Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
February 26, 2006
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 2/25/06 by Capt. Butch Rickey

It was to be a five day work week, but Dr. John Hitt was forced to cancel our trip on Sunday because of his ever changing duties as president of University of Central Florida. I also moved my Monday customer, Jared Larson, to Wednesday in an effort to get us into better weather and warmer water temperatures. It was a very unusual week in that everyone except for John Hitt was a new customer. It turned out to be a week filled with great people and good fishing, cool mornings and wonderfully warm afternoons.

As I waited on my customers, Andy Mount, and his daughters Rachel and Stephanie, of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, guide after guide pulled in to the dock shaking their heads "no" to the bait situation. No one that I saw or talked to got any bait at the causeway. So, my decision was made. Lures!

As we made our way up into the Sound many boats were still under the causeway trying to catch bait. We settled on a series of potholes on the east side and went to work getting everyone checked out on how to use the open face spinning reels, how to cast long distances, and how to work the Exude RT Slugs we were using for bait. The girls caught on quickly.

But, we were greeted by a slow bite brought on by still cool water temps and a very slow moving incoming tide. As the tide goes, so goeth the fishing! We worked from pothole to pothole, and managed to catch a few trout, but I couldn't find the hot bite I was looking for. We were looking for stupid fish that didn't know the rules. When I decided to make a drastic move to a new neighborhood, we had one keeper in the well.

We headed across to the Sanibel side where there are plenty of potholes. Some are very productive, some aren't. We worked several potholes and caught a few fish, but then all of sudden we were on a hot bite on a series of two or three holes. We caught a bunch of beautiful speckled trout and filled the well. That was good because we had orders from headquarters to send the gang home with fish for dinner. By the time the bite slowed down, the girls were getting tired. They were already somewhat fried from being out in the sun all day the day before, and were ready to call it a day. It had begun slowly, but had turned into a fun and productive day.

On Wednesday, I was honored to guide Jared and Shannon Larson, a newlywed couple from Crawfordville, Florida, up in the panhandle. Our conditions were about the same as the day before, and I expected the results would be, as well. The news on bait was the same. But, we were all figuring that any day there would be bait back around the causeway.

I picked Jared and Shannon up at the Waterfront Restaurant, and we headed up into the Sound to the east side for more pothole fishing on another slow moving incoming tide. Predictably, everywhere we went we were greeted with slow action. We caught a few fish, but weren't setting the world on fire. It was time for a neighborhood change, and there seemed no better choice than the holes where we'd gotten into great action the day before.

We worked the holes hard, and finally found some nice sized trout that would bite, but it wasn't the hot bite of the day before. We did fill the food order, though. And, with dinner for everyone safely in the well and the bite slowing, we decided to go chase some skinny water redfish.

I saw snook and redfish laid up on the shallow bare bottom flats as I made my approach. They were just sunning themselves. I had retied three of the Stellas with silver and gold spoons, which are great baits with which to find redfish in the shallows. Generally, if they'll eat, they'll take a spoon placed well out from the boat.

And, it wasn't long before we stuck the first fish in a very slight depression in the flat. And, then another. And, another. But we weren't doing a good job of keeping them hooked. In all, I think we stuck about 7 reds, including a couple Shannon had take a jig, but we only managed to boat one. I think we actually spooked out school off the depression they were on, and we were not able to find them, again. Or, at least they wouldn't eat, again.

It had been a great day on the water with some fellow Floridians, who shared some common interests. And, Jared and Shannon were quite a pair. It was fun to watch them cut up with each other. We headed back to the Waterfront Restaurant, where we enjoyed a great lunch. Afterward, they gave Jared some plastic bags for him to put his mess of trout in to get them back up to Bokeelia.

I got up really early Thursday morning. I couldn't sleep, anyway. I was thinking about bait, and thinking it should be showing up. After nearly two hours of tossing and turning, I bounced out of bed at just before 5 AM, and got going. I was fueled, loaded, and in the water before 6 AM, and off to the causeway under cover of darkness.

I hadn't thrown the net since the cold weather set in and ran it all off the flats. I HATE catching bait around the causeway. It's dangerous, and you never know if it's going to take one throw or thirty throws of your net to catch bait, if you catch it at all. But, I was ready to try, because you just can't beat live bait for putting bait in the boat, except during the cold of winter. It was warming up, and I suspected that any live bait that hit the water would be greeted with open mouths.

