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Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
February 8, 2000
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

We'll here we are again with not much more to talk about than the cold weather. I know, I know, you guys in the north country think we don't know what cold is down here, but it's just not true. when it's in the 30's and 40's here, with a cold wind blowing, that humid Florida cold air cuts right through you. I've seen lots of folks show up in the morning saying that it's not cold, only to spend the rest of the day is full body tremors.

I combined the two weeks into one report because there is so little to talk about. The week of January 29, it rained and blew like hell on Monday, the it was near record cold and blowing Tuesday through Thursday, and David Weeks, who had the luxury of another day to fish, was able to reschedule for Friday. Four days of cancellations isn't good, but that's the way it goes.

Friday the winds were finally down and the high was expected to be around 68. Heaven compared to what the constant barrage of fronts had been bringing us. David Weeks and I decided to give it our best shot. I fully expected the glamour fish to have lockjaw, but was hopeful that at least the trout would eat. But with the water temperature near 60 in the bay, everything was comatose. I went to one of my favorite winter deep water snook spots where I'd been catching lots of big snook before all these fronts came through. The snook were there. We did get several hits that were very lethargic, but enough to knock the scales off the shiner in classic snook fashion, but they just wouldn't spend the energy to finish the job. We also managed a couple of redfish hits, which are readily identifiable by the bait being all skinned up. They wouldn't swallow either. David did manage a 16 inch gag grouper off a sunken mullet boat. Looking back, I guess we should have stopped and fished it in earnest. We may have caught more than the one grouper. We finally resorted to trout fishing to try to put fish in the boat, but only managed a half dozen trout to 20 inches.

Yes, it was a tough day of catching, but it was great to be out and enjoy a great day of fishing! We had fun in spite of the slow bite, but isn't that what it's really all about.

The following week was marginally better. I did get to fish the first three days, but was once again blown out Thursday and Friday by bad weather.

I had a cancellation on Tuesday, and was able to move my friend Ed Bowerman from Monday to Tuesday, which worked out better for him. That allowed me to fish with one of my very best friends and fishing buddies, Butch Boteler, who was over spending a long weekend at his place in St. James City. He had a few pinfish left over in the bait well of his Go-Devil and couldn't wait to get back out there with them. The day before, Sunday, as the sun was setting, Butch had taken his pinfish to my favorite snook hole and hooked three 40" tarpon and managed to land two of them. They were his first ever tarpon, and he was so excited about them he couldn't stop recounting the experience.

I didn't expect the tarpon to still be there in an eating mood, but was hopeful that maybe we could snag a big snook or trout or two on the pinfish. We had another front coming through as we fished and the wind was already north. I'd be thankful for anything. We patiently fished our hole, staying out of the wind and cold. The patience finally paid off right before the tide reached full high when Butch beat a beautiful 11 pound snook into submission. Shortly afterward I had a tremendous hit, but the big snook cut me off in the roots before I could even get a tight line. That's the inevitable fate of half of the snook hits you get in the mangroves. Butch followed shortly afterward with a trout of nearly 6 pounds, and that was it for the morning. We called it a day shortly afterward. There's nothing better than spending a relaxing day with your best fishing bud, no matter what the outcome.

Tuesday my old friends Ed Bowerman Sr. and Jr. were ready to fight the elements and try their luck. It didn't seem that cold out, but we soon realized we were all underdressed. The wind was 15 MPH from the northeast and had a bite. It took a while, but I actually managed to catch enough bait to fish with, but the pragmatist in me knew that there was little chance of seeing a snook or redfish.

We gave the snook the good ole college try, though, with no results. We finally resorted to trout fishing just to put some fish in the boat. We probably should have gone trout fishing much earlier than we did, and had we, I think we would have really loaded up. As it was, we caught about 20 trout which included 7 keepers, most on 1/8 oz. white Cotee jigs with paddle-tail Bass Assassin bodies. Once the tide was done and the bite over, we wrapped up the day with lunch at the Waterfront.

Wednesday was the last trip of the week before the weather got ugly again. John Bowe was down from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, with his friend Mark Steinmann, from Atlanta, Georgia. I explained the options and my outlook for the day at the ramp that morning. I knew bait would be tough to impossible, and knew that even if we did manage to catch some, the prospects of catching snook and redfish with it were marginal, at best. I knew that trout were our best shot at putting plenty of fish in the boat. Jon and Matt were interested in putting fish in the boat, so trout fishing it was. We did spend about half an hour throwing for bait, just to see if we could get lucky. Figuring it would be a tough day, I wanted to spend time finding fish.

We had a seriously low tide blown even lower by a northeast wind at 15 to 20. I headed to a large hole where there are almost always ladyfish and trout that will play on a cold winter day. I figured that if we could catch a few ladyfish, we might have a shot at catching some redfish on the later part of the tide with ladyfish chunks. The ladyfish weren't there, and neither were the trout at first. I made one adjustment down the hole with the boat, and wallah, fish! We were tossing the same 1/8 oz. Cotee jig with a white body/red swim-tail Bass Assassin and the trout were loving it. Jon and Matt got into the groove quickly, and for most of the morning, Jon, Matt, and I were catching trout two and three at a time. It was too fast to keep accurate count, but I'm sure there were 70 or more trout caught to 22 inches. We had plenty of keepers, too, but the boys stopped putting them in the well at 8, which was enough to feed a family of four. When the action finally slowed at the first hole, we headed to another of my favorite trout spots, but the fish there were spotty and small. We called it a day at the top of the tide, and headed to the docks. We'd had a blast catching trout all morning!

I noticed that the weatherman said last night that we were about done with the cold weather for the year, yet there is a front approaching as I write. I've got another full week on the books. I sure hope the weather cooperates.

More Fishing Reports:

 

Top Florida fishing guide, Capt. Butch Rickey has fished the waters of Pine Island Sound around Sanibel, Captiva, and Pine Islands, as well as Charlotte Harbor, Sarasota Bay, Terra Ceia Bay, and southern Tampa Bay, for much of his 65 years. He now offers guided kayak fishing trips, as well as sightseeing and bird watching tours anywhere that can be reached by kayak from southern Tampa Bay to Estero Bay.

Contact Info:

BarHopp'R Kayak Fishing
11520 E Palm Drive
Ft. Myers, FL 33908
Phone: 239-628-3522
Alt. Phone: 239-633-5851
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