06-10-2004, 03:02 PM
Pine Island Sound - June 9th, 2004
supplied by: [url "http://www.fisheyesoup.com/redir.php?recKey=42,re"][#0000ff]BarHopp'R[/#0000ff][/url]
FISHING: Good
Florida Keys Tides [[url "http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/tides03/tab2ec3d.html"][#0000ff]click here[/#0000ff][/url]]
It was a great week of old friends and familiar faces, and even though the odd weather pattern kept us away from where most of the snook are, we managed to have a pretty good week. First up on Tuesday, were Terry and Michele Ryan, of Toms River, New Jersey. We had our first trip about a year ago, and had a fantastic day of snook fishing. I heard talk that morning of bait disappearing from Chino Island, and decided to begin the quest for bait at Picnic Island, and work northward, if necessary. Bait was great at Picnic, and soon we were off. The wind forecast was for light breeze from the southwest. As we left the bait grounds at Picnic I noticed that the breeze was very light, and thought we had a shot a nice day on the beach for snook. I decided to turn around, and run out around the lighthouse and up the Sanibel beach to the first snook stop, a section of beach near Bowman's I dubbed "Stickbeach" years ago. We hadn't gotten more than a couple miles when the wind kicked, and began to make things bumpy, but we were committed, at that point. We pressed on. We were the first boat there, and I anchored on a spot that I had identified as good on a previous trip. We had a good bite from the first bell, and within a couple of minutes Michele had a monster on. You have to picture this. The water was so rough with rollers that we could barely stand up in the boat. Terry and Michele were not comfortable trying to get up on the deck. Michele is a tiny little gal just over 100 pounds soaking wet, and cuter than hell. Here she is with a big snook on the end of her line that's about to pull her out of the boat, and she can barely stand up or hold on to the rod. She's fighting this big snook, and I'm trying to hold on to her enough to make sure she doesn't fall out of the boat on a passing wave. With some luck and coaching she brought the beautiful beach snook boatside, and it was nearly 12 pounds. It was a lot of snook for such a little lady who could barely keep her feet, but she did it. High fives!!
As you might expect, Michele gave Terry a fishing lesson on the beach, although Terry did catch some nice fish, as well. Michele must have thought I was picking on her, as I was like a bull in a China closet, banging her on the head with a reel, and other sundry things. After about two dozen nice snook on the beach things slowed, and we decided to head inside. The water was rough, and unless there's a raging bite, it's not worth getting beaten up. I cranked the Yamaha, and immediately realize it didn't sound right. It had a very dull, flat sound, although it was running. When we got to the manatee buoys, I gave it throttle, but it wouldn't exceed 1600 RPM, and wouldn't even think about getting on step. It was running basically at idle only, and I figured the best thing I could do was try to make my way down to Redfish Pass some five miles away, and get on to flat water before I tried to figure out what was up. I was afraid that either I, or part of my motor would wind up in the rough water if I tried to figure out what was wrong out there. I took over an hour, but we finally got on a shallow bar near South Seas Plantation, and I pulled the lid off the engine. I checked the engine fuel filter, and found some small debris in it, but nothing I thought would be causing a problem. I cleared it, and squirted some fuel with the ball, and put it back together. When I hit the key, I could tell instantly the motor was fine. We headed on to the next spot to see if we could find some more snook and some redfish. After a only a couple of snook, I decided it was time to fish for redfish, and made a move. I chummed with live and cut bait, and put out a couple of cut baits and a live bait. Soon, we had some action, and our first redfish in the boat. I was having trouble getting Michele to set the hook on the redfish, and on a big hit, decided to show here what I meant by "setting" the hook. I hauled back on the rod, and something seemed to let loose, and the rod hit her squarely in the glasses. It scared me to death, and startled her, but she got her fish. We laughed and joked about it later, but she must have thought I was going to knock her out before the day was over! We finished the day with a couple more snook, and about 8 redfish. It was a pretty good day, in spite of some motor troubles, and it was great to see Terry and Michele once again. Tuesday, it was my old friend Bob McGuire, of Line Lexington, Pennsylvania. Bob is a long-time friend and customer, and I love fishing with him. He's happy with what ever is going on. A wind check after catching bait dictated that we stay inside the Sound. I asked Bob if he wanted to go try for some big snook, and he was in agreement. We headed into Ding Darling Sanctuary to begin. Even thought the tide had not yet begun to move when we arrived, we had a good bite. We didn't land any big snook, but we sure had a great variety of fish. In that first spot Bob caught a mangrove snapper, a gag grouper, 4 speckled trout, 2 redfish, a ladyfish, and 3 snook. In fact, Bob did the impossible at that first stop, catching a trout and a ladyfish at the same time on one bait. Apparently, what happened was that the ladyfish hit first, and the hook went through its lip, and it swam up the line. Then, the trout ate the same bait, and we couldn't figure out what we had as Bob reeled in what looked like a foul up with another line. Imagine our surprise when we realized he'd caught two fish on one bait and one hook. After that display of angling skill the bite slowed, and we decided to go chase redfish. We set up shop on a flat, and I went to work with chumming. Soon, we had the action we were looking for. We had a good redfish bite, and although they were slot fish around 20 inches, they are a blast on light tackle. Bob caught around 20 of the bronze puppies before it was over, and we headed home happy campers.
