Fishing Report for Pine Island Sound to Sarasota Bay, Florida

Capt. Butch Rickey
September 5, 2000
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report

FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 8/19/2000 by Capt. Butch Rickey

I had a full week on the schedule, but fate had other plans. Boy, getting old ain't what it's cracked up to be, so far!

I had Charles and Don Ruston scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. They're always a lot of fun to fish with, and some of my favorite folks. Don is a bass fisherman, and loves the way our redfish pull. I forgot that Charles had called me at around 10 Sunday night, just after I'd gone to bed, and asked me to pick them up at the Sanibel Harbor dock. I was half asleep, and by morning I had forgotten. So, I sat at the dock until 6:20 wondering where the Rustons could be. I feared they had broken down, and I was really worried about catching some ladyfish for bait before the sun came up, so I headed to the ladyfish hole by myself. I got there on a flat tide first thing in the morning on the night of the full moon. The ladies, trout, and even catfish weren't biting. I was only able to put one ladyfish in the boat. I turned my cell phone on once I arrived at the ladyfish hole, and it rang immediately. It was Charles and Don at the Sanibel Harbor dock, wondering where I was. I felt like a moron!

I picked them up on the way back. Only one ladyfish meant I had to stop at Chino and get shiners and pinfish. I hadn't done that in a while.

That full moon always presents problems with getting the fish to eat in the morning. Yes, it usually blesses you with a great looking tide, but the fish have full tummies from dining all night, and it's hard to get anything to eat before the tide quits. I hoped that stinky one ladyfish we had would give us an edge over pins and shiners. We did get a slow bite going, and had 8 reds on, and landed 4. Don got the biggest at 13 pounds. I think that was his biggest red. I didn't think much of it at the time, but early on, as I was throwing chum with my bait bat, my feet came out from under me, and I almost went down on the deck. Looking back, I would probably have been better off if I had. I didn't know it then, but I tore ligaments in my left knee. By the end of the day, it would be getting my attention.

We finished the day at the Waterfront Restaurant with a great lunch. I threw the girls off their rhythm when I ordered the hotdog they call "The Homewrecker". If you could see this weenie, you'd understand. It's huge! The girls wanted to know what Charles and Don had done to me to cause me to order something different than the shrimp or scallops I usually order.

Tuesday morning, when I got up, I could hardly walk. I could barely bend my leg! I had forgotten about the slip on the deck, and couldn't imagine what was wrong with my knee. There was no option; I had to be there. I picked Charles and Don up at the Sanibel Harbor, and we were off to ladyfish country. What a difference a day and being on time can make. We had a great ladyfish bite, and put 7 in the boat, along with 2 jacks, 2 gafftop sail cats, and 6 nice trout. We had plenty of bait to chum and fish with, plus we'd had fun catching it.

I knew the redfish would be tough, and as I explained to Charles and Don, we'd have to be patient and wait for them to get into the mood to eat. We were on fish all morning, but outside of one keeper first thing, we had to wait until late in the morning for any more action. The boys got a snook, a big ray, and Don got a 16 pound nurse shark. The redfish action never came, even in all those fish, so in desperation, I headed across the Sound to one of my favorite redfish holes. Thank God, we had a good bite from the first cast. We also had line problems. I had just respooled most of my Daiwa Emblem Z reels the night before, and I was near the bottom of the Ande filler spool. Apparently there was some bad line at the end of the spool, as we broke many fish off, that should have been landed. I was able to easily break some of the line with my hands, as it felt like it was 2 to 4 pound test. We had a good 20 redfish on the line, but only boated 8 fish, many lost because of the line problem. I was not happy, but it didn't seem to bother Charles or Don.

We ended a great day back at the Waterfront where I further threw the girls off when I ordered one of their fabulous 10 oz. burgers. I was in extreme pain with my knee, and could hardly walk. I wondered how I was going to get through Wednesday, and what I could have done to my knee to cause so much pain.

