A Redfish A Day Keeps The Skunk Away!
Capt. Butch Rickey
June 27, 2010
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
I ran one trip this week, on Tuesday. It was with the great father-son team of Roy and Zac Bibb, of Bonaire, Georgia, whom I first fished with about this time last year. Last year we spent a good bit of time running from bad weather and marooned at the Waterfront Restaurant, and managed to put together a pretty good day with some nice redfish and snook. Boy, it was sure different this year.
As always, I was very early at the ramp. As I did the pre-flight on the Talon, I found the main thrust bolt on the Power Pole appeared to be very loose. But, when I tried to tighten it, it became obvious is was broken somewhere in the middle. There was no fixing it, and that meant that I would be using a regular anchor and/or my Manual P. Pole!
With the boys aboard, we headed off to Chino Island, where bait had been good the last time I fished. We had a nice breeze blowing, which we prayed would stay with us, and the sky was clear. But, we soon learned bait was tough. Very tough! I made one move trying to get into better bait, and did, but it still remained tough. Often I would catch only one to three shiners. Finally, we had enough bait to fish with, and I was out of gas. We cleaned up and headed off to the first stop of the day.
Roy's first order of business was food. They had greatly enjoyed the redfish they took home last year, and wanted more. So, our mission became redfish for dinner. I didn't expect it to be easy. Our first stop was in McKeever Keys, as was our second. We drew goose eggs at both!
We made a big move looking for cleaner water. It wasn't long before Zac had something eat the pinfish that was swimming beneath his popping cork. But, what we initially thought was a snook wound up being a ladyfish. Next came a catfish. After fishing along the shore for a while, Zac had a great hit on his suspended pinfish, and lost a nice redfish. Knowing there was surely more than one redfish there, I quickly got another pinfish deployed. It was eaten almost immediately, and this time Zac was ready. Before long the fish was ready to land, and secure in the grasp of my Boga Grip, we all celebrated that beautiful redfish. I don't know who was happiest to see it, but we were happy. It was big enough to feed the whole gang.
From there we fished a number of other spots, and although we had lots of baits that were scaled by snook, and one cut pinfish picked up by a red, and dropped, we never had another good take. By then, in spite of a good breeze we were all overheated and hungry, and decided it was time for lunch. It was noon, and the tide had quit running.
The Waterfront never disappoints, and this day was no exception. We had a great lunch and reminisced about how we had been trapped there for some three hours last year while it stormed like crazy. No storms this time. As we idled out of the canal we decided we'd hit another spot or two along the way. I could see cells of rain already brewing to the east, and decided to keep us close to the ramp.
The tide was now moving out pretty well, and I hoped we could find a quick snook or three that would eat. It wasn't too long before Roy killed his skunk with the first, and only snook of the day. Zac reminded his dad that he still had the biggest fish. Although we had a couple of shiners get run on, the snook didn't take them. They just scaled them and left them, the males snook's version of "love 'em and leave 'em"!
It was time to call it a day. It had been a hot and hard one from start to finish, but it had been a fun day with Roy and Zac. They were patient with the conditions, and glad to have redfish to eat again this year.
Target Species:
Redfish
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