

More Fishing Reports:

 

Top Florida fishing guide, Capt. Butch Rickey has fished the waters of Pine Island Sound around Sanibel, Captiva, and Pine Islands, as well as Charlotte Harbor, Sarasota Bay, Terra Ceia Bay, and southern Tampa Bay, for much of his 65 years. He now offers guided kayak fishing trips, as well as sightseeing and bird watching tours anywhere that can be reached by kayak from southern Tampa Bay to Estero Bay.

Contact Info:

BarHopp'R Kayak Fishing
11520 E Palm Drive
Ft. Myers, FL 33908
Phone: 239-628-3522
Alt. Phone: 239-633-5851
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