Here is 3 fish reports from my friend Butch Rickey from the Pine island sound area of Florida see whats UP Bud Karas
12/22/12,,,12/29/12 ,,,,1/05/13
FLORIDA KAYAK FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 12/22/12
I had two trips with Rasmus family this week. The first was to be with Kari and Brad on Thursday, and the second on Friday with their sons Joe and Nate. They hale from Fargo, South Dakota. Kari is the niece of my friend and customer Tom Olson, and I was really excited about the trips with this family. BUT! Mother Nature had other ideas.
As we got into the week it was obvious we would have a big cold front be a factor. It just remained to be seen exactly when and to what degree. Well, by Wednesday, the forecast was pretty well shaped up, and I could see that the front would arrive sometime Thursday, and push through probably late in the day or overnight, and then Friday would be a big blowout. The forecast for Friday was for wind to 30 K. I let Kari and Brad know, and they decided to send the boys, Joe and Nate out on Thursday, and then they would go out with Cullen Sanders, whom I had recommended to them.
We had a week of terrible tides, which I had already explained to Kari long ago. I told her there wouldn't be a whole lot of catching going on with such tides, and she assured me that it wasn't that important, because they were just very anxious to get out and explore the Sound. I modified my prospects Thursday morning for the boys, telling them that even though we had an awful tide, if the wind would shift around to the south with the approaching front, and the barometer begin to fall, we would surely see a bite in spite of the tide. It would be all about the timing.
I met the boys who were with their folks Brad and Kari, Thursday morning at Castaways Marina. We chatted for a while and they took off for their trip with Capt. Sanders. It was overcast and breezy as we left the ramp. I made a mental note of where the tide was so that I could gauge its movement throughout the morning. The tide was stalled sort of between the high and the low, and movement was not perceptible. It was supposed to be a falling tide for the whole time we'd be out there, so I decided to chase redfish while there was still some water on the flats.
We made a long run to our first spot, which would allow us to use the prevailing wind direction which was just south of east. We all worked our assigned spots hard. Nothing. A few bumps, but no passion for the food behind them. We made a move to another nearby area that is always fertile redfish grounds if the tide is right. Again we struck out. I had seen reds while moving onto the flat, and knew they were there, but they weren't having anything to do with us. We were nearing the halfway point of our time, and I couldn't see any movement of the tide. Then our break came. The wind flipped to the south and began to blow in earnest. It was time for me to go hunting......for big winter trout. I figured that would be our greatest chance of success.
I moved to and area of deeper water off the edge of our flat where I had spotted large muds. I hadn't seen what was making them yet, but knew that it would very possibly attract redfish, or perhaps other species. As I got close to the area, I spotted the source of the muds. There were three manatee milling around in the water that was just deep enough to cover their backs. I made a cast into the mud. Bang! I had a nice trout on. I made another, and caught another. And, another. Three is a pattern, and I called the boys to come in and fish on either side of me. Once they were there and catching, I moved on to hopefully find bigger trout. There were some keeper size fish in this spot, but most of them turned out to be right at the cusp of keeping, at 14.75 inches.
I made a move to a hole about a quarter mile or so away. I hadn't fished it in a long time, but the wind was lined up on it just perfectly for all of us to fish it if the fish were there. In the first five casts I had five trout, all of which were 17” or better, and including two that were nearly 22”. I called Joe and Nate, and they joined me. They'd left catching trout after trout, to come catch larger trout after trout, and I think it was Nate that told me he had a string of 12 fish on 12 casts.
We were on a hot bite, and the trout were nice. We didn't catch any of the big winter trout that will run 4 to 6 pounds out there, but we caught a boatload of fish, and everyone caught at least one redfish in that hole, as well. The biggest was 26.5 inches.
I was now two o'clock, and the wind was building in intensity. We would have to run right up the gut of the wind for a long way to get home, and the brisk south wind had also overridden the tide and had it turned around and coming in. We'd be bucking that, too. We headed in. We all had our limit of trout on our stringers, as well as one nice flounder and the big redfish. A stringer full of fish will definitely slow you down, and we literally had to run our trolling motors and paddle our boats, as well, to get in. It took a little more than an hour to make the voyage.
At the ramp I asked the boys if they wanted to take any of the fish back to their condo so their folks could see them. They knew how to fillet fish, and were glad to take them whole. We gutted and bled the redfish, got a couple of inches of ice in one of my larger cooler bags, and carefully stacked all the fish in the cooler. We headed off to Casa Y'bel.
Kari was out walking the beach, so I didn't get to see her again. But, you should have seen Dad Brad's eyes when we opened up that cooler, and it was slam full of big trout and that big red. He was really excited. The boys were allowed to keep four trout each, as well as the flounder and the big red. They would have a bunch of fish to work on before they went home.
Joe and Nate showing off our loaded stringers!
We hung out and talked about the day for quite a while, but I eventually took off. I was getting late, and I still had a lot of work to do. It had been a great day with a couple of young college boys that were great to be with, and very good anglers. The best part for me was when Brad asked them how the trip was, they used the “A” word. They said it was “Awesome”. Tips are great, and we live by the tip, but the best tip a guide can get is the “A” word at the end of the day.
FLORIDA KAYAK FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 12/22/12
I had two trips with Rasmus family this week. The first was to be with Kari and Brad on Thursday, and the second on Friday with their sons Joe and Nate. They hale from Fargo, South Dakota. Kari is the niece of my friend and customer Tom Olson, and I was really excited about the trips with this family. BUT! Mother Nature had other ideas.
As we got into the week it was obvious we would have a big cold front be a factor. It just remained to be seen exactly when and to what degree. Well, by Wednesday, the forecast was pretty well shaped up, and I could see that the front would arrive sometime Thursday, and push through probably late in the day or overnight, and then Friday would be a big blowout. The forecast for Friday was for wind to 30 K. I let Kari and Brad know, and they decided to send the boys, Joe and Nate out on Thursday, and then they would go out with Cullen Sanders, whom I had recommended to them.
We had a week of terrible tides, which I had already explained to Kari long ago. I told her there wouldn't be a whole lot of catching going on with such tides, and she assured me that it wasn't that important, because they were just very anxious to get out and explore the Sound. I modified my prospects Thursday morning for the boys, telling them that even though we had an awful tide, if the wind would shift around to the south with the approaching front, and the barometer begin to fall, we would surely see a bite in spite of the tide. It would be all about the timing.
I met the boys who were with their folks Brad and Kari, Thursday morning at Castaways Marina. We chatted for a while and they took off for their trip with Capt. Sanders. It was overcast and breezy as we left the ramp. I made a mental note of where the tide was so that I could gauge its movement throughout the morning. The tide was stalled sort of between the high and the low, and movement was not perceptible. It was supposed to be a falling tide for the whole time we'd be out there, so I decided to chase redfish while there was still some water on the flats.
We made a long run to our first spot, which would allow us to use the prevailing wind direction which was just south of east. We all worked our assigned spots hard. Nothing. A few bumps, but no passion for the food behind them. We made a move to another nearby area that is always fertile redfish grounds if the tide is right. Again we struck out. I had seen reds while moving onto the flat, and knew they were there, but they weren't having anything to do with us. We were nearing the halfway point of our time, and I couldn't see any movement of the tide. Then our break came. The wind flipped to the south and began to blow in earnest. It was time for me to go hunting......for big winter trout. I figured that would be our greatest chance of success.
I moved to and area of deeper water off the edge of our flat where I had spotted large muds. I hadn't seen what was making them yet, but knew that it would very possibly attract redfish, or perhaps other species. As I got close to the area, I spotted the source of the muds. There were three manatee milling around in the water that was just deep enough to cover their backs. I made a cast into the mud. Bang! I had a nice trout on. I made another, and caught another. And, another. Three is a pattern, and I called the boys to come in and fish on either side of me. Once they were there and catching, I moved on to hopefully find bigger trout. There were some keeper size fish in this spot, but most of them turned out to be right at the cusp of keeping, at 14.75 inches.
