Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
April 30, 2007
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING 4/28/07 by Capt. Butch Rickey

The winds were forecasted to still be blowing 25 MPH on Monday, so my best friend Jim McDaniel, and his brothers Don and Del, and sister Aleta decided to scrub our trip since there wasn't a good back in the crowd. We went disk golfing, instead, and it was a lot of fun, but very hard. We had a great day together, and will try again next time Jim is down.

Tuesday was a maintenance day for the Talon, since it was a miserable tide day, which meant I was back on the water Wednesday. My customer was Guido Frings, who was here from Germany on vacation, and he was very excited about the trip. Guido's English was also very good. We left the dock in darkness and got bait at the B Span flats. With Guido doing an expert job of chumming it came quickly. But, those shiners were the only fish that came quickly!

From there we struggled. We had another very early and tough tide to fish, and I had warned Guido that it wouldn't be easy to put fish into the boat. It was one of those days where you catch a few fish at each stop, but can't get a good bite going anywhere. But, the snook were steady scaling our baits just to assure us of their presence. It's absolutely amazing that a fish can lip your bait and knock the scales right off it, sometimes completely scaling it, and even with Power Pro line and an ultra-sensitive rod you can feel it happen. And, once they done that to your bait, it has to be changed, even if it's still alive. They just won't hit it again. SPRING FISHING FUN!



Since it was Guido's very first time on our waters, I fished him north and south, east and west, just so he could appreciate the size and beauty of our fishery. And, we'd get a couple of snook at each stop. Guido was fun to have in the boat, and also was a very good caster. He knew how to handle the equipment, and that made my day easy. By day's end, Guido had put at least a dozen snook into the boat, but we hadn't found any keeping size females that were dumb enough to eat. It had been a slow day of snooking, but we'd had a blast! SPRING FISHING FUN!



Thursday morning it was howling out of the southeast for my first trip with Scott Nelson and his friend Doug, down from Cumming, Georgia. I as at the ramp by 5 AM, and left to pick up Scott and Doug at the Waterfront Restaurant in St. James City. It was pitch black on the water, and I could hardly see my hand in front of my face. I carefully navigated my way along the channel up the river and down Miserable Mile, but once I hit the open waters it got ugly. The Talon will eat of that kind of water if I can run, but I couldn't run in the total darkness, nor could I read the water. So, I idled my way to St. James, and was only a couple of minutes late.

By the time I'd met Scott and Doug and got them loaded, it was breaking dawn. As we cleared the deep manatee zone we had enough light to run by, and I could read the sloppy water. I sure as heck didn't want to run back right into that big chop and wind to get bait at the B Span, so we headed north. I decided to try for bait on the flats near Flamingo, where I'd gotten beautiful bait a couple of weeks ago. With Scott chumming, we got enough for a day of fishing, but it certainly didn't come to us in big numbers. We wouldn't have enough to do a lot of live chumming, for sure.

It was time to fish. I knew it would be another tough bite, as we had a nearly identical tide to the previous day, and were still under a big high pressure. Our first stop at a place that's just full of fish yielded one trout and one snook. At the next stop it was two more snook caught and several missed. At a small mangrove island farther north it was more of the same with one snook caught and two missed.

We made a big change of scenery, and the spot we landed on was full of snook and redfish. If I'd had the luxury of heavily chumming the waters we might have been able to manufacture a big bite. So, we needed to make every bite count. The boys had some great hits, and landed a number of nice snook. But, they also missed one big snook and let a nice redfish get away before we were done.

At the last stop of the day we again had a descent bite. The boys got several more snook. Doug's best was 26 inches, but he let a biggin get away. Well, that's snookin! We'd made another tough day work, and I'd had a blast with Scott and Doug. We finished the day back at the Waterfront Restaurant where we'd started, with a great lunch. SPRING FISHING FUN!



SPRING FISHING FUN!



With another tournament underway and the wind still howling out of the southeast, I expected another hard day with an old friend, Art Lewis, who lives in Lakeland, Florida, and has a home in St. James City. Art and I hadn't fished together in several years, and I was looking forward to spending the day with him, again.

The ride to St. James was again an adventure, but I decided to get out one of the Eddie Bauer Triplex Tac Torches I sell on my store, to see if it would be powerful enough to spot markers. Boy, those three high intensity LED's are quite bright, and the trip was much safer. I will be keeping one on the Talon now, for emergencies and those dark mornings.

