Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida
Capt. Butch Rickey
September 22, 2007
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fort Myers Weather Forecast, FL (33908)
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FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 9/22/07
by
Capt. Butch Rickey
Things continue very slow here, and I had no trips to run this week. I think we're all just trying to survive until the winter season starts, but that's some time off. I did have several fishing reports contributed by friends out there, with some nice pictures.
The first is from my friend Joe Sanford, of Bethesda, Maryland, who was fishing Rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay from his new Grady. Following is an excerpt from his letter.
We caught them chumming and fishing with cut bait fish pieces and clam snouts in about 35 feet of water. At that time of year generally chumming or trolling gets the job done. Most Chesapeake summer Rockfish are just about the size you see in the pic. These are all just over 18". Notice the Charter Boat in the background?? You don't need waypoints during the summer, you just find where the Charter Capts. are posted up chumming. Real scientific huh?
You can pick up some bigger fish at night. Also, the most fun for me is at the mouth of the Magothy. Every evening, during the dog days, just before the sunsets schools of 12-14 inch stripers surface and the flyrod is whipping!! Sinking tip line with streamers on a 8 or 9 weight produces well and is a blast. The real big stripers appear on both ends of the summer during their migrations in and out, to and from the ocean. Best time is right around the corner in Oct. when you can follow breaking schools of the big boys. That's when the 10 or 12 weight flyrod is in my hands. But they hit anything during those frenzies! Its follow the birds, and run & gun.
FROM MY FRIENDS!
Next report is from Terry Wyrock, here in Ft. Myers. His brief report was: Snug Harbor, Fort Myers Beach, Florida. 32 3/4 inches on a pinfish. September 18, 2007, 10:15pm. You'll notice he was night fishing, which is when many, if not most local folks fish snook around lighted docks. Nice fish!
FROM MY FRIENDS!
And, last this week is another report from Mike Derengowski, of Lehigh Acres. Below is an excerpt from Mike's report and a great picture.
sounds like another good report! one of these days I'm gonna book a charter with you. I think we would have a blast, even if we get skunked.
anywho, id like to give you my fishing report for the week. ive been fishing the canals around Lehigh and caught 2 more small snook but no keepers. I also had a nice bass, but it got off. so fishing around the house has been slow. I have a feeling all this rain will help the bite though.
on Sunday, a buddy of mine and myself fished blind pass for a few hours. bait was everywhere and fish were crashing it all over. every cast resulted in a ladyfish or jack. not eating fish, but a blast to hook. I got tired of rehooking greenbacks every time I reeled in, so I switched to a loves lure jig and did even better. although I saw some small tarpon and snook around, the ladyfish and jacks beat them to the lure/bait everytime.
Wednesday, I had the day off and was going to fish blind pass again. I ended up oversleeping though, so I grabbed 2 doz. freshwater shiners and headed to the Franklin locks on the river. I was hoping for a snook, since I have caught many there in the past. but I ended up with a GREAT day catching tarpon!! because of salt water intrusion, my shiners died in the water in about 3 minutes. it didn't matter, as tarpon were still inhaling them.
I was using 10lb test mono , no leader, no weights, just freelining dead shiners in the current. every 30 min. or so, I would get a 3-4 ft tarpon peeling line off the reel, jumping all over the water, and eventually snapping my line like a twig. I hooked and jumped 6 tarpon and actually landed one, which is
a hard feat at that place. and the fact I was using light tackle with no leader made it even more rewarding.
the tarpon I landed weighed about 40 lbs in guessing. didn't have my boca grip scale, so I wasn't sure on the weight. but from tail tip to mouth tip, he measured almost 4 ft long. it took only 15 minutes to subdue and land him and I think he tired from the warm water. when I got him to shore, the first 5 feet of line was frayed to hell lol. and the hook just "fell" out of his mouth, without me even touching it. a rather lucky catch lol. I took a few pictures, and spent about 10 min. reviving him. he swam off real nice.
FROM MY FRIENDS!
I'll be working a bit next week. Hopefully, the fishing will begin to heat up now that we've had a little relief from the tropical system that formed over us this week.
Be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!
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