Fishing Report for Week Ending 11/24/96
by Capt. Butch Rickey
Ah! Warm weather and light winds are back. What a relief!
Tuesday, I was one of several guides who helped take members of the Bonita Bay Club on one of their semi-annual trips. I had Ollie, George, and Frank, who was himself a licensed Captain.
We had to run a long way north to get our bait, but after some chumming, we had plenty. We had an outgoing tide for most of the time we fished; my least favored tide to fish. We hit a lot of spots that day, and finished the day with 8 redfish, 4 snook, 10 trout, and a flounder. The boys also lost several nice snook.
Wednesday, my good friend Capt. Mark Bess and I went out exploring for the next days trips. We spent most of the morning looking around for bait. We knew where to go get it, but wanted to find other places it might be hiding. So, we didn't even wet a line until around eleven o'clock. Instead of fishing spots we knew had been holding fish, we spent the day looking at new spots. We caught 5 reds and 4 snook while we explored, and I lot a large red due to a bad knot. Shame on me!
My Thursday trip was with two fellows who were among my very first clients, Bob James and James Clark, and another really nice guy who's name escapes me at the moment. They;ve been with me through a number of boats, and different areas and styles of fishing. Every trip has been better than the one before. Today was no exception. I was pretty sure I could put them on a bunch of reds from the research the day before, and I wasn't disappointed. As I ran from the first hole along the mangroves toward another hole, I spotted lots of reds laying under the edge of the trees. I turned around and quietly anchored a cast away. I threw a couple of hands full of chum to draw the reds out of the trees, and the circus was on. The reds were running about 15 to 17 inches, and given the fact that the fella's are all 80 or so, and had their hands full with these puppies, I decided to stay right there until the bite stopped. It lasted until we had 26 reds landed, and we had several doubles and one triple hookup. We finished the day out looking for a few snook, and caught 4 snook and 5 trout, and Bob lost a very big snook. The ole boys went home tired, sore, and happy.
Sunday, I was up on Sarasota Bay with Terry Bair. We had another -0.3 low tide and found snook, redfish, and trout holding along the edges of the flats where they drop off into a channel. We had a great time, and caught 9 reds, 8 snook, including 2 12 pounders, and 4 trout. The snook seem to be improving in Sarasota Bay.
OTHER FUN STUFF TO DO!