Quick Cast:
 Area Reports
 Find-a-Guide
 Forums
 Tides

Departments:
 Articles
 Books
 Clubs & Orgs.
 Fishing Reports
 Feedback
 Forums
 Fly Fishing
 Guides & Charters
 Links
 Photo Gallery
 Reef Locator
 Regulations
 Software
 Survey
 Tournaments
 Travel
 Weather
 Home

Administration:
 About Us
 Advertising
 Contact
 Privacy
 Terms of Use
 Web Development

MORE RED TIDE AND BIGGER PROBLEMS

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

Week Ending 3/02/13.........

I had four trips on the books for the week. A big cold front claimed two of them. The first trip on Sunday, was a shocker.

I was to meet Steve Van, from Virginia, at Castaways at 7:00 AM. I was there at 6:25, and had the boats loaded and ready to put in the water by the time Steve arrived. I sent Steve to the Marina office to take care of the ramp fee while I took care of some last minute details. A minute or two later he was coming back, and he had the new dock master, or whatever his title is, hard on his heels. I had met him once briefly a couple of weeks before, when I was there to launch. It was after 7 AM, and the chain across the ramp was still up. I walked over to the marina and went inside, to find quite a few people waiting to be served. I could see this new guy was the one waiting on people, and that he was busy.

"Toss me the keys, and I'll open the chain," I volunteered.
"I'll do it!" This person who turned out to be one Ken Hunt, said in a loud, abrasive, bellicose voice.
"I'll be happy to open the ramp." I said, wanting to be helpful.
"I SAID I'LL TAKE CARE OF IT!" Ken blasted in a defiant voice.

Geez. I turned to leave, and Bill was just coming in the door. Bill is the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet, and a real asset to Castaways.

"What's up with him?" I queried.
"I don't know." Bill replied with a shrug.
I knew right then this guy would be trouble. A guy with the social skills of a pissed off rattlesnake. Yeah. That's what they need at Castaways.

Back to the present. Ken walked up to me and got right in my face.
"You can't launch here, anymore!"
"What do you mean I can't launch here? I've been launching my kayaks here for over two years!"
"You can't launch here, anymore!" I have a gentleman's agreement with the other guides here, and you can't launch here anymore."

Well, there's not much sense in going on with the details. The situation deteriorated from there. I explained to him that I don't compete in any way with his boat guides: I bring my own customers to fish, I don't get them from Castaways. I bring ramp fees, cottage rentals, and create interest in kayak rentals. All good for them. General Ken had his mind made up, and that was obvious. I wound up telling him several times he was an A-hole. He agreed!

You know, there's just no excuse for someone who's supposed to be serving customers to treat anyone like that. If he had a shred of decency, he'd have said, "Well, since you didn't know I've changed the rules and you and your customer are here, you can go ahead and fish today, and we'll talk about it later." No. Not him. Just a totally obnoxious butt-head. We broke the kayaks down and put everything away for the ride, and left. I really couldn't believe what had just happened, and I hope I don't ever hear of any of my customers staying at Castaways, again.

Steve and I decided to head down to Tween Waters on Captiva and see if could launch there. Some guy in a golf cart met us as we turned into the place and was about as rude as Ken.

"What do you want?"
"We're looking to launch our kayaks."
"Can't launch 'em here. This is private property! The exit is over there."

By the time all of this had transpired, we were an hour behind schedule. Steve called his father-in-law, Tom, who winters on Sanibel and launches his paddle boat at Castaways, and asked if he knew of any place we could launch. That didn't work out. We decided that in the interest of time, we'd launch from the A span of the causeway. I fished it quite a bit when I first made the transition to the kayaks, and did well most of the time.

It was a beautiful morning, save for the incident at Castaways. I still couldn't believe what had happened, nor understand why. We got the boats ready to go, and launched. We had some floaters around, and I just hoped we could put together a descent day of catching.

We headed west on the low incoming tide towards the first area I wanted to fish. I wanted to see if I could get Steve on some kind of bite, and with the red tide and everything that had already happened this day, I just wanted him to catch some fish. I suggested we troll our jigs out to the first area. We went biteless for quite a while. I told Steve that as we approached our spot we should start hitting trout on the edge. We did! We were on a trout bite, and catching them on nearly every cast. But, they weren't big enough to keep. There were also ladyfish mixed in, and I figured Steve could stay busy for a while catching the trout and ladyfish. I told him I was going to see if I could find a bite on bigger trout, or perhaps some redfish. I headed north.

