A Hot Trout Bite Means Good Ole Fashioned Fun!
Capt. Butch Rickey
January 20, 2014
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
Week ending 1/04/14.......
Cold fronts and the holidays got in the way of work the first half of the week. I moved my long time friend Roland Hartich from early in the week behind a cold front, to Thursday, where we would be fishing the south wind ahead the next coming front. Friday would be a blow out for my friend Dale Grantman. With winter fishing, timing is everything!
I met Roland and his brother Bernd, at Port Comfort Marina at 7:30. I had the first two boats ready to get wet when they got there. It didn't take us too long to get the #3 boat into the water, and we were on our way.
We had a wicked low tide that was in the final stages of going out. We motored to our first stop in search or speckled trout. We would be fishing edges of drops. Although we were expecting 25 knot winds once the sun began heating things, it was fairly calm when we first got out there. The strong current made it hard to anchor facing the proper direction.
We fished our way along the edge and caught some trout, but we didn't have the big bite I was pretty sure we'd have. I moved ahead of the guys probing for a bite. Finally, I decided to check out another deep pocket nearby. The strong current had a more direct route onto the flats through this trough, and I thought that maybe the fish were all just going with the flow, and not taking their normal route. Bingo!
Suddenly, I was catching fish on every cast, and called tRoland and Bernd in. Once they were there with me, we were all catching fish after fish. We were catching speckled trout, ladyfish, and also got a nice mackerel. We wound up with a lot of company, and it just amazes me at how rude some boaters can be to kayak anglers.
Knowing myguys were going to be catching for some time, I took off in search of redfish or flounder. In my haste to get started, I forgot that I had a leader that was pretty badly mangled from all the fish I'd caught. Don't you know I hooked a big red right off the bat, and........yes. The line parted like a piece of thread. Oh, well. Haste still makes waste.
I didn't see another redfish for some time. When the bite finally subsided for the Hartich brothers, I took them to one of my favorite redfish areas. I had high hopes we'd have fish willing to bite. I got the boys situated, and went to work. Within a couple of minutes, I had a big hit on my silver spoon. But, the fish didn't connect. Arrgh! I had it on long enough to know it was a heavy red.
A little later I did connect with an under slot redfish of about 16 inches, but that was it. Roland caught a jack crevalle, and that was our day. We headed home, and I treated the guys to a ride through the mangrove tunnel near Connie Mack Island.
It had been a busy day. Lots of fish. We managed to catch a few keepers, and took some fish home. It was the first time kayak fishing for both the brothers, and they both agreed it was a total blast, and loved the Ultimates. Read Rolands testimonial about the trip at http://www.barhoppr.com/rhartichtest.html !
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