Art and his good friend Joe, from Miami, were waiting on me when I arrived. By the time we idled the long distance to clear the manatee zone, we had enough light to safely run by. We were off to Chino Island to see if we could catch bait there. And, boy did we. I was amazed at how quickly the bait came, and how plentiful it was. We would have plenty for live chumming if we needed to do that.

Settled in on the first hole we had not a hot bite, but a big bite. Art and Joe started off with a couple of nice trout and several nice snook. Art had a red on for the Slam, but it got away. He also got his butt handed to him twice by big snook that were so fast and powerful that he was cut off in the mangroves by one and the hook pulled on the other. Joe did a bit better with a 27.5 inch snook in the boat before the bite tapered off. Although the boys wanted some fish, they were willing to let that snook go. SPRING FISHING FUN!



SPRING FISHING FUN!



At the next stop we again had pretty good snook action. But, I couldn't get the redfish to eat. The boys caught some nice snook, and Joe struck again with a 28.5 inch fish, and missed a few, too. But, it was getting late in the day, and with no reds in the boat Joe put that snook in the well under pressure from Art. At our last stop I was surprised to see snook popping my chum at the edge of a nearby pothole I normally fish on low water. I wouldn't have expected to see them there on the top of the high tide, but they were. We caught a few more snook, and I made a mental note for later. SPRING FISHING FUN!



We ended what had been a much better day than I would have expected at the Waterfront, with a great lunch and conversation. It had been great to fish with Art again, and I really enjoyed getting to know Joe.

It was Saturday morning, and I had booked a trip with Steve Klemmer, of Cape Coral, on short notice. I'm not usually willing to work weekend days, but thought it might be wise since we'd lost a couple of days to weather the previous week. Steve had an old friend, Kevin Ricky, in town from California, and wanted to take him fishing. Of course, I warned him of the woes of weekend fishing, but they wanted to go.

We'd had the front that had been giving us all the southerly winds pass through overnight. It brought no rain, as it broke up before it got here. But, with the passing the wind was now around to the northwest. I told Steve and Kevin that it might well be the kiss of death on fishing for the day, and that it might be a kiss what you catch day.

We headed through the darkness to Chino Island for bait. With Kevin chumming, we got great bait, although we did have to move once to get on a seaweed bottom. It didn't gather as thickly as the day before, but when we were done I couldn't see the bottom of the well. We were set, but would the fish eat?

At the first stop to get the proper setup with the wind and current, we were out of the wind. I'd barely gotten from behind the helm when they attacked! Noseeums! Boy, do they love me. Steve and Kevin said they weren't getting bitten, so I figured I would try to tough it out. But, by the time we got baits in the water they were on all of us, and my skin was already on fire. We left that very fishy place behind as quickly as we could.

We headed to a beautiful mangrove key that usually has snook and redfish on it. But, in the strong wind and water held back by it, we scored a goose egg. I decided to try some pothole fishing while the water was low. The result was the same, except that we did get a ladyfish. The guys had lots of hits, but didn't seem to be able to get a hook into anything.

I decided to stick with pothole fishing for snook, and went to a series of potholes that are usually full of them on low water this time of year. The problem would be finding them. We had a heavy overcast from the remains of the clearing front which was robbing the sun that usually lights up the bottom of the potholes making them easy to see. We had no action in the first one, but at the second one Kevin missed his first good snook, and landed the second. We caught a few snook there, and hand plenty of blowups on our live chum, but just couldn't get the fish to really turn on.SPRING FISHING FUN!



We moved on to a nice trough about half mile away, where we found more snook action. The boys caught several there, but we just couldn't get them to bust loose and bite. At the next stop it was the same MO We caught several more snook, but couldn't manufacture a bite. A quick move put us back into more snook, but it was more of the same. We caught a few and then it was over. SPRING FISHING FUN!



But, by that time it really was over, as the tide had come full high, and the wind had quickly turned it around and had it going out. We made one last stop, where we were treated to the sight of many big snook leaving the flats to lay up until the next time. We couldn't buy a bite.

Being Saturday I didn't want to arrive back at the ramp too late and find the usual insanity that goes on there once everyone begins returning in the mid-afternoon. Steve understood that, and also understood that the fishing was pretty much over. We headed home, having had a tough, but better day that I would have predicted after the passing of the front.

I have four trips next week, and although the tides are slow in the morning, they will be nice high tides later in the day. So, hopefully fishing will be good.

Be sure to check out my new eBay Store BarHopp'R Fishing Finds!

And, be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!

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