Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
January 15, 2002
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEKS ENDING 12/8 AND 12/15/2001 by Capt. Butch Rickey

December is normally one of my two slow months of the years during good times. This December is stacking up to be really slow. I had three trips to report on during the week of 12/8, and only one during the week of 12/15, hence the consolidated report.

First up on Monday was my old friend David Jaeger, of Cape Coral. He brought along a young neighbor, Tyler Floyd, age ten. Tyler was pretty excited about going on a fishing trip with Dave. I picked the boys up at the Waterfront Restaurant, and we headed across the bay to Tarpon Bay to catch bait. We quickly loaded up on threadfins and shiners, and were on our way.

We had a super low tide so typical of winter, and I wanted to teach Dave some new tricks for catching redfish and trout on such a tide. We headed to one of my favorite winter fishing areas and set up camp on a really shallow flat. I chummed with live and cut baits, and eventually, we got a bite going. Dave and Tyler managed about nine nice redfish to 31 inches, and missed 3 snook. They also got one flounder and a catfish.

Once the tide began to rise, we headed across and north into the Sound to work some potholes in the area of Joselyn Island. The tide was still very low, and when I stopped the Talon, we were sitting on the bottom. We tosses Top Pups into the myriad of potholes and had a blast catching big winter trout on those topwater plugs. Dave got his biggest trout ever, at around 6 pounds. I don't know how many we caught, but there were plenty, and we were catching fish on about every third cast.

We ended the day back at the Waterfront with a great lunch. Monday evening my old friend Marty Dietz and his 73 year-old dad, Bob, showed up at the fish camp to spend the night and fish the next day. Marty's sweetheart of a wife, Nancy, had bought this trip for the boys as a Christmas present. It was Bob's first fishing trip here.

We got up the next morning and hit the water early. Marty, Bob, and I had gone to dinner the night before, and I began to get an idea of what a hoot Bob was. I knew we'd have fun on the water. We got bait quickly and were off to where I had found the reds the morning before. We didn't have a great bite, but had enough action to keep us going. But, the fun was dicing back and forth with Bob and Marty. Bob was a mess, and kept me going all morning. Through the fun and teasing, the father/son team managed to catch about 5 nice redfish to 29 inches, a couple of snook to 27 inches, and later, in a different area, lots of nice speckled trout. We had a blast.

By the time we got off the water, we were all worn out, and I told Marty and Bob they were welcome to spend the night and go back to the east coast in the morning. They decided to do just that, and the fun and laughs continued well into the evening. It was a great visit, and I can't wait for the boys to come back again.

On Friday, my best bud Capt. Butch Boteler and I went on the maiden voyage of his flats boat with a newly built hot rod Mercury motor. The motor was built by Mercury's best over at the Orlando facility. Wow, is it fast! But, Butch quickly found out that the low water pickup intended primarily for racing, would not work out here on our super low winter tides. We were quickly grounded with a plugged water intake. Fortunately, Butch had the tools necessary to disassemble and clear the mud, but it took about an hour. We had fun, though, and through the course of the morning caught some nice reds on both bait and topwater plugs, as well as trout and snook. Butch went home knowing he'd have to get another lower unit.

My only trip the following week was on Wednesday with my friend Tom Terranova, who came over from Pembroke Pines for some much needed R & R with his friend and business associate, Marlin Bollinger. It was a nice day with southeast breeze at 10, a high of around 86, and easy bait, but the reds just didn't want to play. We only caught one rat red. So, we went pothole fishing for trout just to get some action, and had plenty of that. We had a good time and finished the day with a great lunch at the Waterfront Restaurant.

I'll be taking the next week off for vacation, and probably do some traveling. So, there won't be a fishing report for the week ending 12/22/01. I hope that all my friends and readers have a Merry Christmas, and a joyous Holiday Season.

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 12/29/2001 by Capt. Butch Rickey

The Christmas Holidays and a last minute cancellation left me with only two trips to talk about this week.

It was a cold and windy Wednesday morning for my friends Drs. Howard Goldson and Steven Faigenbaum. My best friend Capt. Butch Boteler and I were to take Howard, Steven, and their sons out in two boats for a day of f fishing. I think we had all underestimated how cold it would be, as everyone was freezing. The wind was out of the northeast at 15 to 25 with the passing of the cold front.

We headed to the causeway for bait, and put everyone in Butch's boat so that he and I could use my boat for castnetting. The wind was blowing so hard that handling the boat under the bridge was nearly impossible. Throwing the net was very difficult, too, and I ruined it in the pilings, tearing a huge hole in it. We only managed to catch maybe two dozen bait. Certainly not enough for a day of fishing.

