Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
October 22, 2006
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 10/21/06 by Capt. Butch Rickey

I was on the water five days this week, Tuesday through Saturday. It was a week full of old friends, but also an unexpected disaster.

I'd made arrangements to take Dr. John Hitt's Coastline up the river to City Ramp to meet Danny Fowler of Fowler Marine. He would pull the boat and take it to the shop. I would stay with the boat. But, Monday evening as I though about it sitting around the shop for hours waiting on the boat seemed less and less appealing. I knew that my friend Pat Kolata was in town taking care of business with some of their properties, and waiting for her husband Dr. Ron Kolata to arrive on Saturday for three days of fishing next week. I figured she was in the same boat with not a lot to do after things were dealt with. So, I called Pat and asked her if she wanted to go for a slow ride up the river, and then spend a few hours goofing around on the riverfront; perhaps visit some stores, or whatever. Pat is always up for an adventure, and was ready to go.

We were at John's condo at 8:30 Tuesday morning to pick up the keys from a neighbor. I was shocked when we got to the boat, to see it such a mess. He had the covers on it, but there was dirt and mold everywhere. As I lowered her into the water she began taking on lots of water through the scuppers. Like so may boats, she always seems to have some water sloshing around in the cockpit, but this was extreme. I reversed the lift to get the boat back up out of the water some before getting in. I was wondering if John had pulled drain plugs and forgotten to tell me. He hadn't. I had forgotten that John had not been here since he had his heart attack in June. Upon investigation I found the boat had a whole rainy season worth of water in her bilge. There was over a foot of water. Amazing.

Once the bilge pumps finally caught up with things and had the hull emptied out, we made our way out to the river. As I approached the run zone I called Danny to let him know I was on schedule. It was nine o'clock. We had a ride of about an hour. But, when Danny answered he said he'd been trying to reach me to tell me we had to cancel his plans. His help had not shown up, and he was tied to the shop.

Well, we were in the water, we had a picnic lunch packed, and the boat sure needed to be run. That morning was the first time I'd ever seen that Yamaha 200 not lite on the first strike. And, the running batteries were low. She had turned over slowly. So, instead of turning right to go up the river, I turned left to go down the river to the Sound. There was less idle zone that way.

It was a gorgeous Florida fall day. We made our way down to St. James City, where we stopped at the wholesale seafood house so Pat could buy some stonecrab claws. Then we made our way back to Picnic Island and anchored out of most of the wind. It was blowing pretty hard, and really had the bay kicked up. We'd already gotten wet, but Pat was loving the salt spray and sun, as well as the bouncy ride. She was having fun. We sat for about an hour having snacks and crab claws as we enjoyed ourselves watching the boat traffic go by.

All the mold and dirt in the boat was really bothering me, and I finally succumbed and tried to scrub it off. But, without bleach and some heavy duty cleaners, there was only so much I could do. But, at least now she'd feel better going home.

Back at the dock I was surprised that I was able to get her back into the lift slip without too much ado. John has perfected backing into the slip over the years, and now makes it look easy. We left her uncovered, as I will take it to Danny for service next week. It had been a relaxing morning. It's not often I just get to go for a boat ride with no agenda. The only thing missing was John.

Wednesday I had my second trip with Steven Keith, of Gotha, Florida. We'd fished together first back in early September along with his wife Stephanie, and had a blast. Wonderful people, and I was looking forward to seeing Steve, again. But, this time he was with his long-time friend Bill. While we were waiting on Bill to make a potty stop, Steve assured me that I would like Bill. I wasn't worried about that, but it soon became apparent that the two of them together were a comedy team.

We were still catching beautiful bait out on the flats off the second span of the causeway, so that was our first stop. With Bill chumming, it didn't take very long to load up the Talon's well. In less than an hour we were ready to fish.

We would have a very high tide by around noon that day, but it was a very weak tide, moving only about a foot off the low tide. To start the day I wanted to fish places where I could find exaggerated current flow. The first such place wasn't far from the bait grounds.

Once there, I threw some live chum, and was happy to see some action on it. It wasn't long before Bill's rod went off like he'd hooked a passing car. The little Stella was screaming with joy, as more and more line was ripped from her possession. Bill's eyes were the size of quarters! He's a bass fisherman, and has very little saltwater experience. He'd never experienced anything like this. I knew that with so much line out in the shallow water, the risk of loosing the fish on something on the hard bottom was exaggerated. And, that's exactly what happened. Suddenly the reel went quiet and the line limp. The big fish was gone. It was almost surely one of the outsized jacks that so often visit the spot. Well, it was fun while it lasted. The only other fish we caught there was a snook for Steve. The fish just weren't interested.

By now, the water would be well up in the Sound. I wanted to check out an area that I hadn't visited in some time, but which I love on the big tides. We were off. Once at our spot we did find some action, but not the level that I was looking for. We caught some nice fish, don't get me wrong. We boated 5 nice redfish, and 4 snook. The best snook was 30 inches, and I was pleased that Steve agreed to let her go back to fight another day. We had our limit of two keeper reds in the well, and that would be plenty of meat. After a couple of hours of working the area, the tide was done. I wanted to move to another area that would still have a little bit of tide running to finish off the morning.