Bob always has a way of making me feel great about a trip, what with his unbridled enthusiasm and with comments like, "Another awesome day, Butchie!" He always sends me home feeling like the greatest guide in the world. Thursday and Friday were spent with my old friend Dr. John Hitt, over for a week of rest and relaxation from his duties as President of UCF, in Orlando. I met John at 6 AM Thursday morning, and we were quickly off toward Picnic Island for bait. We didn't expect it, but as it turned out, bait was tough! With a lot of work we only managed to get a few dozen shiners and some pinfish. I decided to head up to Chino, thinking it would surely be there, but to my surprise, we never saw a shiner. On to Kiesels flat and it was the same thing. Finally, we resolved to go fish with what we had, instead of wasting any more of the tide. By the time we got to the first hole it was after 9:30. We had foregone our plans for earlier. By the time we got there the tide was getting just about right for the reds to move in and begin to eat, so after catching three snook, we turned our attention to the reds. The wind was bouncing us around, and I was having trouble staying on my chum. After a few minutes we caught a redfish or two, but that was it. I sensed that they were close by, and that perhaps they had settled on a very good patch of bottom. I elected a short move to a trough close by, and sure enough, it was action from the get-go! We were on 'em. For the rest of the tide, nearly 3 hours, we caught some 30 redfish. We had a blast. All but a few were slot fish.
Friday, we were at it again, and met my bud Capt. Butch Boteler at Picnic Island. Butch had a tooth extracted late the previous afternoon, and was concerned about putting a nasty old net in his mouth, for a number of reasons. He would do the chumming, and I the throwing. My big concern was that bait was again be tough. It wasn't. For whatever reason, bait was back to normal, and we soon had both the boats loaded with plenty. I decided to take John to the spot I had taken Bob two days before, to see if we would once again have a potpourri of fish to catch. We would try for reds later on the tide. But, the slow crawling tide we had drawn on this day had the fish thinking about other than eating. It became evident that it was going to be a tough day, with 2 jack crevalle, 2 speckled trout, and 1 nice gag grouper. We had some nice hits that we didn't manage to hook, too. We waited until the tide have moved for about a half hour before electing to move on. It was time for redfish. I felt sure we could get them to eat. But, even they were reluctant participants in our fishing game. At our first stop we got only one hit, and missed it. Then there were only catfish. We moved on, and headed back to the scene of the previous day's great action. I knew the fish would be there. It would just be a question of whether or not they'd eat. Well, the action was slow, but the fish were big. The first redfish was over 9 pounds. Then came a 15 pound fish, an 11 pound fish, a big trout, and a keeper red. We broke off 2 or 3 reds, as well. The 15 pounder was John's biggest red on the west coast. He has caught some of the outsized reds over at Mosquito Lagoon, but that's a big red for our flats. But, our biggest excitement came when a spinner shark of about 5 ft. in length took John's bait on two occasions. They put on quite a show until the cut the leader or throw the hook. We fished the reds until we were sure they were done, and called it a day. Although it had been a slow day by our standards, it had been a good day of quality fish, and we were happy.