I talked to my long time friend and customer David Bernot that evening, and explained the situation. We were to fish Wednesday. David agreed to help take some of the burden off me by acting as first mate. My biggest problem was getting up and down off the decks. I could keep the pain to a minimum as long as I could keep my knee locked in the straight position.

On the ladyfish hole Wednesday morning, David and his 10 year old son Chris caught 4 nice ladyfish, 5 trout, and a bluefish of about 4 pounds. We were all set. Would the reds cooperate? Once at the redfish flats we got our answer. It was a resounding, "No!" We caught one ray and lost a snook before I made the move across the Sound to the same place I'd scored the day before. The wind was all over the place, and we had a heck of a time trying to get the bait to where the fish were holding, but we managed, and the boys hooked at least 10 reds, landing 5 of them. Young Chris got the best fish at 10 pounds, and really did a great job of fighting it. We missed a lot of other hits, as well. Although a slow start, we had a great time, and finished at the Waterfront. I ordered another fabulous cheeseburger, and the girls aren't sure what's wrong with me.

I hated like hell to do it, but I knew that if I didn't get off my knee I might risk permanent damage, and I was practically in tears when I bent it. So, I called Andy Lutkoff, my party for Thursday and asked if we could reschedule him for later since he is local. David and Chris were scheduled to fish again on Friday, and agreed to move to next Wednesday since they would be here next week. I rearranged the rest of my schedule to give myself six days off the water, in hopes that my knee would be on the mend by then. I figured if it wasn't getting better by Monday, it would be time to involve a doctor.

Who was it that dubbed the years after age 55 the Golden Years?

FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 8/26/2000 by Capt. Butch Rickey

Between my bum knee and the threat of hurricane Debbie, it was a very abbreviated workweek! I took Monday and Tuesday off to nurse my knee, which was ultimately a good decision. Joe DeRado, who was scheduled to fish Thursday, was forced to change his plans because of the hurricane threat.

Wednesday, BarHopp'R regular and friend, David Bernot and his son Chris were back for their second trip, rescheduled from last Friday. I was not thrilled with the tide, as it was high first thing in the morning, and falling for the rest of our trip. I was in a big hurry to get on some ladyfish, then get to the flats before we lost our water. Luck was with us and we had four nice ladyfish in the boat in short order and were heading to the flats as the sun rose.

It wasn't long before we had some action going. Although the boys missed quite a few hits, they only lost a couple after they made the strike. The circle hooks are good in that regard, but the reds are still taking them deep instead of being lip-hooked as they should be. Anyway, they boated at least 8 nice reds to 10 pounds, 1 snook and missed 2, 1 trout, and a good sized blacktip shark. We had a great time! The most unusual fish of the day was that one snook. It was the same fish that we have caught twice in the last two weeks. He's a pretty slow learner! He's easy to identify because his upper right lip is separated from his body, but it doesn't seem to slow him down. I noticed that the circle hook we left way back in his throat last week was gone without a trace. We topped off a perfect day with a great Waterfront lunch and some good chat. It was great to see David and Chris again, and get in a couple of days with them.

Friday was reserved for the first trip with Kim Bigham, of Benton, Illinois, his son Chris, who lives in Bradenton, Florida, and his grandson, Eric. These boys had been looking forward to this get-away for a long time, and were real excited about the fishing. I hoped the fish would cooperate. We headed to ladyfish land to get bait, and managed to catch 2 nice trout, a snapper, and put 4 ladyfish in the well. That was plenty for a morning of fishing.

We headed to the flats as the sun rose behind us, but once there and staged, couldn't get the reds to eat. I tried several places that almost always have reds willing to eat, but it was nothing doing. So, a move to a different part of the Sound was in order. From the first baits that went into the water, we had a good bite! Thank God! The Bighams had the usual problems with trying to get the hookset accomplished through a long, light line, but of the 16 or so reds they had on, they boated 8 to 9 pounds. Batting 500 in this type of fishing your first time out isn't too shabby. We had a great time. Of course, we finished at the Waterfront.