I trolled my way across, and had little to show for my efforts when I arrived at my new destination. I worked an area where I used to catch lots of redfish, without a hit. I decided to run along the shoreline of the mangroves standing in the kayak with the trolling motor on low, and see if I could find some redfish. I'm guessing I'd searched over a quarter mile of shoreline, and finally ran up on two nice redfish. They didn't spook, but rather just eased away and kept their distance. The wouldn't eat. Steve called me to tell me he'd caught a couple of nice keeper trout, 19 and 21 inches.

I moved off the shoreline and trolled back the other direction in 2-3 feet of water, looking. I spotted one large single redfish. He wouldn't eat. Then I ran up on the biggest school of sheephead I'd ever seen. Must have been 3 dozen, at least.

As I'd been searching, the tide was coming in pretty quickly. I arrived at a spot that has been good to me in the past, and pushed big redfish, and even bigger snook. I moved off and called Steve. His action had fizzled, and he was coming to join me. It took him a while to get over to me, and I was sure the fish would be settled back down, and hopefully be willing to eat. I went to check out the next spot close by.

We fished hard for the rest of that tide. We got one 21" redfish and a 23 inch trout. That was the last of the catching. The red tide definitely had them in a funk, and it seemed that it had forced most of the bigger trout off to different waters. We headed back to where we'd launched. It was Sunday afternoon, now. There were people and cars parked all over the beach. Steve called his wife, and his father-in-law Tom said he'd come pick Steve up, so I didn't have to drive back up the island. Tom arrived about the time we had the boats on the trailer, and I was showing Steve how to fillet the fish. We were out there miles from a fillet table, and I made a mess of the one fillet I tried to cut off a nice trout in the sand.

Tom was shocked at what had happened to us at Castaways that morning, and is himself a customer when he's here vacationing. In fact, Tom and Steve had launched there the previous day, Saturday, and went to the marina to buy some live shrimp. This same guy, Ken Hunt, gave them a bad time, and they were there to spend money. Go figure.

I had a trip scheduled on Tuesday with Dr. Joe Haskett, and his wife Sharman, but we had to cancel the trip and refund his deposit due to 30 kt. Winds blowing that day. That alone would be enough to keep me in port, but add the red tide, and it's really a no-brainer.

Same thing for Wednesday. I was supposed to fish with Jim Shuber out of Lovers Key ramp in Estero Bay. Jim told me he'd be back the last two weeks of March, and we rescheduled the trip to March 28th. Finally, on Friday, things weren't much better for Rob Hill and me. We've been trying to fish together for a long time. He wanted to do an instructional trip. I suggested that in light of the forecast and the red tide, I could probably teach him more in a one-on-one classroom environment than I could on the water, and suggested we do that instead. He agreed.

So, Friday morning I was at his home on Connie Mack Island, with rods and reels, terminal tackle, and one of my HP quad-core laptops. Rob had John, a friend who was a close friend of his deceased father there with him. We started with a course on tides, and how to read and understand them, and know when to fish, and when to golf. Then we spent time learning how to use Google Earth and Bing maps to find good fishing spots in strange waters, including how to know and identify what you're looking at on their maps. After that we went out on Rob's dock and had a casting clinic, where I taught them the secrets of long distance casting, how to control the lure and drop it where you want it, how to eliminate all line problems, and how to control big fish with light tackle, and amaze your friends. Last, we went back inside and covered weather. Specifically, low pressure centers, and how they affect fishing, as well as other topics. I love doing this kind of teaching and sharing of my knowledge, and prefer to do it this way instead of in an actual classroom environment with lots of people. I prefer to teach one-on-one.

That was the week. I have four days booked again next week. Sure hope I get to do them.

Target Species:

Redfish and Trout

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
Email the Captain
Visit his Web Site
Browse Photo Gallery
Display Find-a-Guide Listing


Copyright © 1997-2024, CyberAngler - All Rights Reserved
Privacy Policy :: Terms of Use
For Questions and comments please use our Feedback Form
Back to the Top