Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
November 6, 2005
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 11/5/05 by Capt. Butch Rickey

This week was booked out long ago, but in the wake of Wilma Monday and Tuesday were canceled for better days. After reading that Tuesday had been canceled, my old friends Rod and Judy Heflin emailed and said they had decided they'd like to give it a try, even though we really didn't' know what to expect. As Tuesday rolled around the weather forecast for the day had degenerated into an iffy one. The forecast was for rain beginning in the late morning, and thunderstorms late into the night. But, as I left the house that morning for St. James City, there was light drizzle on my windshield. The drizzle turned into bona fide rain as I got to Pine Island. It was enough to make you miserable on a morning the temps were in the low 60's. So, Rod, Judy and I drank coffee and played on the computers until after ten o'clock, and I headed home.

Wednesday dawned bright and beautiful for Sonny Stelmak and his son Scott. Sonny and I had fished together a couple of Mays back, and had a great time that included his biggest red of 16 pounds. I told Sonny that I'd only been out once since Wilma, and didn't really know what to expect. Bait had been all but non-existent by most accounts, and the water temperature had been knocked down some 10 to 12 degrees.

I decided to start looking for bait at Picnic Island. My records show that we're usually getting plenty of bait there in two or three throws this time of year, although it hadn't been there before Wilma. My plan was to chum my way north and hope to find somewhere along the way. But, once we got situated away from the strongest of the outgoing tide, we soon had lots of shiners and pinfish gathering for a party in our chum. The shiners were mixed in size, and we had plenty for both fishing and chumming in just a few throws.

We got to our first spot just before the low tide at 8:30. Oddly enough, we caught some very nice trout at the first spot until the tide was done. I expected a strong bite once the tide began coming in, but it didn't materialize. We moved on to chase snook.

At the next spot we did find some snook, but it wasn't the hot bite I thought we'd have. We had a pretty good bite for a while, but it didn't last all that long. After an hour or so, we moved on. I decided to run north in search of redfish and snook. As we rode along, I decided to look at the 40 Acre Bay area, which I hadn't fished in a long time. Suddenly, as I skimmed along in about a foot of water, there were redfish pushing everywhere!

I shut the Talon down and had just enough water to run the trolling motor to circle around and take up position on the fish. I knew they'd settle down in 15 to 20 minutes and go back to eating, assuming they were eating before. I set up and began putting out cut and live chum, and put out several rigs with cut and live pinfish. Right on schedule, we got the first take. The first nice red was in the boat, and the Slam was achieved! We caught several before the wind, in an effort to turn and make a seabreeze, began messing with us. It began flip-flopping about 45 degrees, and driving me nuts. In our kind of fishing, you must be able to hold your position on the hole. I moved several times, and every time I did, the wind would flip again. We moved on.

At the last area we fished, we found more snook, and another redfish. The first couple of stops in the area were fruitless, but we got back into the fish and finished the day on a high point. As I was getting the boat ready for the ride home, a little alarm went off in my mind. Something didn't feel right. I had several nice, fat trout in the well, along with a limit of redfish. But, what was the date? It was November 2! Geez! I forgot that our new trout rules a couple years ago closed the season beginning November 1st. It's hard to remember that we have a closed season on trout, after never having had one ever before. So, after some explanation, we freed the trout, which were quite healthy and revitalized in the well, if a big lost! We were glad we'd gotten our limit of redfish, as the boys were looking forward to a fish dinner for everyone.

It had been a very good day when I had expected the worst. We guides can usually forecast with very good accuracy what the fishing will be like, once we have all the pertinent data; tide, moon phase, time of year, wind, and weather. It was nice to get it wrong this time.

I'd been waiting on my Thursday trip for some time. It was with my old friends Darrin and Julie May, and their three year old son, Carson, of New Prague, Minnesota. Our friendship began years ago when they came to the islands for their honeymoon. They had booked a trip with me as part of their wedding adventure, and the weather was horrible the morning we were to fish. It was blowing and raining and storming the morning we met at the Sanibel Ramp. We called the trip, and decided to go to the Split Rail on San Carlos Blvd, for breakfast. Well, we wound up sitting there and laughing and carrying on for some four hours, at least. We had a ball, and it was the start of a great friendship.

We were supposed to fish around this time last year, but as you might remember, hurricane Charley

came through and greatly modified the landscape and our lifestyles. July and Darrin decided to go to the Keys, instead. But, they said it just wasn't the same, and they would never do that, again.

Our day was finally here, and I was hopeful that the fishing would be as good as the day before. We had a big winter low tide that morning, and as I put the Talon in the water I forgot about how slick and slippery everything is once it's exposed by the low tide. As I stepped down onto the 3 x 6 beam to lower myself into the boat, my Reef clad right foot slipped off and into the inside of the beam, which is covered with large oysters and barnacles. It carved up the inside of my foot from toe to above my ankle, and made hamburger out of it.

by the time I got my composure and got the Talon tied up, I had blood all over the boat, and my flip-flop was blood soaked. I hobbled to the restroom building and washed out my shoe and cleaned my wounds. I wrapped my foot in a towel to try to stop the bleeding. I had just gotten it stopped when Julie, Darrin, and Carson showed up. Once we got our hugs and hellos done, Julie was fast administering first aid to me with a medicated liquid Band-Aid. We were good to go, ready to rock.