Next week it's a week of really poor tides until Friday. It could mean a tough week of fishing if the prevailing morning winds won't let us get out to where the snook are staged. We'll see how it goes. IMPORTANT If you want to be able to continue to fish Florida waters please follow this link, [url "http://www.barhoppr.com/manzones.htm"][#0000ff]"Manatee Zones: How You Can Help"[/#0000ff][/url] and please take the time to become involved, even if you don't live in Florida. Let the politicians know WHY you come to Florida on vacation!
supplied by: [url "http://www.fisheyesoup.com/redir.php?recKey=42,re"][#0000ff]BarHopp'R[/#0000ff][/url]
FISHING: Good
Florida Keys Tides [[url "http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/tides03/tab2ec3d.html"][#0000ff]click here[/#0000ff][/url]]
It was a great week of old friends and familiar faces, and even though the odd weather pattern kept us away from where most of the snook are, we managed to have a pretty good week. First up on Tuesday, were Terry and Michele Ryan, of Toms River, New Jersey. We had our first trip about a year ago, and had a fantastic day of snook fishing. I heard talk that morning of bait disappearing from Chino Island, and decided to begin the quest for bait at Picnic Island, and work northward, if necessary. Bait was great at Picnic, and soon we were off. The wind forecast was for light breeze from the southwest. As we left the bait grounds at Picnic I noticed that the breeze was very light, and thought we had a shot a nice day on the beach for snook. I decided to turn around, and run out around the lighthouse and up the Sanibel beach to the first snook stop, a section of beach near Bowman's I dubbed "Stickbeach" years ago. We hadn't gotten more than a couple miles when the wind kicked, and began to make things bumpy, but we were committed, at that point. We pressed on. We were the first boat there, and I anchored on a spot that I had identified as good on a previous trip. We had a good bite from the first bell, and within a couple of minutes Michele had a monster on. You have to picture this. The water was so rough with rollers that we could barely stand up in the boat. Terry and Michele were not comfortable trying to get up on the deck. Michele is a tiny little gal just over 100 pounds soaking wet, and cuter than hell. Here she is with a big snook on the end of her line that's about to pull her out of the boat, and she can barely stand up or hold on to the rod. She's fighting this big snook, and I'm trying to hold on to her enough to make sure she doesn't fall out of the boat on a passing wave. With some luck and coaching she brought the beautiful beach snook boatside, and it was nearly 12 pounds. It was a lot of snook for such a little lady who could barely keep her feet, but she did it. High fives!!
As you might expect, Michele gave Terry a fishing lesson on the beach, although Terry did catch some nice fish, as well. Michele must have thought I was picking on her, as I was like a bull in a China closet, banging her on the head with a reel, and other sundry things. After about two dozen nice snook on the beach things slowed, and we decided to head inside. The water was rough, and unless there's a raging bite, it's not worth getting beaten up. I cranked the Yamaha, and immediately realize it didn't sound right. It had a very dull, flat sound, although it was running. When we got to the manatee buoys, I gave it throttle, but it wouldn't exceed 1600 RPM, and wouldn't even think about getting on step. It was running basically at idle only, and I figured the best thing I could do was try to make my way down to Redfish Pass some five miles away, and get on to flat water before I tried to figure out what was up. I was afraid that either I, or part of my motor would wind up in the rough water if I tried to figure out what was wrong out there. I took over an hour, but we finally got on a shallow bar near South Seas Plantation, and I pulled the lid off the engine. I checked the engine fuel filter, and found some small debris in it, but nothing I thought would be causing a problem. I cleared it, and squirted some fuel with the ball, and put it back together. When I hit the key, I could tell instantly the motor was fine. We headed on to the next spot to see if we could find some more snook and some redfish. After a only a couple of snook, I decided it was time to fish for redfish, and made a move. I chummed with live and cut bait, and put out a couple of cut baits and a live bait. Soon, we had some action, and our first redfish in the boat. I was having trouble getting Michele to set the hook on the redfish, and on a big hit, decided to show here what I meant by "setting" the hook. I hauled back on the rod, and something seemed to let loose, and the rod hit her squarely in the glasses. It scared me to death, and startled her, but she got her fish. We laughed and joked about it later, but she must have thought I was going to knock her out before the day was over! We finished the day with a couple more snook, and about 8 redfish. It was a pretty good day, in spite of some motor troubles, and it was great to see Terry and Michele once again. Tuesday, it was my old friend Bob McGuire, of Line Lexington, Pennsylvania. Bob is a long-time friend and customer, and I love fishing with him. He's happy with what ever is going on. A wind check after catching bait dictated that we stay inside the Sound. I asked Bob if he wanted to go try for some big snook, and he was in agreement. We headed into Ding Darling Sanctuary to begin. Even thought the tide had not yet begun to move when we arrived, we had a good bite. We didn't land any big snook, but we sure had a great variety of fish. In that first spot Bob caught a mangrove snapper, a gag grouper, 4 speckled trout, 2 redfish, a ladyfish, and 3 snook. In fact, Bob did the impossible at that first stop, catching a trout and a ladyfish at the same time on one bait. Apparently, what happened was that the ladyfish hit first, and the hook went through its lip, and it swam up the line. Then, the trout ate the same bait, and we couldn't figure out what we had as Bob reeled in what looked like a foul up with another line. Imagine our surprise when we realized he'd caught two fish on one bait and one hook. After that display of angling skill the bite slowed, and we decided to go chase redfish. We set up shop on a flat, and I went to work with chumming. Soon, we had the action we were looking for. We had a good redfish bite, and although they were slot fish around 20 inches, they are a blast on light tackle. Bob caught around 20 of the bronze puppies before it was over, and we headed home happy campers.
