Fishing Report for Week Ending 4/4/98
by
Capt. Butch Rickey
It's Sunday. My boat is working again. Life is good. My trip today is with a great English chap named Steven Sproat. I took Steven out a couple of years ago down in the Sound, and we had a great trip. Because the fishing and bait situation have been so iffy, and Steven was coming from Orlando, we agreed to fish Sarasota Bay. It was another windy day with the wind gusting to 20 from the east.
Steven and I fished hard all day long throwing lures and shrimp. Weekends are usually tougher than weekdays because of the increased traffic. This was the first sunny and warm weekend in a long time, and everyone in Sarasota County with a boat was out there trying to run it. You've never seen so much traffic. I'm sure it had been just as bad Saturday. The fish had been run over, and run over. By day's end, Steven and I had two fish to show for our efforts, a 20 inch trout and a redfish. But, we'd had a great time fishing together, and renewed an old friendship.
After having Monday off, I was back on the water Tuesday with Bruce Clark and his two young boys Ryan, age 7, and Jack, age 5. This trip was for the boys, and I figured the best thing to do was to put them on some nice speckled trout. I had run from Sarasota up to Anna Maria to pick up the boys, so I figured I'd fish in the area, which I hadn't done in a long time.
We fished for a while before we finally started to find some trout, but the action was still slow. It gave the young boys a chance to get acquainted with the tackle, though. I moved on up to a flat near Palma Sola Bay, and we found some real nice trout concentrated in one small area. The biggest of the dozen or so we caught was just a hair under 5 pounds at 25 inches long. A great trout. It's amazing. After only four years of our net ban, we're catching lots of trout like that. The boys ran out of steam before the trip was officially over, but we had met our objective; to put them on some fish. It's always fun to be a part of getting young people into fishing.
The next morning, April Fool's Day, started on a sour note. I stopped at the Circle K in Iona to fuel up, and couldn't get the filler nozzle into the tank filler. I thought someone had stuffed something into the filler. Once up in the boat, I found that the filler neck had split and the fuel tank had shifted about an inch. This meant an open gas tank, and I knew the water would be rough with the wind blowing southwest at 20. I called my party, Chip George, of Lake Forest, Illinois, who I was supposed to pick up at 9 o'clock. I told him I'd call him as soon as I could get the filler neck fixed.
Well, it took until nearly noon to round up the proper filler tube and get it installed, and I knew it was only a temporary fix because the fuel tank was apparently busted lose. Damn! At the docks, Capt's Steve Waugh, Maxie Stamford, and Terry Middleton chipped in left over shiners from their morning trips, and we were off to the fishing ground just before one o'clock. We had big water with the southwest wind and a high tide, and I figured we'd be able to quickly find some reds in the mangroves.
At the first four stops Chip, his dad Chuck, and son Chris only got a snook and a jack crevalle. But the fifth stop was the charm. I went to one of my favorite spots for reds on high water. From the first cast we had great action, with the line going tight almost as soon as the shiner hit the water. We had to leave the redfish biting at four o'clock, as Chip and his folks had made plans for the afternoon and evening and had to get back. We'd caught eight or so and broke off a couple. So, although it was a rushed trip, we had a great time and brought back a limit of reds.
Thursday, I was back to see my friends at Smith Marine. I had two bait pumps that didn't work, and a fuel tank that was lose below deck. I was afraid that might turn into a nightmare, and thought the pumps might have been wired backwards. Turned out the impeller was lose on one pump, and the other had just quit working. It was a new Mayfair pump motor. I'm not real happy with their products. They just don't stand up to the salt.
After Craig scoped out the lose fuel tank problem he advised me we had two options. Remove or cut the cap to get at the fuel tank, or cut a couple of holes at either end to gain access and install a couple of hatches. The plan was to foam the tank into place. The two hatches came to over $100. After Danny cleaned the area around the tank with a degreaser and vacuumed it dry, Craig mixed and poured the foam that would hopefully be a permanent fix.
Craig and his staff at Smith Marine are a great bunch of guys. He had me scheduled for a quick pump repair, and he had a full schedule for the day. But when he saw my fuel tank delima, he went ahead and got me fixed and safely back on the water. Thank you Craig and Danny. It's just too bad that more businesses don't have that kind of committment to their customers. It's a hard thing to find today.
I took Friday off to work on taxes, and Saturday I went to be with a dear friend in Kissimmee who is dying of cancer.
I guess that gets me caught up for now. Sorry these last two reports have been late getting published. I'll try to stay on top of them in the future.
If you have questions or comments, or would like to book a trip, please email me at capt@barhoppr.com.
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