Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
May 22, 2005
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDIGN 5/21/05 by Capt. Butch Rickey

Fishing this week was not easy. Although we had tides with good height, they were slow tides without much strength. In our area, a tide that only moves a foot over a six hour period, is a slow tide. Most often, those tides bring slow fishing.

On Monday, I had my first trip with Peter Karas, of Peninsula, Ohio. I met Pete at the Waterfront Restaurant at 6:30 AM, and we were off to Picnic Island to catch bait. The bait at Picnic continued to be easy and beautiful.

We had one of the toughest tides of the week to fish, with no water moving after about ten o'clock, or so. I decided to fish an area that I really enjoy fishing, and really work it hard. We never got a hot bite going in any particular spot, but caught a few fish here and there, and had a fun time fishing and getting to know each other. Pete was fun to have in the boat.

We kept at it, and by the time it was time for lunch, Pete had caught 8 snook, 8 redfish, and two very nice speckled trout. We headed back to the Waterfront, where we had a great lunch before parting company. It was a good day.

I had Tuesday and Wednesday off, as often the days with the really ugly tides don't book. Thursday morning, I met my old friend Dr. John Hitt at his dock at 7:30, and we headed down the river looking a beautiful day right in the face. We stopped at Picnic Island, for what we thought would be the customary easy bait. We caught perhaps a handful of shiners, and then nothing. The bait just wouldn't come to us. I was baffled. What could have happened to all that bait in two days?

We moved on to the Chino Island flats, where the result was the same. We got a handful of shiners, and they then disappeared. It was very strange. Our morning was quickly becoming an Easter Egg hunt! We moved on to the flats at Kiesel's, feeling sure there would be bait there, but after considerable chumming, we had nothing much for our efforts. I decided to call my good friend Rey Rodriguez to see if he'd had problems with bait earlier in the morning. I thought perhaps our later start may have been the problem. Rey said that he'd only caught a handful of big threadfins for his tarpon trip, but that he'd heard there was great bait stacked up on a bar north of where we were. Getting love on chum and energy, we went straight there.

There was bait flicking and spraying everywhere. It was a beautiful sight. I hadn't been up to this flat for biat in at least a year, Possibly longer. The water was gin clear, so I decided to go ahead and chum to get the bait in close to us in that clear water. Some of the other boats were chasing around on their trolling motors casting their nets, but that's a hard way to do it. Well, it didn't take long before John and I were hi-fiving and thanking God for the tip from Rey. We might have run out of chum before we wound up there on our own.

Now, the question would be could we get anything to eat all this beautiful bait we had. The answer was, it wasn't easy. We headed to a spot where the redfish have been good one day, and gone the next to see if we could scare up some action. There was a flats boat I didn't recognize in the area I wanted to fish, so we quietly took up position on another part of the flat far enough away as to not threated the other boat. I think John had caught one snook when the boys in the other boat signaled us to come join them. They had just hooked up two nice reds.

I was surprised and pleased that the guys had invited us in, as I do the same thing all the time. I would never approach a boat that was catching without knowing the anglers and knowing I was welcome, or without being invited. We took up position about the length of a good cast off their right side, and began chumming. We learned that the were fishing in a tournament, and were about to move on in search of a trout.

John and I were treated to a short, but sweet bite, during which John boated 8 nice redfish. My friend Capt. Mark Westra joined us shortly after we got the fish going, but for some strange reason couldn't get the reds to eat his offerings. It all came to an end, though, when another boat came onto the flat using his Johnson motor because he didn't even have a trolling motor. He kept repeatedly starting his engine and moving around, and needless to say, the fishing was over. He appeared to know, or be working with Mark. I don't know what was going on there, but he needs to get the tools of the flats if he's going to fish them.

John and I fished a whle longer, and finally got a trout to give John the Slam, but the handwriting was on the wall. The bite was over for the day. Actually, it had been a pretty good recovery from the tough start we had with bait. We didn't wet a line before 10:30 that morning, and we had some nice redfish for dinner.

We decided we'd save our bait and try sending out some scouts in John's marina, to see if there were any snook there that would eat. We were pleased to see several of our live chummers get eaten, and John soon had a bait in the water while I tried to hold the boat in position in the wind with the trolling motor. As I recall, John had several blows on his bait wihtout hooking up, but finally did battle with a nice snook. He did a great job of maneuvering the fish around the pilings as I worked the trolling motor double-time trying to give him the best position on the fish. It was a perfect way to end the day, and I suspect John and I will always same some bait for a last call on snook at the marina.

