Fishing Report for Week Ending 4/11/98
by
Capt. Butch Rickey
The week started out with my friend Steve Ladd, and his thirteen year old son, Tim. Steve and I fished together for the first time last year, and had a great day. This was the first time I'd met his son.
The wind was east/northeast at 15 knots, and the high was supposed to crack 83. The barometer was high and rising. After considerable effort, I had one shiner in the boat to go along with the shrimp I'd bough at Danny's Bait House. I'd figured on mainly fishing for trout today. Why? You dads need to know that when you take your kids fishing, the trip should be for the kids, not for you. You have to put aside what you'd like to do (snook fish), and let the kids have fun. For kids that usually means action of any kind.
So, we were off to the trout grounds to find Timmy some trout. I guess we caught a dozen or more, which is a slow day of trout fishing, but to be fair, they missed lots of hits. But through the day, Tim kept checking on that one shiner I had in the well. "What are you going to do with it?" He'd ask. "Don't worry, I've got plans for that shiner." I'd reply.
Finally, as we headed for home, I stopped at the 19th hole, scooped out the one shiner, put it on the hook, and pitched it up near the mangroves. One-thousand one, one-thousand two, and BAM! Snook on! I got the snook a few feet away from the mangroves and out of harm's way, and passed the rod to Tim. He grunted and groaned and struggled, and finally subdued the snook at boatside. Tim and Steve were both amazed that we had converted that one shiner into a snook. Steve really thought it was cool.
The next morning the wind was up to 15 to 20, but from a more favorable direction; east/southeast. I'd bought shrimp again, expecting shiners to be hard to come by. As we rode up the Sound toward the area we were to fish, I noticed lots of birds diving behind one of the mangrove islands. I stopped and watched for a minute, thinking they were probably diving on bait, and knowing full well that this kind of activity often means feeding jack crevalle. As I moved in for a closer look, we were all flabbergasted to see literally acres of jack crevalle crashing and thrashing bait like possessed piranha. We moved into the feeding schools and proceeded to catch jacks three and four at a time for some two and a half hours. It was absolutely fast and furious action of the best kind. When the bite finally quit, we were all half worn out, and had caught and released 30 to 40 of the yellow and silver battlers.
From the jacks we went looking for reds, but they didn't want to cooperate. So after about one unproductive hour, we went trout fishing. The trout were definitely in an eating mood, too, and we boated nearly 40 of the beautiful, toothy critters.
It had been a great couple of days of fishing with a great father and son duo. In fact, Steve could give lessons on fathering. As the guide trying to teach, I of course was making constructive criticisms as needed. But Steve was always right there offering positive reinforcement to Tim. Steve is a great and fun guy to spend the day with, but I was really impressed at how he interacted and cared for his son. He obviously loves him very much.
I mention this because we live in a world today where too many parents refuse to be parents. They're too busy, or whatever, to be bothered. Steve is setting a great example for the rest of us.
For the next two days I had a single angler, Mike Schwartz, owner of Everything Goes Corporate Caterer, in Golden, Colorado. He's a hell of a nice guy who loves to fish. The first day we had a south wind to 25 knots, and I figured the fish ought to eat. I'd only caught around 50 baits out in front of the Sanibel Pier, so I knew I wouldn't be doing much chumming. I stopped to check on the jacks again, hoping to see signs of another "big jack attack." They were there, but not like they'd been earlier in the week with Steve, and we caught around a dozen or so. Mike also got one trout.
After the jack attack, we moved on in pursuit of snook and redfish. The shiners produced 6 to 8 nice snook, and 4 redfish. Not a bad day considering how it has been.
The following day the wind was roaring out of the southwest at 20/25. I figured the fishing ought to be pretty good in spite of the full moon. We got bait in front of the Sanibel Pier again, but the jack attack didn't materialize. We only caught 3 to five pounds. Up in the Sound the shiners produced 7 redfish to 25 inches, and 4 snook to 8 pounds. Mike was a very good fisherman, who made some world-class casts up under the mangroves to get those redfish to eat. We had a great couple of days.
By Friday morning the wind was around to the northwest and roaring at around 25. Kris Koehler and his beautiful girlfriend Leah Hines, were down from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to try their luck. There was no bait, so we had to make it happen with shrimp.
Kris and Leah were a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed spending the day with them. They both missed their share of hits, but by the end of the trip they had caught 6 redfish to 25 inches, 1 snook (lost 2), and a jack. Not bad considering the conditions and that it was their first time at our brand of fishing. Mike was also a good angler, and made some great casts to the mangroves. That's what it usually takes to get those fish to come out and eat.
Saturday was supposed to be the maiden voyage of "the BarHopp'R II" with my old friend Fredrik Wallenberg, over from Texas to visit his mom Elizabeth, who was in from Sweden. I had invited my good friend Capt. Al Shank to join me on the maiden voyage. When we got to the City Island ramp we found my friend Capt. Tommy Stevens and his party staring in disbelief at Sarasota Bay, as white as snow with whitecaps with the wind roaring out of the north at 25 plus knots. We all discussed the situation for a moment, and came to a quick "not today" decision. Fredrik, Elizabeth, Al, and I decided to go have some coffee and talk about some of our previous good times.
Elizabeth, who is a physical therapist back in Sweden, was quite a lovely and charming lady, and son Fredrik is always great to be with. They both love fishing more than most. Fredrik agrees with me that shiner fishing can be downright boring when it allows you to catch so many fish in a short time. Fredrik loves to throw artificials, and we were going to fish artificials on this day. I'm sorry I didn't get to spend the day with Fredrik and his mom. I'm sure it would have been fun. Because I was booked the following day, Easter Sunday, I suggested Fredrik and Elizabeth fish with Capt. Tommy or Capt. Al. Al was already committed, so they made plans to fish with Tommy. You'll hear about how that trip went in next week's report.
Well, that's it for this week. I know I'm still a week behind. Hey, I'm working on it!
If you have questions or comments, or would like to book a trip, please email me at capt@barhoppr.com.
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