Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
December 2, 2002
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 11/30/2002 by Capt. Butch Rickey

Weather was once again a factor in this week’s fishing. Although we caught lots of fish, fishing for the glamour species, redfish and snook, was tough, indeed.

Monday was my first outing with Mike Lawton and his ten year old son, Stephen. We left the dock at 10:30, in an effort to optimize the incoming tide. The wind was west/northwest at ten, and the high was to be 78. Knowing that bait would likely be tough to non-existent, I stopped and bought shrimp, but they were dreadfully small. We chummed several spots at Picnic Island with no luck, and wound up going to the second span of the causeway, where I netted enough threadfins for a day of fishing.

We headed up into the Sound, and it seemed there were more boats out than on a weekend. Everywhere I wanted to go, there was a boat sitting on the flat that would keep me from entering on the ultra low tide without making someone mad. So, I headed north. There was very little water. After an hour or more fishing a series of potholes around a mangrove key without so much as a nibble, we headed back south.

We managed to catch a lot of trout in the potholes, but only got one snook in all the other places we fished. They just didn’t want to eat. We actually got the best fish of the day at what I call my “19th Hole” along the way home. Mike got a 30 inch snook on one of the threadfin herring, and I felt damned lucky to have caught that.

Tuesday, I was the number two boat in another trip with Capt. Gary Nucci. We had two young couples, who Gary said just wanted to get out and try to catch some fish, and it wasn’t important what. They decided to have the guys go with Gary, and the gals, Brook Hawley and her friend Laura, go with me. That was great by me. Gary said he had planned to just buy shrimp and primarily trout fish. So, I bought shrimp and brought a tackle bag full of everything under the sun. We left the docks at 8 AM with a 15 knot breeze blowing out of the northeast.

I made a run to the causeway to see if I could mark any bait on the fishfinder there. I didn’t see anything. I elected to stop at Chino, where I knew there would be plenty of pinfish, and catch some of those as an alternative to shrimp. In a couple of throws we had about a hundred, and were off.

Because the tide was falling, we went snook fishing first. We pitched pinfish and shrimp, and even some lures in some great snook holes without so much as a look. Brook did land one nice redfish, and was amazed at the pull it had in the deeper water we were in.

As the water got down past mean low water, we turned our attention to fishing for trout in the potholes. As the girls fished with shrimp and pinfish, I experimented with jigs until I found the combination that really caught fish. It was a green Bass Assassin on a chartreuse head, and once I had all three of us throwing that, we were catching trout three at a time. Many of the fish were small, but as we backed them into the corner of the pothole, we began catching bigger fish. We caught so many that the girls became bored with it, and asked if we could go snook fishing.

We headed up the river, which was so full of big cruisers it looked like I-75 covered with semis. Not where I like to fish, but I figured it was our best shot at getting a nice snook under bad conditions. We began with live bait, but I eventually switched them to DOA Terror-Eyez, and we managed to catch a couple of big river jacks. Lots of fun.

We had planned to go back to the Waterfront for lunch, but I folded the edge of one of my propeller blades somewhere along the way, and the prop was vibrating badly. It probably happened as I left the potholes we were trout fishing, as I thought I would not make it through the super skinny water. I knew running the motor with such a vibration could be very bad, so we elected to go straight back to the dock. Anyway, Brook’s redfish seemed to be the fish of the day back at the docks, and everyone had a good time.

Wednesday, I was joined by my good friend Dr. John Hitt, of UCF in Orlando. He brought along his friend Dino. We elected to get an early start, and pulled out at 6 AM. I headed to an offshore marker to see if we could find shiners there. We anchored and chummed, but never saw the first bait. From there we went to the beach of Sanibel, and caught maybe a dozen small baits. Nothing more. We came back inside to the third span of the causeway, where there were quite a few boats trying to catch bait, and were loaded in two throws of my net. It was nice to have a well full of assorted shiners, along with some big threadfins.

We headed up into the Sound, and on the falling tide we worked a large area that offered good moving water. At one spot we had a lot of hits, missed several, and lost a couple of fish, but managed to catch a couple of nice snook and large trout. John broke off a nice fish, which had us thinking his 10 pound Power Pro must have been nicked on something.

As the tide got to it’s lowest point, we turned our attention to trout, which John loves to fish, and caught a bunch of them on the same jigs as the day before. I urged that we leave the area before it cost me another $500 prop!!

I was to fish with Bob Smollen and his son, who was in from Orlando, on Friday, but the weather was cold and blowing, and we figured we had a better shot at good weather if we fished on Saturday. Yes, I will do that for my regular friends and customers.

It was still a brisk day, but much nicer that Friday. The wind was down. We headed to the third span of the causeway in search of bait, and I loaded the boat on the first throw! Although I hate catching bait around the causeway, you have to love it when it’s that easy!!

We headed up into the Sound in search of snook, but the water temperature in the bay is getting dangerously close to 60, and seems to have put the snook in a hybernative state. They’re just not hardly eating. We did find some nice fat trout in the snook hole, though, that Bob was happy with. The next snook hole again yielded some very nice trout to about 4.5 pounds. No snook! We did have one on, but it got away, denying us of our Slam.

We decided to try for some reds, as we’d caught a bunch the last time we were out, and Bob liked that. We found plenty of redfish on our first stop, but they were so spooky you couldn’t get close to them. The water was glass slick, and it was bright and sunny. A tough combination. We couldn’t get a fish to eat, so I moved to another area that always has reds, but offers a bit more cover. There we again found plenty of redfish. Bob’s son got the first one by making a beautiful cast in front of several cruising fish. One ate, and it was great! We caught a couple more nice reds just before the tide quit running, and it was over for the morning.

Winter is definitely here, folks. The water is unseasonably cold, and is taking it’s toll on snook fishing. That’s not likely to change until we get enough of a warming trend to warm the water some. In the meantime, we’ll have to settle for lots of big trout and great trout action, and redfish, jacks, ladyfish, flounder, and the like. Geez! That’s not so bad, is it?

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