Clam Bayou Gives Up A Nice Snook On A Tough Tide
Capt. Butch Rickey
June 28, 2014
Sanibel - Saltwater Fishing Report
Week Ending 6/21/14...........
It was a week of mostly poor tides, but I did get out for a day on the best tide we had, which was Monday. My friends Kevin Duffy, and his son Kenny, were down from Wisconsin for a week of vacation at South Seas. Kevin is an avid kayak angler, and I think he owns five boats. This is the fourth year we've fished together, and I'm really fond of him. I asked him the night before if he wanted to see some new water, figuring with his sense of adventure, he's say "yes". I told him a little about Clam Bayou, and he was all for it.
We had no water moving until around 11:00 AM, but I still haven't nailed down just how the tides work in the Bayou. The water doesn't move nearly as much in the Bayou over a six hour tide as it does in the Sound. The most I have observed on the numerous stakes in the bayou is maybe 6 or 7 inches.
I met the boys at 8:30 at Doc Ford's in South Seas Plantation. I figured that with the driving and launching that would give us plenty of time, and we would be getting on the water about the time the tide would move. Not! I barely moved all day! I honestly don't think it moved more than a couple inches while we were out there.
We began working the shoreline on both sides not far from the launch. We hadn't been at it long before we had a couple of snook. One was 31". That's the best one I've taken in there so far, and the best red has been 30", from the same area. From there things got tough. The fish just didn't want to eat, and it was the first time fishing the bayou that we didn't catch any redfish. We did manage 6 more snook, and Kevin added a 12" mangrove snapper. We did have lots of hits that didn't connect, too. The fish just weren't aggressive.
All in all we had a great time, and it was a beautiful day on some beautiful water. We stayed out until we'd all had enough sun, and it's really getting hot out there!
Target Species:
Snook and redfish
More Fishing Reports:
