Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
January 3, 2006
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 12/31/05 by Capt. Butch Rickey

Although my friend John Hitt and I were to fish three days during the Christmas week, cold weather kept up at home for one of them. Our mission on both days was to scout for big trout, as the trout season opened up on January 1st, and we wanted to be assured of putting our limits of trout into the well of John’s Coastline.

We were supposed to begin our quest on Tuesday, but we’d just had another cold front pass, and the temps Tuesday morning we in the low 40’s, the wind was up from the north, and there was still a threat of showers. Worse, the water temperature was at 60 degrees, and we knew it was pretty pointless to be out there under such conditions.

We hit the water Wednesday morning all bundled up in longjohns, lined jackets, wool gloves, and warm hats. Properly dressed for the high humidity cold of Florida, we were pretty comfortable. I decided to begin our exploration out at the edge of the flats that run between Punta Rassa and Ft. Myers Beach. We had a very low tide, and the flats were all exposed, but I reasoned that we might find nice fish laid up in the deeper waters just off the flats, waiting on the incoming tide. I hadn’t fished the area in many years, as it’s pretty much the domain of wade fishermen.

We worked our way along on the wind and tide with no action for some time. But, as we got up closer to the drop off the flats John began to strike pay-dirt. John was throwing his old faithful white curlytail jig. Once we found the fish, John quickly had a double limit of trout to his credit. Of course, we couldn’t keep any of them, but we were glad to know the fish were there. But, oddly they seemed to be hold up in just one small part of the whole area that was about a half mile long. Once we were out of the area, we caught some smaller fish, and some ladyfish, but no keeper trout.

We fished our way down the shoreline until the tide covered things up. We didn’t find any more keeper fish, but headed for home happy that we had one spot that was holding nice fish.

We again altered our schedule because of weather, and opted to stay at home Thursday, fish Friday as planned, and then fish Monday, January 2nd. weather permitting. Friday was a beautiful day, and considerably warmer. The water temperature was up to around 63. We decided to work our way north in the Sound looking for keeper trout. Our first stop was at Long Cut, which normally y is full of trout by this time of year. We did manage to catch a few trout and a gag grouper, but did not find the hot bite or plentiful keepers we were looking for.

I decided to fish another area that I hadn’t fished during the winter in years. It had been one of my favorite areas to fish years ago, when there is no water in the Sound. I guess I quit fishing it when I discovered how productive pothole fishing can be. But, one of the problems we would have on the opening day of trout season was the tide. It would be extremely low for most of the morning, with a -0.9 before any wind effect! We figured if we got into a pothole while we could, and we found no fish, we would be stuck there for hours before we’d have enough water to move. So, we were looking for alternative places to fish.

The area we chose was around McKeever Keys. There is a deep trough on the east side of the Keys that has water on those extreme low tides, and used to offer great trout fishing, along with some redfish, ladyfish, flounder, and gag grouper. I took the boat in to the area, since John was not familiar with it on low water. We went without a bite for the first half hour or so, but then got into some nice fish. We caught plenty of keeper trout, a grouper, a jack, and a flounder. Still, the trout at Punta Rassa seemed to be larger and more plentiful.

We decided to cross the Sound and check out some of my favorite potholes in the Buck Key area. I’d checked the holes a few weeks ago, and hadn’t had a bite. But, the holes are usually full of outsized winter trout going from 3 to 5 pounds. We fished a series of holes very hard, and caught one trout. It was a keeper, but the fish just don’t seem to be there this year, for reasons I don’t know. Perhaps many of those outsized fish were victims of the red tide.

I asked John if he wanted to see if we could find a redfish or two to take home for dinner. He was all for that. So, we headed back across the Sound to see if we could find a school. And, find them I did in the first place we stopped. We had big spawning sized reds all over the flats. I hooked one not long after we began working the flat, but he managed to free himself before I could get the rod into John’s hands. I had forgotten to tighten the drag from the very light trout setting, and when I stuck the fish, there was too much drag slippage. I made eye contact with lots of nice reds, but we could not get another fish to eat a spoon before the tide quit moving. We would have to go home without a red.

But, our mission was accomplished. We had a bead on two good spots where we were confident we could quickly boat a couple of limits of trout for John and me. They’re delicate, and mighty fine eating. And, John and I decided that weather permitting, we would return to the Punta Rassa flats on Monday for our limit of keepers.

This report is late because of the holidays falling on the weekend. I still want to wish everyone a safe, healthy, happy, prosperous, and productive 2006. And, most of all, I want to thank each and every one of you, my loyal customers and friends who make it possible for me to stay in this business that I love so much, even in the face of all the adversities we’ve faced in the last several years. Sadly, there have been some very good guides forced to leave the business during 2005. I thank God and all of you I was not one of them.

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