I threw and threw the net, getting sometimes one threadfin, sometimes several, but most of the time none. After some thirty throws, I had about two dozen baits in the well, and I'd been at it for about an hour and a half. I had to get back to pick up my customers, Jim Turman and Craig Meyer, of Manchester, Iowa. I feared they were already there at the dock waiting on me. I did manage to beat them by just minutes, though. Construction on Summerlin Road had them tied up and running late.

Our tide was somewhat better than the last few day in the early part of the morning, but lousy in the afternoon. I was anxious to get out there with our bait to see what would happen. We headed up to the east side of the Sound to a hole I hadn't fished with bait since last year. Our breeze was southerly, signaling the approach of another front.

From the first bait that hit the water to the last that we had, the action was great! The hole, normally full of snook, was also full of outsized speckled trout. In fact, there were so many trout there that it was hard to get a bait in front of a more cautious snook. But Jim and Craig did manage to catch two or three among all the big trout. Soon, we were down to nothing but a mutton minnow, which was a first choice bait when I was a kid. I put that out, and it was also devoured, but we were busy and didn't see the hit. Now we would have to fish lures, but we had a well full of beautiful trout for Jim and Craig to take back to the girls for dinner. It was funny that the bite seemed to be slowing as we ran out of bait.

We moved on, and would finish the day out with lures. we did catch a few more nice trout with Exude Slugs, but were never able to get a big bite going, again. I think it was the tide as much as anything. Toward the end of the day we went spooning for redfish on the flat where I'd found them the day before. I knew they would be there, but didn't know if we could get them to eat.

The three of us couldn't believe what happened. We had been at it for half hour or so, and I had just gotten a good hit on a silver spoon, and didn't get connected. It was a red for sure, and the weedguard was mangled. We had seen a contraption of a looking deckboat making its way ever closer toward us, and now it was getting far too close. They were trying to start the engine. You could here it sputter and die, sputter and die. They kept making their way closer to us, still screwing with the engine. I shouted to them to head a different direction. It wasn't like there was a wind blowing them to us, or something. They asked for a two, and said they were out of gas. My guys said not on their dime, and I shouted back that I was on a charter.

Suddenly, they got their engine started, and took off right across our fish. As you might expect, we had a verbal exchange, but they were just clueless and just didn't care about anyone but themselves. That's an all too prevalent attitude everywhere you turn, these days. So, needless to say our redfishing was over. We went to another flat and fished it without results, and on a hunch I went back to where we'd been on our fish hoping they would be settled down and willing to eat. But, the tide was very much against us at that point, and after a while we called it a day. It had been a good and fun day, with lots of action early.

Friday was the warmest day of the week, and according to the satellite imaging, the nearshore surface temperature was at 75, or a little better. I expected that if I could get plenty of bait, or at least enough to get through a day of fishing, we would have a great day. It was my first trip with Paul and Lisa Davey, of Wantaugh, New York. I was to pick them up at the Waterfront Restaurant, and had told Paul that I would do my best to be there at 7 AM. I told him that if I was struggling, I'd be late trying to get enough bait. He said they would just be there and have breakfast and wait for me.

Well, things worked out pretty well. I hit some shiners, not threadfins, on the second cast. I kept working the area. I was doing something that seemed to be pretty effective, that may not be possible one the new causeway bulkheads are covered with barnacles and such. I was throwing my castnet right into the side of the concrete bulkhead just above water level, so that the net would flatten on that side up against the bulkhead, and then slide right down it. The shiners hold very tight to the structure most of the time, and it seemed to be working. In maybe eight throws I had probably 80 baits, every one but a handful perfect shiners. I was feeling good, and it was just a few minutes past 7 AM. Off to the Waterfront.

I met Paul and Lisa and knew immediately I was going to enjoy the day out with them. The just ordered their breakfasts to go, so that we could get started, and had them mostly eaten by the time we cleared the manatee zone. We were off to the first stop of the day, and I was feeling good.

The first stop, a hole that is usually full of monster trout and nice snook once the winter waters warm, was full of trout on every cast, but they weren't the big ones I'd rather catch if I'm going to catch trout. But, they were sure hungry for those shiners. We moved on.

My choice was a hole I haven't fish on an extreme low tide since last year. I noticed as I made my approach that things looked different. There was a lot of sand showing I'm not used to seeing, even on extreme low tides, and there were oysters sticking up. I went for it, but apparently didn't have the Talon trimmed to the max, as I routinely go across shallower water than that. But, I stuck it. I think I didn't have enough speed to carry me through, and I wasn't getting as much lift from the hull at the slower speed. Damn! We were about 30 feet from the hole.

Without a second though, Paul and Lisa were both bailed out of the boat and ready to push. I didn't think we could move her, but with my big butt out she was just touching bottom, and we soon had her parked at the edge of the hole and were ready to fish. I can't even remember the last time I stuck the Talon. I've stuck other boats, and stuck the Maverick a couple of time learning it, but it must be since back when I first commissioned her since I have.

Once we were topside and baited up, it only took a second to find out the fish were on, and happy to see the live bait. Paul and Lisa caught snook and big trout just as fast as we could go for quite some time. Once the water got up, the bite slowed and eventually turned off. It was time to move.

I headed north to another snook spot I like to fish this time of year. We had action there, too, but not as fast. Paul and Lisa caught more snook, trout, and a couple of grouper including one tiny little gag about 5 inches long. He was really cute. Once it slowed we were on the move, again.

As we rode along in the shallows, I kept my eyes peeled for redfish moving in the area. Sure enough I spotted a school on a flat near Demere Key. I told Paul we'd come back and fish them on the way home. At our next stop I anchored on a long, skinny hole just off the place I was actually going to fish, because I often see (and catch) snook in it. The first bait in the hole was blasted by what I surely though was a snook, and it was a miss. Another bait right back where the hit had taken place resulted in another immediate hit. That snook turned out to be a trout of nearly 5 pounds. I moved on up to my target area, and we fished a good sized area quite thoroughly. Although we did catch a few more snook and trout, it wasn't the action I was looking for, and I was ready to move on.

I made the approach to the next hole from the south, but the hole I was actually going to wind up in was around on the north of this small island. I was going to fish some lesser holes on our way around to it. We immediately had more snook action, and we saw some big snook that ignored out baits. As I worked my way around the western corner of the island, I realized there was a boat fishing the hole I was hoping to fish. It was my friend John Objartle. We managed another snook or two, but I didn't want to get any closer than I was to John and chance bothering his fish. We moved back around to the back side, and took off.

We were one redfish away from the West Coast Slam. It was getting late and time to go see if we could catch a redfish or two. We were about out of bait except for the dead threads and shiners we'd saved to chum, and one lonely ladyfish we'd caught at the first stop.

We could see the redfish pushing everywhere as we made a quiet approach. We weren't making a sound, but they still kept pushing as we got to within 50 yards, or so. I was glad I had the ladyfish. I anchored and began preparing chum. I sent the dead baits flying in front of us, and prepared three ladyfish cannonballs. I spread them in front of the boat, and we waited. I knew I had put one of them very close to some moving fish, and really figured that if one got eaten, it would be that one. And, sure enough. We didn't have to wait but a few minutes before the rod went off. Fish on! It was Lisa's fish, and she fought it like an old pro. It took her a while to get it to the boat on the light gear, and both she and the fish were tuckered. It was a beautiful 8.5 pound redfish, and after pictures and some artificial respiration for the red, she swam away no worst for the wear. We had gotten our late tide red for the Slam. We gave it a few more minutes to see if we could catch another for Paul, but when the next fish was a hardhead cat I knew it was time to go.

We left that flat happy campers and headed back to the Waterfront. Paul and Lisa said they had caught some small puppy drum with a guide on a previous trip, and they had been great fun. But, they were small in comparison to the nearly 9 pounder, and they were thrilled with that fish.

It had been a great week with a lot of great folks, and although I was worn out, I hated to see it come to an end. But, after a short respite, I have a full five days next week, and I'm sure I'll be out there throwing that castnet well before sun-up Monday morning.

A quick note. Dear friends and customers of mine, Tom and Dixie Ashby, who were there for me after hurricane Charley, are going to sell their vacation home on North Captiva, and can't justify keeping the Release flats boat they had bought with which to enjoy the local waters when they're here. Between two bad hurricane seasons and repairs that took forever on their place, they're moving on. It's a Release 21 ft. Tarpon Bay with ONLY 10 hours on it. Tom paid $63,000 for the boat, which with the Suzuki 250 HP will do 70 MPH! This is your chance to steal a beautiful boat from a motivated seller. Click the link for all the particulars on the big Release. It's loaded with every toy imaginable, as you might have guessed, and it's still brand new. I would be thrilled if I could help them sell it.

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