I made a move to a hole about a quarter mile or so away. I hadn't fished it in a long time, but the wind was lined up on it just perfectly for all of us to fish it if the fish were there. In the first five casts I had five trout, all of which were 17” or better, and including two that were nearly 22”. I called Joe and Nate, and they joined me. They'd left catching trout after trout, to come catch larger trout after trout, and I think it was Nate that told me he had a string of 12 fish on 12 casts.
We were on a hot bite, and the trout were nice. We didn't catch any of the big winter trout that will run 4 to 6 pounds out there, but we caught a boatload of fish, and everyone caught at least one redfish in that hole, as well. The biggest was 26.5 inches.
I was now two o'clock, and the wind was building in intensity. We would have to run right up the gut of the wind for a long way to get home, and the brisk south wind had also overridden the tide and had it turned around and coming in. We'd be bucking that, too. We headed in. We all had our limit of trout on our stringers, as well as one nice flounder and the big redfish. A stringer full of fish will definitely slow you down, and we literally had to run our trolling motors and paddle our boats, as well, to get in. It took a little more than an hour to make the voyage.
At the ramp I asked the boys if they wanted to take any of the fish back to their condo so their folks could see them. They knew how to fillet fish, and were glad to take them whole. We gutted and bled the redfish, got a couple of inches of ice in one of my larger cooler bags, and carefully stacked all the fish in the cooler. We headed off to Casa Y'bel.
Kari was out walking the beach, so I didn't get to see her again. But, you should have seen Dad Brad's eyes when we opened up that cooler, and it was slam full of big trout and that big red. He was really excited. The boys were allowed to keep four trout each, as well as the flounder and the big red. They would have a bunch of fish to work on before they went home.
Joe and Nate showing off our loaded stringers!
We hung out and talked about the day for quite a while, but I eventually took off. I was getting late, and I still had a lot of work to do. It had been a great day with a couple of young college boys that were great to be with, and very good anglers. The best part for me was when Brad asked them how the trip was, they used the “A” word. They said it was “Awesome”. Tips are great, and we live by the tip, but the best tip a guide can get is the “A” word at the end of the day.
FLORIDA KAYAK FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 12/29/12
I had two trips this week, and they were fish and fun filled.Thursday, I fished with one of my oldest fishing buddies, Russ Hubbard. Those of you who have read my reports for many years know that Russ and I go way back in to the 90s. Russ came over the first time from West Palm Beach as a customer, but left a friend, and we've been good friends ever since. He usually stays here with me at the fish camp when he comes over, and of course we have a good time off the water as well as on.
We drew a very windy day, but we didn't let it stop us. Russ needed some decompression time on the water, and we were going in spite of the wind. We had an extremely low tide of -0.5 ft. at 8:00 AM, that was pushed lower by the strong easterly wind. It was a pothole fishing day for sure. The chain blocking the ramp at Castaways was still up that morning, and we had to lift the boats over it to get launched. Russ has been cursed with a life of back problems, and I didn't know until around noon that day that he had lifted his end incorrectly, and had suffered with spasms all morning long.
The first couple of spots we fished produced nothing. But, the water was not moving at that point. We kept moving and fishing spots that offer great winter trout fishing. Russ loves catching the “Mighty Sea Trout”, and is very good at it. We finally hit pay dirt at a pothole I discovered decades ago on a tide that few boats could have ever gotten to. My customer caught large trout on every cast for literally hours. It was insane trout fishing. We didn't have a wild bite like that on this morning, but the fish were there, and eating, and we filled our stringers. We also pulled one big redfish from that hole.