We arrived to find the area teaming with fish. We fished with shiners under popping corks and free-lined. We did manage another redfish and 2 more snook, but that was it. The fish weren't much interested in what we were offering. We had been successful, though, in catching a few more fish on the last of the tide. And, it had been a great day. Bill and Steve kept me going all morning.

I was really wired for my Thursday trip with my old friend Ron Hunter and his sweetie, Pat. We've been fishing and friends for about ten years, and I love having them in the boat. We'd been trying to find dates that would work since April.

Ron and Pat were coming down from Palmetto, and ran into heavy traffic and construction, and were an hour late. I kept myself entertained with talking to the other guides about how tough the fishing has been. Once Ron and Pat arrived we were quickly off to catch bait. And, the bait was great. With Pat chumming we soon had a load of beautiful shiners, threadfins, blue crabs, and shrimp. We were ready for a great day of fishing.

We took off for our first stop of the day, leaving my friends and customers for Saturday, Alan Kingston and John Bond, in their boat catching bait. Ron and Pat are avid fishermen, and we were headed to the first hole full of optimism and ready for action. Ron had put me on notice that he wanted fish to take home.

And, then it happened! Imagine the sound you would hear if you filled a high-speed blender with marbles and turned it on. Yes! That is the sound that pierced the sweet purr of the Yamaha 150 running along at 4200 RPM. There were two or three loud bangs that we even felt in the seats of our pants, and then the marbles. What in the world had happened? I could tell instinctively it wasn't a problem in the powerhead. The motor was running too well for that. The prop was still turning, but with loud protest. And, the sounds coming from the motor were in time with the RPM. I was certain my lower unit had just turned into small metal parts inside. We knew instinctively that our trip was over. Our baits would swim free!

Since the prop would still turn, and we were a couple of miles from home in strong currents, I decided to see if we could make it home on the wounded motor at idle speed. It protested loudly for quite a while, but eventually settled down and quit making noise. We knew it had not miraculously healed itself, so we kept on going; slowly putt-putt-putting toward home. While doing so, I got on the phone to Craig Wildasin, my motor man in Venice, who has served me so well with great motors and service for nearly twenty years. He told me he had a rebuilt lower unit ready to go for around $1200. Ouch. I called my bud Danny Fowler in town to see if he could yank the lower unit for me, so I wouldn't have to pull the boat to Venice and back. He told me to get there as soon as I could. Back to Craig, he recommended that I have Danny check the motor running, and then pull the magnetic drain plug and check for water in the oil and metal shavings on the plug.

Arriving at Fowler Marine, Danny quickly got on it. I told him I had an urgent errand to run and that I'd be back in a half hour. I figured by then he'd know just what was up. So, I dropped the trailer, laying the big plug to the trailer on top of the hitch head. Well, don't you know that by the time I walked from there and got into the van, it rolled off, falling to the front and over the hitch on the van. When I pulled out, I thought I heard a funny noise. I stopped as a precaution and checked the rear-view mirror. Imagine my surprise to see most of the wiring harness from the trailer laying out on the ground behind me. Damn! It was just one of those days!

Well, by the time I returned Danny was full of answers. The lower unit had indeed taken a dump on us. The first thing that came out of it was a quart of saltwater, followed slowly by a thick mass of nasty gear oil full of small metal pieces. Apparently a seal had gone bad, and that's......bad! Geez! Someone should invent a seal warning light to go on the console!

Now, Danny threw out another idea. He recalled that he had a used lower unit from a Yamaha 200 Pro Max. After some checking we verified that the gear ratio was the same, and that it should be 100% compatible. He offered it to me for $500 with a new water pump and installed. I got back on the phone with Craig, wanting to make sure I was making the correct decision. Craig assured me that $500 was too good a price to pass on, and gave me a buy recommendation. And, that just serves to illustrate why I love doing business with Craig, and Danny. He could have easily recommended I come buy his lower unit in his own interest. But, he was honest with me. Danny could probably have gotten more than $500 out of me for the lower unit, as I was in grave need. But, he gave me a righteous price. It's great to have people who you respect and trust working on your boats!

Amazingly, Danny had the lower unit served and installed, the trailer rewired, and a new winch strap installed for me by mid afternoon. The tab out the door was $630. Although I wasn't thrilled about having to pay an unexpected bill, I was sure please with the price. My thanks to Fowler Marine and Outboard Motor Connection in Venice.

Friday, Ron, Pat and I were ready to try it, again. To my amazement, they were sitting by the ticket machine when I arrived, and I was a half hour early. Ron said they had left home earlier than they had gotten up the day before!

We were way ahead of schedule. I suggested we take a leisurely boat ride in the pitch darkness of the morning. So, we launched and idled our way all the way to the second span. By then, dawn was just trying to break. It was a beautiful morning. We had bait caught in about an hour, and were ready to go. I was hopeful that I could put together a day good enough to make up for the lost day for Ron and Pat. But, I also knew the chance of having a really big day of catching was a long shot. We would give it our best shot.

