Good Fishing, Tough Catching
Capt. Butch Rickey
April 14, 2015
Sanibel - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing Report for the week ending 4/4/15:
It's Saturday morning. The day before Easter, and the day of the third Blood Moon in the last year. I crawled out at 5 AM, after laying there tossing and turning for three hours. I guess something in my subconscious had me worried about the fishing on this full/blood moon. I had met my client Miles Armstrong, down from Tampa, the evening before to receive his deposit and papers. He was a very nice young man, full of hope, enthusiasm, and optimism about our trip. This would be his first ever time fishing from a kayak, and his brother Troy was down from Huntersville, NC to join him. It was a family reunion on Sanibel. Miles is very interested in learning the sport, and wants to buy his own boat. He was also very interested in the Native Ultimates. This trip would also be the maiden voyage of my new Ultimate FX 15. I met Miles and Troy at their motel on Sanibel at 7 AM, and we were off to our destination. Along the way out to Sanibel, I watched the eclipse progress to about half a moon. It was cool to see, but would set before the blood moon would happen.
We had the boats in the water and ready to go before 8 AM, and were on our way. We were on the last couple hours of the falling tide, and there was almost no perceptable movement of the water. I began the morning with a casting clinic. Once we were done with that, we began fishing. I stationed my guys in a couple of spots that usually produce snook and redfish, and went on ahead to check out the next spot. I wanted to see if i could find a bite. It became immediately obvious that this was going to be a tough day of catching.
And, so it was. The fishing was fantastic, but the catching was very slow. Full moon blues, I guess. There were only four fish caught, but the best one was a 30 inch snook, which followed us home. Miles loved the Ultimate, and I loved my new FX 15. I will miss the Adapt-a-Trac system from the original Ultimates, which was so versatile and functional without ever having to drill a hole, but the new FX has a lot of redeeming qualities. I wouldn't have thought that Native Watercraft could make so many improvements to a boat that I thought was already perfect. But! They did.
Back at the launch it was somewhat of a Cluster I#)@(. but got out of there as quickly as we could so some other kayakers could pull their boats. There were two guys who had been fishing, whom we'd seen several times in our travels during the day, and they were surprised to see the big female snook.
All in all, it was a great day on the water with a couple of fine young men.
Target Species:
Anything That Will Bite!
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