We headed straight for the Picnic Island flats where bait had been so good the day before. It took a little longer that the day before, but we got plenty of bait. Unlike on Wednesday, we didn't catch many of the bigger shiners, for some reason. Little Carson seemed to be fascinated with the goings on, and was having fun.

The tide was still falling when we got to our first stop. Unlike many kids his young age, Carson was just fine with the ride to the fishing grounds. Once we were there, he was excited to watch Darrin and I catching trout, and we even helped him reel in a trout or two. Julie has a medical condition that makes it hard for her to stand for any length of time, so she was quite happy to sit and enjoy the day and the beautiful surroundings. She also kept a watchful eye on Carson.

We fished that spot until the tide was done, and began coming in. But, surprisingly the incoming tide didn't bring the hot bite I expected. We moved on, and turned our attention to snook. But, the snook didn't want to play, either. In fact, nothing wanted to play for the rest of the day. From that point on it was very tough fishing. I found the redfish hold up on the same flat as the day before, but they wouldn't eat. We managed a snook or two along the way at Benedict Key. And, later on the tide we had four or five good hits, and Darrin hooked a big snook that rubbed through the leader before he could get her to the boat. Those hits came on a ladyfish we caught early in the morning, and steaked up for bait.

It was a good day of fishing, but a tough day for catching. But, the four of us had a blast together. And, the biggest surprise was that little Carson never made the first whimper all day long. He was the perfect little gentleman. He even took a nap at one point, and didn't even wake up when I cranked the Yamaha and moved us several miles to a different area. It was a day that I hated to see end, but we all figured Carson couldn't possibly last too much longer. We headed home. I tried to get Carson to stand between my legs and "drive" the boat, but I think he was too tired. He just retreated into his life preserver and didn't make a peep all the way home.

Back safely at the ramp we made plans to take Julie and Carson shelling in the coming week, and to go out to dinner one night.

I was looking forward to Friday's trip with my old friend Bo Mack, of West Suffield, Connecticut, as much as I had to Thursday's trip. Bo is a great, fun guy, and I love being on the water with him. We've had some great fun, and unforgettable times over the years. More often than not, I manage to damage my body in some way when we're out together. I told him that I'd already done the damage to my foot the day before, so we wouldn't have to worry about it. In fact, I wore long pants, heavy socks, and real shoes so that if I slipped again, I'd have something between me and the oysters.

Bo's daughter Erin and her husband Wayne McGuire came along on this trip. They have recently moved to Bradenton, Florida, about a hundred miles up the road. Over the years I've met all but now just one of Bo's four kids.

There wasn't a lot of water movement when we got to Picnic Island, although there should have been according to the tide chart. It took a little while to get the bait chummed in, but once we did, we got great bait. It was a good mix of small to medium shiners, threadfins, and pinfish. We were set for a day of fishing.

With the high pressure and blue-bird skies built in, I fully expected more of the lockjaw I had experienced the day before with the Mays. But, it's hard to second-guess Mother Nature sometime. We had a good bite all day long.

At our first stop, a spot where both snook and big trout share the same water in the spring and fall, both were there and willing to eat. We caught plenty of big, fat trout. Very likely a limit of keepers for three people. And, the snook were on, too. Bo got the first several snook, all of which were right at the 26 inch limit. Wayne got one or two there, and I even had one smash a bait right at the boat as I was about to reel it out of the water. What a surprise. It's not often you see a snook get that close to a boat. Bo also caught a nice redfish that was sharing the hole, and it went into the well. That gave Bo the West Coast Slam in that hole!

Suffice to say that was a good hole. As the action there slowed, I asked the gang if they wanted to go for more snook, or go for grouper. The vote was for grouper. Erin loves grouper, and she was the first to vote. Once we were positioned to fish our structure, we never moved. We had a great bite there, and caught a bunch of gag grouper and several jewfish. The gang probably broke off as many as they caught. Those fish are so quick and strong that they have you turned around and into the rocks before you can blink. It's high intensity fishing, because you have to pay attention every second, and spring into action instantly to turn the fish, or you loose the battle. It's retie time! Everyone eventually got the hang of it, and Bo got the grouper of the day at 22 inches. Most of them have moved offshore by the time they're that big.

We spent the rest of the day right there. Bo commented that I had never taken him grouper fishing before, and that it was a lot of fun. I told him I still had other surprises up my sleeve.

Tired and hungry, we headed to the Waterfront Restaurant. Bo loves the place, as most everyone does, and it was the first trip there for Wayne and Erin. After some good eats and some libations, we headed home, basking in the glow of a great day on the water.

We have a week of tough tides next week. Hard to say what the fishing will be like. But, the weather promises to be great. This was a great week, and I thank my friends that come and fish with me year after year.

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