Bob always has a way of making me feel great about a trip, what with his unbridled enthusiasm and with comments like, "Another awesome day, Butchie!" He always sends me home feeling like the greatest guide in the world. Thursday and Friday were spent with my old friend Dr. John Hitt, over for a week of rest and relaxation from his duties as President of UCF, in Orlando. I met John at 6 AM Thursday morning, and we were quickly off toward Picnic Island for bait. We didn't expect it, but as it turned out, bait was tough! With a lot of work we only managed to get a few dozen shiners and some pinfish. I decided to head up to Chino, thinking it would surely be there, but to my surprise, we never saw a shiner. On to Kiesels flat and it was the same thing. Finally, we resolved to go fish with what we had, instead of wasting any more of the tide. By the time we got to the first hole it was after 9:30. We had foregone our plans for earlier. By the time we got there the tide was getting just about right for the reds to move in and begin to eat, so after catching three snook, we turned our attention to the reds. The wind was bouncing us around, and I was having trouble staying on my chum. After a few minutes we caught a redfish or two, but that was it. I sensed that they were close by, and that perhaps they had settled on a very good patch of bottom. I elected a short move to a trough close by, and sure enough, it was action from the get-go! We were on 'em. For the rest of the tide, nearly 3 hours, we caught some 30 redfish. We had a blast. All but a few were slot fish.
Friday, we were at it again, and met my bud Capt. Butch Boteler at Picnic Island. Butch had a tooth extracted late the previous afternoon, and was concerned about putting a nasty old net in his mouth, for a number of reasons. He would do the chumming, and I the throwing. My big concern was that bait was again be tough. It wasn't. For whatever reason, bait was back to normal, and we soon had both the boats loaded with plenty. I decided to take John to the spot I had taken Bob two days before, to see if we would once again have a potpourri of fish to catch. We would try for reds later on the tide. But, the slow crawling tide we had drawn on this day had the fish thinking about other than eating. It became evident that it was going to be a tough day, with 2 jack crevalle, 2 speckled trout, and 1 nice gag grouper. We had some nice hits that we didn't manage to hook, too. We waited until the tide have moved for about a half hour before electing to move on. It was time for redfish. I felt sure we could get them to eat. But, even they were reluctant participants in our fishing game. At our first stop we got only one hit, and missed it. Then there were only catfish. We moved on, and headed back to the scene of the previous day's great action. I knew the fish would be there. It would just be a question of whether or not they'd eat. Well, the action was slow, but the fish were big. The first redfish was over 9 pounds. Then came a 15 pound fish, an 11 pound fish, a big trout, and a keeper red. We broke off 2 or 3 reds, as well. The 15 pounder was John's biggest red on the west coast. He has caught some of the outsized reds over at Mosquito Lagoon, but that's a big red for our flats. But, our biggest excitement came when a spinner shark of about 5 ft. in length took John's bait on two occasions. They put on quite a show until the cut the leader or throw the hook. We fished the reds until we were sure they were done, and called it a day. Although it had been a slow day by our standards, it had been a good day of quality fish, and we were happy.
Next week it's a week of really poor tides until Friday. It could mean a tough week of fishing if the prevailing morning winds won't let us get out to where the snook are staged. We'll see how it goes. IMPORTANT If you want to be able to continue to fish Florida waters please follow this link, [url "http://www.barhoppr.com/manzones.htm"][#0000ff]"Manatee Zones: How You Can Help"[/#0000ff][/url] and please take the time to become involved, even if you don't live in Florida. Let the politicians know WHY you come to Florida on vacation!