Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida
Capt. Butch Rickey
November 5, 2007
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 11/03/07
by
Capt. Butch Rickey
What a weather week. It blew like crazy all week, with several days of winds gusting near 40 MPH! There are always a handful of guides who will go out no matter what the weather. I'm not faulting them for it, but it's something I can't do. Especially with new customers. A very windy day with few or no fish can leave a new customer with a bad taste in his mouth. I'm much more willing to take a regular customer who knows the ropes and is comfortable in a flats boat in the rough stuff, and the chances of success are much greater, as well.
Such was the case of Friday. I seriously considered putting off my trip with my dear old friend Bo Mack, of West Suffield, Connecticut, but ultimately decided in favor of fishing because I knew that as a veteran of many great trips and a couple of tough ones, Bo and his daughter Erin could make it work.
We still had wind in the mid-20's, and it was an exciting ride from B Span after catching bait, up into the Sound. No! If I fish on a bad weather day, I'm not going to stay close to the ramp. I'm going to where I like to fish. To where there are no houses and condos looking back at you.
With the wind already howling it was a bumpy ride, even in the Talon. But, at least the Talon doesn't do that hard pounding that most flats skiffs do in the rough. We got a little spray on us once or twice, but arrived at my destination unscathed. I hoped it would be worth the ride. It was!
We didn't have the great bite that I'd been on before the big front came through, but we had a nice, steady bite, and were on fish most of the morning. We'd gotten great bait, but it did not include balihoo or ladyfish. So, we'd have to make it work with shiners and pinfish. Of course, over the last two weeks I hadn't had one pinfish eaten by one redfish!
But, this was a different day. Erin caught some nice snook on shiners, and Bo and Erin both caught redfish on sliced and diced pinfish. The presentation I use is to cut the tail off a small (3 inches or so) pinfish, put half dozen shallow cuts in the flesh down one side of the fish, and then hook it just in front of the base of the removed tail through the backbone on a 1/0 circle hook. That allows the bait to go head first and really cast long distances, and it also stays alive laying in the grass, and puts out distress calls.
We had a falling tide for the duration of our trip, and I thought the strong northeast wind would really push the water out quickly, but ultimately it hung on the flats much longer than I had expected. That was good for us. Once the bite was over at our first spot, we moved on to another spot I like to fish on falling water. We were greeted with a pretty good snook bite, and Erin got the best one of the day at 27".
I decided to see if we could make it work on the other side of the island out of the wind, just to give us a reprieve for a while. It was nice to be out of the wind, but we couldn't muster a fish out of the wind. Seems like that is always the case.
I suggested we go after redfish again since we still had descent water on the flats. Bo and Erin were all for that. Once we were set up on our spot I pointed out where the redfish should be. Bo asked me why I thought that, and I told him because that's where they always are. We had a laugh, and I explained to him the subtle differences in the bottom, as opposed to the bottom around the rest of the key we were fishing. It was great when the fish were exactly where I had said they would be, and we had a good steady redfish bite. Again Erin got the best one at just under the 27" limit. We put that fish back to fight another day.
So, Bo and Erin finished the day with a good dozen redfish and a dozen snook, and we were all quite happy with the results. By the time we headed home, the wind was laying down a bit, and we had a following sea for the worst part, and it wasn't bad at all.
We capped that trip off with a trip to the Columbia Restaurant, on St. Armand's Circle, in Sarasota, on Saturday evening with Bo, Erin, and her husband Wayne. It lived up to my billing, and they absolutely loved the restaurant, atmosphere, and most of all the food. We decided we'd make that an annual event when Bo is in town.
Next week is a fairly busy week, providing the weather doesn't act up. And, the temps will be in the low to mid 80's. Wow. That will be nice for a change.
Be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!
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