Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
June 27, 2000
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

This was supposed to be a week of vacation for me, but I booked my good friend Mike Schwartz way in advance for Monday and Tuesday before I even had my vacation on the calendar. I wouldn't have missed fishing with him even if I had known, as Mike is one of my very favorite customers. He's a hard-core fisherman. The weekend hadn't done much for getting my back squared away, and that was the unknown.

We met Monday morning wondering about the weather. A low pressure aloft in the Gulf had lots of clouds and storminess around. We headed for Chino Island for bait. Mike volunteered to learn to throw the 10 ft.

Caloosa net, to try to give my back a rest. His young friend, Paul chummed as we worked on the net. Mike did pretty well considering he'd never thrown anything bigger than a 6 ft. net before. But, bait was tough. It was almost non-existent. We went to Fosters and didn't see so much as a pinfish. We headed back to Chino, where we had at least gotten a few pieces of bait. Our system evolved into me throwing the net, and Mike retrieving it, since it was the lifting of the net that was really hurting my back. Finally, we had enough to fish. Actually, we were run off the flat by an really nasty looking storm coming in off the gulf, out of the southeast. We caught bait until the last possible minute, then made a run for the Waterfront.

The Waterfront wasn't open yet, as it was around 9 o'clock, but as with so many similar times before, Christen Hollway invited us in out of the weather and gave us some coffee. As soon as it looked as if it were clearing out, we were back out there. I figured it was way to late to consider fishing on the outside, given the time commitment necessary. So, we'd have to get it done inside. It was tough. The fish were just like the bait. They didn't want to eat. We finished the day with just 6 or 7 snook, and 2 redfish. We headed to the Waterfront for lunch. It was the first slow day Mike and I had ever had together.

Tuesday was another day. We had a stiff east breeze blowing, and I knew we'd be able to fish outside if it didn't change directions. Now, all we had to do was get bait, and it turned out that was no easy feat! I don't know what's up with the bait situation this summer. There should be plenty of bait in places like Chino, Fosters, and Cayo Costa. It seems to have disappeared. We chummed and threw for an hour and a half. We only saw a few good sized shiners; lots of little shiners, and lots of pinfish. We kept some of all of it. I knew on the beach we could use weights to get the bait to the fish.

We weren't the first to the beach, but were able to get at the better wood without crowding Jimbo, who was already there. We all caught consistently for most of the morning. The surprise was that the snook not only ate the big and little shiners, but they devoured the small pinfish with equal vigor. We had a pretty good bite. Paul got the best fish we saw caught on the beach that morning; a 9 pound snook on a 10 pound Daiwa Emblem Z 2000 and St. Croix Premier combo. Paul did a great job of following my coaching lead, and after quite a battle had the snook at the boat. He agreed that it was a real thrill to drag a big fish out of the sticks on light tackle. Our total for the morning was around 25 snook, 6 trout, 2 mackerel, and 2 small jacks. We used every bait we had in the well except for some ballyhoo I'd kept. Every bait we'd pitched had been hit, and we'd burned a lot of bait. My back was about to give out, and Mike and Paul had use of my kayaks, so we headed in a little early.

I talked with several other guides, and they had all experienced the same bait problem we had. I guess Monday, I'll have to check some other areas. I think the beach might be the place to start.

I'm going to spend the rest of the week nursing my back, and hope to be at 100% come next Monday.

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