As we rode we decided that since Ron was wanting to take home as much fish as he could, we'd begin on the lower water with pothole fishing for trout. It seemed a good plan. I had previously checked on the trout on the last good low tides, and they were there, and they were keepers. But, the plan would not come to fruition. The trout just weren't interested, and it two great potholes we went troutless. Dittos for the third!

It was time to turn our attention to redfish and snook, and redfish would be much easier to accomplish than a couple of 27 inch snook, especially since the snook fishing has not been very good of late. At the next stop we fished hard over the area, and floated away with 1 redfish and 2 snook. We had one keeper red in the well.

The wind was now in a southerly direction. That opened up new possibilities for spots to fish. I headed to one of my favorite redfish haunts on south or west winds, but as I neared it I could see a boat sitting on it, and boats everywhere else. The traffic was heavy. I didn't know until the next morning that the boat sitting there was my customers for Saturday, whom I'd shown the spot long ago. But, the southerly breeze had opened up another spot I love to fish under such conditions. The spot has a nice relief into the mangroves, and you have to have the wind at your back to make it work. We would finish the day there.

The first cork rig I tossed into the relief was devoured instantly. Hole in one! Pat had a nice redfish at the boat. We had a pretty good bite for a while, but the number of fish in the boat didn't truly reflect on the bite. Quite a few fish were missed, a couple of nice fish broke off, and some chased the baits around without eating them. Our total in the boat was four or five reds and a couple of snook.

Had we been able to find hungry trout, or put one keeper snook into the boat, we would have filled Ron's meat objectives. But, we did neither, and we had to settle for a limit of keeper redfish. Still, it was a good day with good friends. And, I though Ron did admirably at suffering through the day without his cigarettes. He'd realized not long after leaving the dock that morning that his lighter had given up the ghost. Most smokers would have been very cranky without their smokes, but Ron made it to the last few minutes of the day before he began to show a little crankiness. Of course, at that point we were all overheated and pretty well whipped. We'd had almost no air moving all day, and the temp was around 90. It was like an August day out there.

I was at the ramp at 5:20 Saturday morning, and got the last marked parking spot available! Yes, the ramp is a mess, and I knew it would quickly fill up on a Saturday morning with a tournament going on. My friends Dr. Alan Kingston and John Bond, of Apopka, Florida, arrived full of anticipation and full of good news. It turned out that they were the boat sitting on the spot I'd wanted to fish, and they caught 30 redfish, mostly on shrimp. They'd never had a day of fishing like that, and were thrilled. I told them, "Hell, you guys don't need me. Just take the Talon and go have fun! They assured me they did need me, and tried to credit me and good luck, but it was they who'd caught the fish. I was proud of them. If I'd know it was them I would have joined them, but I didn't get close enough to identify their boat, and certainly would not pull up on a strange boat uninvited.

We caught bait on the second span, as usual, but it was definitely harder to catch than it had been all week. But, eventually it did come in pretty well. As we prepared to leave, I told the guys I'd show them some new spots, and they were all for that.

The first stop was in Matlacha Pass at a place I just love. It's very pretty, and can be very fishy. And, although we didn't have a hot bite, we did catch 2 mangrove snapper, a big jack crevalle, and 2 snook. There were also several that got away. John and Alan loved the spot, and promised to return, perhaps on Sunday, the last day of their fishing vacation.

Our next stop was at some small keys on the way up to the Sound. The first one was a dud, but the second had lots of snook laying off the mangroves on the low tide. We had lots of blowups on our chum, and caught probably half a dozen snook there. I believe we got our first red there, too. Once we'd fished the length of the key, we moved on.

John really wanted a keeper snook, so my choice of spots was a place I felt confident we could accomplish that goal. We worked the area over well, and did catch 8 redfish and several more snook. Most of the reds we caught were on shrimp we had caught in the castnet. It's odd that they are preferring shrimp to shiners or fresh cut bait, but they seem to be. I've heard other similar reports. I haven't caught a red on a cut bait all week long. That's usually the bait of choice this time of year. I guess I'll have to break down and start buying shrimp until their taste changes.

By around one o'clock we were fried. It had been a still day of intense August-like heat. I had been sweating profusely all morning long, and felt like I had been baked in an oven. All in all it had been a pretty good day of fishing, and the boys were pleased. But, we'd had enough, and headed for the barn. I was also concerned about getting to the ramp before the afternoon rush began, and had forgotten I had to stop in St. James to pick up more stonecrab claws for Ron and Pat Kolata.

It had not been a spectacular week of big numbers catches like we used to put together on a routing basis. Those days are getting harder and harder to come by. But, it certainly had been a great week of fishing with old friends. And, that's what it's all about.

Next week Ron Kolata and I will be fishing three days. Thursday I have to go in for more tests. Friday I will be with a new customer. So, it should be a week of great fun on the water.

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