Only one trip this week, but it was a fun one.
Capt. Butch Rickey
May 15, 2011
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
Report For Week Ending 5/14/11
Things are slowing down. Only one trip this week, but it was a fun one.
I met my fishing partner, Chris Heaphy, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, at Castaways Marina at 6:30 Friday morning. Chris was already there putting his Malibu 14 in the water. I was early, but he was even earlier. I've known Chris since 2009, and fished with him in the Talon, but this was our first time kayak fishing together. Chris is new to kayak fishing, and eager to learn.
We had a very early tide that would be high around 10:30 AM. We also were fishing four days in front of the next full moon, which meant the night was pretty bright, and the fish would be eating at night. And, as we would find out as the sun rose, the sky would be dim from the smoke from the large fires burning for days down in Naples. That would be a factor that made our fishing difficult. Then, as we got to the fishing grounds we realized the water was so full of floating turtlegrass and other seaweed, that it was nearly impossible to keep our baits clean for more than one crank of the reel handle. Our lures were quickly covered with seagrass that made them useless. Snook and redfish aren't vegetarians!
We fished hard for a couple of hours, having to reel in and clean our lures on virtually every cast. I wasn't too surprised we had caught nothing. The sharks had showed up though, in spite of that.
It was time for a move. I hoped that a move upwind would give us cleaner waters to fish. And, it did. We still had weeds floating, but not nearly as thick and bothersome. We managed to catch some fish. Chris got a red, and not long afterward, broke off a monster. We don't know for sure what it was, but it was probably an outsized redfish. Later he got another keeper redfish.
While I hunted for a bite, I managed to let the first and only snook hooked get away before I could get him to the boat, landed three redfish to 28", and lost another. We both had keeper reds. Most of that action happened just before the tide quit running, and an hour after the tide began falling. Finally, around 2 PM things came to a grinding halt. Although it had been a tough day for catching, it had been a great day of fishing, and Chris and I agreed we'd had a lot of fun.
It's looking like another slow week next week, but it's not here yet, so that could change.
Target Species:
The SLAM
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