Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

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

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 12/23/06 by Capt. Butch Rickey

It was an unseasonably warm and mostly windy week. The water temperatures is hovering around 70 degrees, but probably not for long. I had two trips this week, and they were a blast.

The first on Tuesday was with my good friend Dr. John Hitt. This was his first time on the water since his heart attack in June. I have truly missed fishing with him, and I know he’s really been Jonesin to get back on the water. I think we were both pretty wired.

We had a beautiful morning for fishing. I suggested to John that we first head out to the waters off the Sanibel lighthouse to see if we could find some pompano. I was amazed to note how much the bottom and depths had changed out there since the last time I fished it. We messed around for about an hour without so much as a hit.

I decided we’d go see if we could find some speckled trout along the flats of Punta Rassa. But, as we got going I spotted a bunch of birds working on the surface, and could see the occasional fish break, as well. I knew it would likely be ladyfish, mackeral, or jacks underneath, pushing the bait up to the birds. I positioned us up wind for our first pass, and we chose our lures. As we drifted through the area John and I both got hit repeatedly, but seemed unable to get a hook into one of the mystery fish who were just destroying our jigs. We know whatever it was it wasn’t ladyfish. I switched to a spoon and continued to get bites, but no fish.

John and I were determined to catch one of these critters and find out what it was that was getting the best of us. We moved several times to stay with the school, and in the right depth, which seemed to be 6 to 8 feet. John put the first fish in the boat, and to our surprise it was a small bluefish. I almost didn’t recognize what it was because of it’s size. And, that first fish seemed to signal the start of the bite in earnest. They were suddenly biting like crazy.

For the next two hours John and I caught fish after fish on almost every cast. We had quite a few rigs bitten and broken off, too. I think what was happening is that many of the fish would swarm around the lure competing for it, and sometimes a fish would bite the splice knot severing the line. We saw them swarming the baits near the boat, often. Mostly they were the small bluefish, running about a pound to a pound and a half, but we also had 4 nice mackeral in the mix along with quite a few large ladyfish that are so much fun on light tackle. The action was made more fun by the fact we were catching the fish on our St. Croix Legend Tournament rods in a light action for trout, mated up to Stella 2500’s. Fun! Fun! Fun.

It was just what the doctor ordered. After such a long absence from the water, John was just happy to be catching. So was I. Every man has a little boy inside who just likes to catch. We could always chase the glamour species another day.

But, finally late in the morning the bite began to slow, and we decided to go check on trout and redfish nearby. The wind made a major kick about the same time, making things a bit difficult. After about an hour with no business, we decided to head in, our need to catch satisfied. It had been a great morning with a dear friend, who I’m happy to report is doing just great!

I moved my Wednesday trip to Thursday in favor of a marginally better wind forecast. The tide was pretty much the same. It was my first trip with David Porter, and his fourteen year old son, Charles, of Lake Zurich, Illinois. I had hoped that we’d be able to go back to that school of blues, ladyfish, and macks, but with the wind gusting over 20 MPH, and the tide running against it, I knew it would be a rough ride, and once there we wouldn’t be able to stand up on the deck. Not an option this time.

So, I opted to fish one of my favorite winter places, and get out of the wind. We had to cross some very skinny water to get there. There were no other boats in sight. We had it all to ourselves. I tied on an Exude RT Slug, and rigged David and Charlie with Troll Rite jigs with live shrimp. We went to work. The live shrimp were repeated eaten by the little bait stealers, which is my main beef with using live shrimp. The other beef of course, is that I should be eating those! The first strike of the day was a good one, and came on my RT. I had no idea what it was, and quickly got it into Dave’s hands. He enjoyed the strong pull, and landed a beautiful Jewfish of about 20 inches. He’d never seen one, and was quite taken with the colors and pattern. I switched one, and soon afterward, the other rig to the RT slugs.

Although we didn’t have a hot bite anywhere we went, we had a pretty darned good day on artificials. The second fish was again Dave, with a nice cobia. He’d never seen one of those, either, and because he was not planning on keeping anything, he wasn’t really in a hurry to get it in the boat. While it thrashed at the side of the boat, it twisted itself free of the barbless jig hook. The third fish was again Dave with a pretty snook. It was also his first, so I showed him the several weapons snook come armed with that make them hard to land. Charley’s first fish was a nice speckled trout, which I was happy to see. They seem to be very scarce this winter, so far, probably because of the hit they took from our extended bouts with red tide. The boys lost a couple more snook, caught several nice gag grouper, and another trout before we left that area.

By now, the tide had just turned and was incoming. It was moving fast. I headed to a large pothole I’d scored well with redfish a month or so ago. I’d wanted to go in there earlier in the day, but was afraid of becoming land-locked there if the fish weren’t biting. Besides, we were having a pretty good time where we had been. Well, as I moved quietly around in the hole trying to position us properly to the wind so we could actually fish, we saw plenty of redfish, and some of them were brutes.

I rigged two popping cork rigs, one with no weight at the hook, and the other using a jighead. We continued to cast a jig, as well. It wasn’t too long before Dave had his first redfish, completing the West Coast Slam. I missed a big strike on the jighead rig. Charley caught another nice speckled trout. I hooked a nice fish on the gold spoon as passed it to Charley thinking is was a puppy drum, but it turned out to be another nice keeper sized trout. There were plenty of reds in the hole, but they didn’t seem to be interested in eating anything we were tossing, be it shrimp, jigs, spoons. Time was wasting, so we moved on. We wanted to catch another red.

The last stop of the day was at an oyster bar on the east side of the Sound. The water was still low on the bar, but coming quickly, and I knew the reds could already be there. And, they were. Charley finally got to catch his redfish, after missing one earlier. It was a puppy, but it was a beautiful fish; bronze on the back and sides, spots on each side of the tail, a white belly, and that blue border on the back of the tail.

It was well past noon, as we realized that the weather was changing quickly. The front was indeed approaching, and the sky was now completely overcast. We could see bands of rain falling from some of the dark clouds back in the direction of home. Dave also wanted to be back by 1:30 so his wife could have the car, so we headed at home at the one o’clock mark.

It had been a great day with a super father/son team! And, virtually every fish they caught had been a new experience. Dave was also intrigued with the Talon and how it performed in the rough, and had a chance to check out her underbelly once she was on the trailer. We said our “good-byes” and Dave promised to return. It began to drizzle as I drove back home. Timing is everything!

This is the last report before Christmas. Although this has been the worst years most of us in the business have seen, there is still much to be thankful for. The least of which is you who are reading this, now. You who are my loyal friends and customers, you who are my loyal readers, although we’ve never fished together, you who write to me asking questions, and you who write to me offering suggestions. I am thankful for each and every one of you, for without you I have no business. I want to thank you each for your friendship and your business, and wish each and every one of you the best of the Christmas season, and a joyous, healthy, and prosperous 2007. I look forward to seeing many of you in the coming year, and renewing our friendships as we enjoy this wonderful fishery.

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