Fishing Report for Week Ending 7/05/97
by Capt. Butch Rickey
This was a busy week for me, but it was plagued by strange weather and lots of storms.
First up were Steve MacKey of Stafford, Virginia, his dad Kent, and three brothers, on a surprise birthday trip for Kent. It was his 60th. I hired a second boat, guided by Capt. Ray Rodriguez to handle the extra passengers because there were supposed to be six, originally.
At the ramp that morning, there were lots of jokes about the MacKey curse, and superstitions surrounding the bananas I had in the boat. They're supposed to be very bad luck, and I know guides that absolutely won't allow bananas in their boats.
Well, in spite of the MacKey curse and bananas in the boat all day, the two boats of MacKey anglers did pretty well. My guys got around 30 snook, a couple of snapper, and a big jack of around 7 pounds. I don't remember what Ray's group did, but they did quite well on the snook. Boy, if we can ever get the MacKey curse lifted, they'll really be something.
The following morning I met Ed Bowerman Jr., his wife Thelma, and brother Joe for a second attempt at a trip. We'd tried about a year earlier, and were rained out at the docks that morning. Today would be different. The trio caught and released 35 to 40 snook and a large mangrove snapper. Thelma had the honors of losing the fish of the day. She had a snook of probably 12 to 15 pounds hooked on 17 pound test Silver Thread, and fought it to the boat. Several times I thought it would jerk tiny Thelma right out of the boat, but she hung on. The snook cut through the leader at the hook right at boatside as I was about ready to net her.
The next morning I awoke to the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance. Buy the time I got to the Circle K at Ben Morris the bottom fell out. It stormed like hell for about a hour. Jim Williams, his father Jim, and friend Bill showed up to my surprise, and we ran out to about Chino Island, where I stopped and we discussed the situation. There were more storms building on the horizon, it was raining all around us, and blowing like crazy out of the northwest. I knew we wouldn't be able to get to the snook on the beach. We decided to try again Saturday.
Thursday morning I met my old friend and fishing buddy Ted Sparling, of Sarasota, to take him and his brother-in-law Mark, out for some snook fishing. We were once again greeted with strong winter-like northwest winds, and I knew the beach snook probably wouldn't be doable.
After a long run to Redfish Pass for bait, we ran back to Blind Pass. I'd hoped to find snook in the pass if the beach wasn't fishable. It wasn't! As we peered under the Blind Pass Bridge into the Gulf, all we could see were whitecaps and buffalos roaming. It was rough. The pass was off, too. We only got a few snook there. I think the pass is so shoaled up and shallow, that it has changed the pattern. It just hasn't held the snook like it normally does this year.
We were forced to fish inside for our snook. We caught 8 or so snook, and 5 beautiful redfish to 27" on shiners fishing around the oyster bars. One of the reds had no less than 22 black spots on her body. It was a beautiful fish. It certainly wasn't the day I had planned fishing the beach, but I didn't turn out too bad, considering.
My friend Steve Bronstein, owner of Cornerstone Homes was down from Lutz to try his luck with the flyrod again on Independence Day. He brought Richard, his frame carpenter along to experience the action. Although the beach was about as rough as I care to try to fish it, the snook were there. It was hard for all of us to keep our footing as the swells rolled under the boat towards the shore, but it was almost impossible for Steve to handle his flyrod and stay on his feet.
After catching around 45 snook and a ladyfish, I asked Steve if he'd like to go into the backcountry and try for trout on the fly. He was quick to agree, and we were soon setting up on a pothole near Regla Island. Richard and I tossed a couple of shiners into the hole while Steve readied his flyrod, and immediately hooked up with trout. After a couple of fly changes, Steve finally caught a nice speckled trout on fly. It was a chartreuse and white clouser, I believe.
Steve is going to Newfoundland in late August for a 10 day Atlantic Salmon fly fishing trip. One salmon a day is considered a good day. It will be interesting to hear how his trip goes. Good luck, Steve.
Saturday was supposed to have been a makeup trip with Jim Williams, but he cancelled late Friday night. So, it seemed a good time to take two of my oldest friends, Jim McDaniel, of Springfield, Virginia, and his brother Don, of Ft. Myers. Jim was in town for a big Ft. Myers Senior High School class reunion that we were to attend that evening.
A big thunderstorm rolled in around 5:30 AM, and held everyone at the docks for about an hour. After getting bait near Picnic Island, we were off to fish the beach, but it was so rough that it beat us and the one other boat out there to death. It might have been worth the pounding if the fish had really been on, but we didn't catch more than a couple dozen or so. I suggested we move inside and fish the bars, which we did. We caught some nice fish there to finish the day.
If the weather ever settles down, snooking will continue hot and heavy on the beaches up and down the coast. There will also be snook in the passes, and inside near the passes. There are also so very large snook in the Caloosahatchee River. There are also plenty of trout on the flats, and if you're patient, you may be able to do well on reds. Bait suddenly seems to be showing up everywhere. It's mixed, but if you chum in the deeper water of the flats you should be able to catch nice size shiners.
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