A Short Trip With One Great Trip
Capt. Butch Rickey
June 7, 2008
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
After a week off and a trip to St. Simons Island, Georgia, for my nephew's wedding, I got one trip in this week.
It was a great day! It was my first time with Lisa and her eighteen year old son Ronnie, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Lisa is the sister of Cindi Hewitt, who with her husband David, arranged for the trip with Lisa and Ronnie. They were visiting David and Cindi at their place in Naples. This day was really all about Ronnie, who is about to be married and then ship off to the Marine Corps, all in August.
Boy! It's amazing how things can change when you're off the water for a week. On my last trip before leaving the bait was big and easy. Lisa called me from her cell and said she thought she'd missed her turn at Daniels Parkway. She said she saw a sign that said North Port! Well, North Port is 45 minutes north of us, so she'd definitely missed her turn, and she was not happy with herself. Lisa began her journey back to Punta Rassa, and I figured I'd better get out there and try to catch bait by myself. I knew the later it was that I got out there, the harder bait would be. So, I took off toward Picnic Island knowing that Lisa would call me once she arrived at Daniels Parkway. That would give me time to get back to the ramp by the time she arrived.
But, once at Picnic, I got the big surprise. I had dimpling on the water almost as soon as I tossed the first chum. But, that dimpling turned out to be new hatch bait, and it seemed that all the parents had beat fins to offshore water. That's all I could find. I fished Picnic, the B Span flat, and around the causeway at the A Span, and couldn't find a shiner bigger than 2 to 2.5 inches. And, they were hard to catch. Most of them wind up gilled in the net, and perish. There were plenty of pinfish, and I kept plenty even though I've not been able to get much to eat them live or cut.
Once I picked up Lisa and Ronnie, we were off to try to find more bait. I didn't have much, and it was small. The southeast wind was keeping me from going out off the beach of Sanibel, where I was pretty sure there would be better bait. I needed to find bait inside. So, I fished the flats off Mail Run Cut, the Power Line flats, the flats at Chino, and the Marker 32 bar, and came up with nothing but a few more small shiners, and some ballyhoo.
Finally, the water was beginning to move on the short tide, and it was time to fish. Considering the small bait we had, I figured the best strategy would be to fish cut baits and try to get some redfish to bite. But, at the first several spots we fished, all good redfish grounds, we couldn't get a bite. What was going on?
I made a big move to the other side of the Sound and picked a nice mangrove key that always gives me redfish when the wind is southerly. I prepared cut ballyhoo, and put that and a shiner under a popping cork up at the edge of the mangroves. We had action almost immediately. We were on some redfish that were just a hair under the slot, but we were happy to see some fish finally biting. We caught half dozen or so, and missed a couple, and I got slammed by something huge that cut the Power Pro immediately on something sharp on the bottom. Probably a big snook! And then, as if someone had flipped a big switch, they turned off. We couldn't buy another bite. We moved on.
At the next stop, again looking for redfish and snook, we caught one nice speckled trout. Aside from a couple of hardhead catfish, that was it. At the next stop Ronnie finally got his first and only snook, but it was the snook that gave him the West Coast Slam!
We were near the top of the tide, and wanted to get lunch in. And, there were a lot of clouds already building to the east. We headed for the Waterfront Restaurant. There we found that J.D. was serving chicken quesadillas with his own pico de guillo. Lisa and I ordered that, and boy we were glad we did. Lisa said it was the very best quesadillas she'd ever had, and I certainly agreed. It was awesome.
As we talked I discovered that Lisa has another son who is already serving in the theater. I told her about our Operation Open Arms, and promised her that if she could get her son down here upon his safe return, he'd have a free trip waiting for him.
We headed home with the wind still up and the weather brewing. It had been a tough day from a catching standpoint, but an awesome day with a great Mom and son team. They'd had a blast, and that's what's important. After cleaning the fish and some good-bye hugs, I headed for home hoping I'd beat the weather. As it turned out, the lightning alert went off as I was finishing up cleanup, and it was raining before I got back to the house. Perfect timing!
Business has really dropped off with the arrival of summer. So far it looks like two trips next week with my favorite fishing buddy, Dr. John Hitt. We always have fun out there, and I know we will next week.
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