I had stopped and gotten hand picked shrimp as a backup, as I feared bait would be a problem with the passing of the first big cold front of the year. Butch had to go to Sanibel Harbor to buy shrimp, as there had been no place for him to get them coming from St. James City.

We were off, and the boys wanted to basically stay close to each other in our boats. I tried fishing some of my favorite, most productive winter potholes, some deep cuts, and good trout flats, all with the same results. Fishing was very tough and slow. Howard and Steven managed one redfish, about a dozen or so trout, a flounder, a ladyfish, and a key west grunt. Realistically, about as good as we could expect on such a miserable day. I guess Butch and the boys did about the same overall. We had fun, but I think everyone was glad to get back to the dock and work on getting warm.

Although the weather was better on Friday for Glen Maijer, his wife Cathy, and dad Pete, the fishing wasn't. We headed to the causeway for bait, where Glen took the helm of the Talon. I was also armed with nice shrimp, jigs, trollrites, etc. We managed to get enough bait to fish with.

I suggested to Glen that we try our luck with redfish in one of my favorite winter areas where the big reds often congregate on the super low tides. Redfish were about the only thing we could keep considering that snook and trout are still both closed.

The reds were there where I thought they'd be. I made eyeball contact with them more than once. I chummed and moved and chummed and moved, but we could only get one red to eat. Cathy caught a beautiful 26 inch fish that gave her a hell of a fight. I urged patience, as it is often rewarded with the reds in such conditions, but the fish never turned on in spite of my efforts. Finally, we opted for trout fishing just to get some action going. The gang caught a dozen or so, plus a couple of other fish I don't recall.

Once the action slowed we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for a great lunch. They are masters at putting the perfect finishing touch on a fishing trip with great food, great service, and great atmosphere.

I'm beginning the New Year with a full week on the books. But, I don't trust this weather. We'll se what happens.

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 1/5/2002 by Capt. Butch Rickey

The operative word for this whole week has been "bad weather". We've had several days of rain, and it's generally been ugly and cold.

My good friend John Hitt and I were to fish Monday and Tuesday. We were rained out Monday and rescheduled for Wednesday. We managed to get a trip in Tuesday, but it was your basic stinker. The fish just did not want to eat, other than ladyfish. We caught plenty of them up the river on DOA Terroreyez. We went in search of trout, which are now back in season, and couldn't even catch a keeper or two for John's dinner. We only managed half dozen fish, or so. It was an awful day. We fished hard pulling out all the stops, and fished vast areas without so much as a look.

Wednesday, John and I were rained out, again.

Thursday, I was to fish with my old friend Bob Rose, who had been force to quit fishing with me because the old BarHopp'R was just too rough on his very bad back. Bob was ready for his first trip on the Talon, and I couldn't wait to get him out there and demonstrate the airshock ride of the F-16. I know he would have found it very much to his liking. But, Bob woke up Thursday morning with a case of the flu, and was throwing up sick. I was very disappointed that I didn't get to see him.

Friday was the charm. It was my first trip with Malcom Chatham, over from Houston, Texas. Malcom is getting back into fishing. It was God-awful cold Friday morning, but Malcom said he was not going to be denied.

We went up the river to catch ladyfish both for fun, to get warmed up, and for redfish bait if we decided to go after reds, later. I observed that there was no traffic on the river because of the cold. I suggested we fish the steep banks of the river for snook, but made no guarantees we would get any snook to eat. Well, it didn't take Malcom long to hook a beautiful snook, and after a great fight and some coaching, we put her in the boat. She was nearly 8 pounds, and a nice reward for going out on such a miserable day. We fished the river for a while, waiting on the incoming tide to put some water in the Sound. It was one of the lowest tides I have ever seen. There was land everywhere!

Finally, we worked our way up the Sound looking for trout, with no success. I told Malcom I wanted to attempt to get into an area where the water was so low that we'd have a captive audience if I could get the boat in there. I didn't know if I'd be able to. It took about a half hour at idle, bobbing and weaving, dodging debris, but we finally got in. The ride was worth it, because as soon as the water began moving, we were catching fish. Using the Terroreyez and shrimp moved slowly with a Trollrite jig, we caught at least 15 redfish, 1 couple of real nice trout, and a nice flounder. I had several snook follows on a red and white Yozuri Crystal Minnow, but they just wouldn't eat. Malcom had enough fish to feed his gang, and we had a great time.

Like I said, it was a week lost to weather, and it doesn't look much better for next week.

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