Although it's tough on the pocketbook, it was probably a blessing that I had to reschedule Joe DeRado. My knee was still giving me a pretty bad time at the end of the week. I can tell it's coming around, though.

FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 9/2/2000 by Capt. Butch Rickey

If I had to describe the situation this week with just one word it would be rain, rain, rain. Because of unseasonable morning storms streaming in off the Gulf for two days in a row, there are only two fishing days to report on.

Tuesday morning my good friend and BarHopp'R regular Kevin Haag of Douglas Realty in Cape Coral, met me at the ramp instead of me picking him up at the Waterfront Restaurant as usual. His good friend Rick, whom I hadn't seen in a while was with him. We headed out to catch ladyfish for bait, and it turned out that Kevin's home is not far from where we were on the water. I'll probably pick him up at his dock next time! It took about an hour to catch 4 ladyfish and 6 nice trout. 4 ladyfish is usually plenty for a morning of fishing.

We fished several of my favorite places, but the reds would have nothing to do with us. So, I made a change of geography to another of my favorite areas, and that was the charm. I'm still experimenting with circle hooks, but even with them he boys missed a lot of fish. We had around 20 reds take our baits, but the final number in the boat was 8. Actually, that's batting nearly 500, and that's not bad for the light line, long cast style of fishing, especially for guys that don't get to do it often. I would like to have really slayed the reds (figure of speech only), but we had a good time. Kevin and Rick are always fun and entertaining, and keep me laughing.

Wednesday and Thursday the rains came, and poor Dave Bruening, of Lehigh Acres, was canceled twice. We'll try it again next week. Friday belonged to Joe DeRado, of New Jersey, and his father-in-law George Petrisko. Joe and George had been rescheduled from the week before because of the threat of Debbie. This was their first time for this type of fishing, and I wanted it to be good. We had a really late tide, turning incoming at around eleven o'clock. I figured the rains of the previous two days would have the water cooled sufficiently that the afternoon heating wouldn't be a problem. Bait was my biggest concern.

We headed to Chino to get bait, and the flat near the island was absolutely lousy with bait. We got beautiful shiners and pinfish, and were off. We still had to wait on the water to rise some, so I headed to the second set of power lines at around the 6 and 7th poles. There are often ladyfish there during the day. We fished for a while and caught a couple of trout, but no ladies. There were huge schools of bait everywhere, even thicker than at Chino!

Finally, we headed to the flats to fish the incoming tide. The redfish had other ideas, though. I had seen fish at the first several stops we made, and knew they were there, but they would have nothing to do with our baits. Oh, for some ladyfish! I fished 6 of my favorite redfish holes without so much as a hit! Joe and George had to be back in at five o'clock and the clock was wasting away. I was starting to get that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I decided that a change of venue was in order.

I hadn't fished the bushes for reds in quite some time, but fishing the flats wasn't working for whatever reason. So, I headed to one of my favorite south wind spots that offers beautiful reliefs back into the mangroves. That's something I always look for when fishing reds in the bushes. It allows me to get the bait back in close to the fish. You just have to be able to hit the pockets from a good ways off. We fished for several minutes, when all of a sudden we had a double hookup. I knew I had found fish that would eat. I'd had more than just a few 30 and 40 redfish days at this spot. For the next hour and a half Joe and George were treated to some pretty good redfish action. They had about 25 fish on, and boated 10 to 12. We lost track for sure. There were early strikes, break-offs, etc., but they did pretty darned well for their first time out. All of their learning was compacted into that hour and a half, but they got the hang of it toward the end.

Finally, we had to leave the fish biting well. Even though the tide was done, the fish were still eating, and I'm betting we could have stayed right there and caught another 10 or so. Joe admitted that he was about ready to throw in the towel before that rally. Joe also got the biggest red at over 8 pounds. We had a blast for that last couple hours. I heard Joe repeatedly say, "Boy, I'm excited, now!" Even though we had beautiful shiners, every redfish was caught on sliced and diced pinfish.

I believe we'll be seeing increasingly good redfish action, and snook action on the flats as we head into September and October.

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