The Good, Bad, and Ugly!
Capt. Butch Rickey
November 24, 2012
Pine Island Sound - Saltwater Fishing Report
Week ending 11/17/12..........
I got in two trips this week. One was out of Bokeelia in the Jug Creek area, and the other out of Castaways.
The first was on Tuesday, with my friend Don Marano, of Salt Lake City, Utah. He and his wife Dawn are staying at the Bocilla Island Club for their first time, and Don wanted to explore the fishing possibilities there. I told Don that I have never fished that area, but he was up for exploring it together. We were able to launch from an old ramp there, but the man with the keys would not open the gate that blocks it. So, we had to haul the boats to the edge, climb down and then lower the boats into the water.
We had an incoming tide, and because the bodies of water are narrow, the tidal currents can be very strong. We decided to troll our way south through Black Bay to Jug Creek. We got into trout all along the way, and I was surprised at the level of boat traffic there. Don caught some nice trout fishing edges into deeper water. It was overcast and seemed a perfect day to toss a topwater plug. I was quickly rewarded with a nice 21" trout that really crashed the plug. That was our best trout of the day.
I left Don catching trout to see if I could round up some redfish. Most all the water is very shallow once you're away from the main channel. I poled along in the shallow water exploring around mangrove keys and shorelines. I did find a few redfish, but most were singles, and not interested in eating. I rejoined Don, and we pushed our way a bit farther west and south. I continued to get lots of blowups on my topwater Yozuri, but the fish weren't connecting. All the rest of the fish I caught were on the DOA CAL jigs.
Toward the end of the day I found a bunch of mangrove snapper that were all over the jig. They were laid up in a trough along a shoreline. They were all shorts, so I didn't play with them for long.
The day went by quickly, and we stayed pretty busy with trout. I suggested to Don that we'd probably be wise to ride the tail end of the incoming tide back toward Bocilla, so that we weren't fighting both wind and a strong outgoing tide trying to get home. We trolled for a while, but the bite was about over. We headed on in to a ramp in the small park next to Bocilla Island Club. I had to drop the trailer in order to get the van turned around to get out of the under-condo parking, and get around to the park ramp. I thought I might have to drop it again at the ramp, as there's not much maneuvering room, there.
It was fun being out with Don and exploring a new area. There is so much there to explore, you could spend a lifetime learning that area. In a couple of weeks, Don and I will fish again from Castaways.
*
Wednesday, I had my first trip with Dave Stoddart, who is from Canada, and lives in Avon Park for half the year. Given the conditions we faced at the ramp, I was blessed to have such a nice customer. Dave came over from Avon the night before and stayed at a nearby motel, and I met him at the Circle K next door. We had a chance to chat and get to know each other on the ride out to Castaways, and again coming home. The ramp had numerous dead mullet laying around, and was extra slippery and smelly. The red tide was obviously still in that part of the Sound.
We very carefully got the boats ready and in to the water without a slip and fall incident. I came close a couple of times, though. I had hoped that those were just leftovers at the ramp, but our ride out to the fishing grounds proved that wrong. There were a lot of floaters, and the water clarity was awful. On the upside, it was a beautiful day and a strong full moon tide that gave us a negative low tide with at least the promise of catching some fish.
We motored our way out to the flats where we found very little water. The tide would reach a -0.5 ft., and was still going out. We had to get out and pull our Ultimates across the barely wet grass to get to the area we would begin our day with. At least the first half of our day would be pothole fishing. It's usually very productive, with lots of big trout, fall redfish, flounder and ladyfish being the most prevalent species.
I tied on topwater lures Dave and I. It was a perfect time of day for them. I got Dave situated on a pothole, and we went to work. It quickly became obvious we would not have the bite I would normally expect in these holes on such a tide. I left Dave at the first hole to work it over with a variety of lures, while I went searching for a bite in the other nearby holes. Dave reported numerous strikes at his topwater lure and his jigs, but little success.
We worked those holes over with only a handful of trout and a flounder to show for our efforts. We worked that pattern all over the area until the water was high enough to switch to the flats pattern in hopes of finding some redfish that would eat. Dave and I fished hard, throwing a variety of jigs and spoons and topwater plugs, and never got a redfish bite. I did find some very nice redfish on our flat, but they were having nothing to do with us. It's so nice to fish from the Ultimate, which allows me to stand up and pole, or fish, and offers a bird's eye view of the flats. And, of course, the stealth of the kayak allows me to get very close to the fish without spooking them. Most of the time they just swim off slowly as you get close.
There were a number of other boats in the area, close enough to see if they were catching, or not. Several were guide boats. I didn't see the first fish caught! Dave and I fished hard, and caught a few trout and a flounder early, for our efforts. There were floating dead mullet and lots of seaweed floating in the water, and the stench of red tide in the air, yet we had a great time out there. Dave said it wasn't the first time he'd had a tough day of catching, and it certainly won't be the last.
Finally, our tide was done, and so were we. We headed in. We enjoyed talking our way back to the Circle K where it all started. It doesn't take lots of fish caught to have a fun day on the water. We proved that.
Target Species:
Redfish and trout
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