FLORIDA FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 4/19/08
by
Capt. Butch Rickey
Again this week the winds and cold from the front that passed over the last weekend kept me off the water until Thursday.
My old friend Dr. John Hitt, of UCF, and I left his dock at 0630 hrs. with the air temperature in the high 40's, and soon saw the water temperature was bouncing around 61 to 62! The forecast was still for wind gusting 20 or better from the northeast. None of which makes for good fishing in southwest Florida.
As we made our journey down the river we discussed the options and decided that we would forego trying to catch bait, in favor of fishing artificials for speckled trout, which John loves to do. We did stop at St. James Creek and chat with Capt. Skip Dunn, and the report was grim. A handful of shiners had shown up right before the sun came up, and that was it. That pretty much sealed our decision.
There had been loads of big trout on the flats at Tarpon Bay, and I had on several occasions caught them in my net while catching bait. I hadn't actually been fishing there for them. So, John and I decided to go and see if we could get some of those big, fat trout to eat some plastic. There were half dozen boat scattered about all trying to catch bait. Far as we could tell there was very little catching going on. And, that was true for us, as well. John's Coastal was drifting so fast on the wind that it was hard to work a jig. We managed to catch some small trout, but nothing even approaching the slot limit. We moved on.
We headed on up in to the Sound to fish the myriad of potholes that usually house lots of big trout this time of year. But, would they eat? Well, I guess the answer was, "Kinda!" We caught quite a few trout over the course of the morning, most of which were under the slot. But, we did manage to put five nice fish into the well for John and I to take home. So, even though it was a slow day, it was somewhat productive. We were three trout short of our limit, though.
IS IT REALLY SPRING?
Once things slowed (more) we were quick to concede the point, and headed home. It was great to be out with John, as we have had many days robbed from us by the weather over the last few months. By the time we got back, the water temperature was hovering at around 65. If the afternoon stayed sunny and warm, there would be hope for Friday's fishing.
Friday morning it was some 11 degrees warmer when John and I left the dock. And, the water temp was bouncing at around 66 to 67. The wind forecast was down, as well. I told John that my gut was telling me we were going to have a good day. I could just feel it. I felt sure we would get plenty of bait, and that we'd have a good day of snook and redfishing.
We stopped again at St. James Creek and chatted with Capt. Maxie Stanford for a minute. The bait report there was grim. We decided to move on to Tarpon Bay, where bait had been very good before the big front. My gut told me it would be there, and it was. With John chumming and me throwing, we put plenty of bait in the big well in about an hour's time. We had plenty of shiners and pinfish. Now, I wanted some ladyfish. You can't beat ladyfish for redfish and snook when the water temperature is below 70.
We headed west to the power lines on the Sanibel side, and tied on a couple of TerrorEyez jigs. We still had a stiff east/northeast breeze that was blowing us across the water like we were on ice. It was hard to fish, but John and I managed to catch a blue runner, and 4 or 5 varied sizes of ladyfish. We now had plenty of bait to cover every situation. Surely we could get some redfish to eat something we had in the well!
John wanted to go to Jensen's Marina for fuel, and since the water was still fairly low, we decided to do that next. I told John that by the time we got that out of the way, the water would be getting about right to fish the bushes.
Once fueled, we were back out and ready to fish. We settled on a snook spot that yielded one missed snook. The wind was still blowing pretty well. Another boat joined us close-by, and foiled my plans for the area. We moved on. There was also a boat in the next area I wanted to fish. He was close enough to my spot that I couldn't approach without bothering him. We moved on, again.
Our next stop was the charm. Once settled in, I put out a couple of rigs with free-lined shiners. I tossed a few live chummers. Nothing! I knew the fish were there. I stuck my finger into the water and licked it. I could taste the redfish! ;^)
I got out the surgical equipment and operated on the first of four ladyfish. We put out two rigs. It was only a matter of a minute or two before we had the first redfish on, and into the boat. It was a nice slot fish of around 23 inches, who took up residency in John's livewell. Hey! We were on to something!
The bites kept coming, and so did the reds. We were having fun. I told John that if we could get them to eat shiners we could catch more fish quicker. So, I went back to shiners and viola, the reds ate them, too. So, now we were mixing it up and catching them on both. When the bite would slow, we'd move up about the distance of a good cast and start over, and be right back on the fish. We did that until the tide stopped, at which point we had upwards of a couple dozen reds in the boat.
IS IT REALLY SPRING?
I told John that I thought we'd be able to catch some snook once the tide began it's journey back to the sea. He was up for that, and we made a short move, and were immediately into snook action. Most ate shiners, but we did get one or two on steaked ladyfish. We finished the day with nearly a dozen snook, a couple dozen redfish, and a trout for the Slam. Geez! What a difference a day makes.
IS IT REALLY SPRING?
We'd had a blast! And, after so many days of being weathered out, John and I were overdue for a good trip. John commented that he was really glad he'd decided to go out, in spite of the less that perfect conditions. I was glad to have found a new use for my gut beside catching crumbs! I guess we should learn to listen to our guts more often than we do.
Be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com, Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!