Friday was a fun day with Jim Henderson, and his lifetime friend Bruce Colpo, of Pittsburg, PA. Jim and I had fished last back in December, 2003, and Jim was quick to remind me that we had began the day in 47 degree, cold, blowing weather that day, and there was no bait. Our temperature was in the low 70's on this morning, so we were leaps and bounds ahead of last time! About the only way we wouldn't outdo the last trip, would be if we managed to get skunked on the fish.

We headed north to the same area where John and I had finally gotten bait the day before, and although the bait was up and flicking all over, it was there in great numbers. With a little chumming, we were loaded up and ready to fish.

Although I didn't really think that would happen, the fishing was definitely tough. But, it was fun as hell. Jim is a big, ex-college lineman that's pretty easy going, and Bruce is a bit opinionated, and crazy as hell. I liked him immediately, and knew he would keep the day interesting.

We fished hard, and I got a kick out of watching Jim and Bruce go after each other every time one of them caught a fish, or missed a fish. Bruce seemed to have the hottest rod, but they both kept whittling away at it, and by the time we were fished out and hungry, the boys had boated 5 redfish, 5 snook, and 2 nice trout. Not a stellar day by our standards, but not bad under the circumstances. And, Jim and Bruce were quick to point out to me that when they rent a boat and go out on their own, they don't catch much, at all.

We ended what had been a great day back at the Waterfront Restaurant. Jim said he wanted to try this place he'd read about for so long. We had a great lunch, and plenty more laughs, and Jim and Bruce really liked the place and the food. It IS a great place!

Saturday morning I met John Hitt at his dock, along with his old friend Tom Yocum, who had gone fishing with John and me once before. Tom had recently retired from banking in Orlando, and bought a beautiful World Cat, offshore boat. He's a lot of fun, and John told me that he was really looking forward to coming along on this trip.

We headed down the river, and right on up to the same bar where bait had been great. It was the same as the day before. Tons of bait, but we had to chum it in to us. It didn't take long to load the big well in John's Coastline.

I told John that I had found two schools of redfish the day before right at the top of the tide, but wasn't able to catch any of them. I know redfish, and I knew they'd be right back on that flat. I also knew that there had been no redfish caught on the flat where we'd been successful a few days earlier. So, John and Tom were all for beginning there at my recommendation.

I had feared that with a tournament going on, and the weekend traffic, the whole Sound would look like a parking lot, but there were relatively few boats within our sight, and no one around where I wanted to fish. We fished our way onto the flat where I'd found the school, and it wasn't too long before we had redfish busting my live chum. I knew we were on the school, and I knew it was big. But, after catching perhaps a half dozen of them, they quit on us. We fished all around the area, chumming as we went, trying to get them jump-started, again. But, they weren't interested. We did manage one snook there before we left.

I headed across the Sound to a different neighborhood. That was when we realized that all the boats were apparently on that side, fishing. Boats were everywhere. We hit a couple of spots without so much as a hit, other than a catfish. So, I decided a long ride and a long shot were in order. I drove us to a spot where I've both caught and seen lots of snook on the days when they didn't eat, and knew there were lots of big females hanging around. I also knew that for some reason, this place gets better current flow around it than most of the keys seem to. It is a place where I've scored good bites on poor tides, so it was a good candidate for us, now.

Our first setup produced nothing, and I began to wonder if we would catch anything at all, there. I moved us down to where I always see the big females cruising, and Bamm! A nice redfish on the first cast. The next cast produced a wild strike and a nice jumping snook that Tom beat down just like a pro. At last! We had a bite on snook. It lasted for about an hour, during which time Tom and John did CPR on a number of nice snook, and that keeper red.

The last spot had been the charm, and rolled what had been a very slow day into a pretty good day for a Saturday with a weak tide. We decided we'd toss some more baits in the Marina, again, to see if we could pick up one last snook or two. I held us in position against a piling while John sent out some scouts. We finally saw one of them get into trouble, and John soon had a bait with a hook in it on the spot. The snook came up and chased the bait around a couple of times, but never did eat. John had a busy afternoon, so we called it a day. And, a fun day it had been.

I've got a full week next week, and the tides are getting a little higher and stronger each day. Hopefully, next week's report will be full of big numbers. Stay tuned.

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