Finally, with the tide at 0.5 ft. the action slowed as the fish began to move out on to the flats. We moved on. At what would be our last stop, we bagged another nice 26.5” redfish, and it was then that Russ told me about his back being in spasms. The muscles in his lower back just knot up tight, and he takes muscle relaxers to try to tame it. Sometimes they don't work.
“Let's call it a day, Butchie. We've got what we came for!” I could hear the frustration and pain in his voice. We headed in with our bounty and it was just striking noon.
Here's Russ showing off our keepers!
It's always fun to come in to the Castaways Marina with the beautiful redfish and trout we catch out there. It's especially fun during a holiday week when the place is full. We were elevated to near celebrity status by all the guests who saw us taking our fish up to the cleaning station. It was a perfect ending to a great day with a close friend. That's the joy of fishing.
FLORIDA KAYAK FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING
1/05/13
It's Friday morning, and another cold front was knocking at our door. It was very cloudy, for my second trip with Mark Robinson, of Seattle, Wisconsin. Mark and his wife Jennifer, fished on December 29th, last year, and it was a very cloudy, overcast day then, too. Jen wasn't a happy camper. She was out there to get sun, not to fish. When she saw the weather report for our Friday, she opted out. I met Mark at the local Circle K, and he rode out to Castaways with me. That gave us a chance to chat.
Cloudy days make for comfortable fishing, and often good fishing. But, the kind of fishing we do on these extreme low tides is very visual. People often ask why I don't use a GPS. Well, I do have one in my Pelican box, but I don't usually need it to find the holes I fish. The problem is that when there is no sun, or the water is very murky, you can't see [where] to throw your bait. Pothole fishing success is very dependent upon being able to see where the bait needs to be presented; right along the edge of the hole. That's where most of the fish will be, with their noses to the tide. You just have to see, and a GPS can't see that for you.
So, given the conditions, I would have to change my strategy to fish spots where seeing is not as important. I chose an area where the edge of the hole was actually dry land. That we could see in spite of the overcast. Mark quickly had a nice redfish on. But, the line parted at the leader with the fish at the boat. It appeared that the leader knot had been cut on something sharp, and there's plenty of that in these waters.
Mark boated two more redfish, and a trout, but the trout were being stubborn. We moved on after the redfish action slowed. At our next spot we found a pretty good redfish bite. Mark and I both caught reds, but the trout that are usually sharing the hole, were nowhere to be seen. At this point we had caught 11 redfish, and a trout, and had been drizzled upon several times. The weather appeared to be degenerating, and the front moving in on us, and we decided to head in as we watched the threatening sky move ever closer.
It had not been an easy day, but it certainly was a good one, with some good fish. Mark told me he'd really had fun, and I certainly had as well. My apologies to Mark, though. I totally forgot to take pictures or videos.
FLORIDA KAYAK FISHING REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING 1/05/13
I had two trips with Rasmus family this week. The first was to be with Kari and Brad on Thursday, and the second on Friday with their sons Joe and Nate. They hale from Fargo, South Dakota. Kari is the niece of my friend and customer Tom Olson, and I was really excited about the trips with this family. BUT! Mother Nature had other ideas.
As we got into the week it was obvious we would have a big cold front be a factor. It just remained to be seen exactly when and to what degree. Well, by Wednesday, the forecast was pretty well shaped up, and I could see that the front would arrive sometime Thursday, and push through probably late in the day or overnight, and then Friday would be a big blowout. The forecast for Friday was for wind to 30 K. I let Kari and Brad know, and they decided to send the boys, Joe and Nate out on Thursday, and then they would go out with Cullen Sanders, whom I had recommended to them.
We had a week of terrible tides, which I had already explained to Kari long ago. I told her there wouldn't be a whole lot of catching going on with such tides, and she assured me that it wasn't that important, because they were just very anxious to get out and explore the Sound. I modified my prospects Thursday morning for the boys, telling them that even though we had an awful tide, if the wind would shift around to the south with the approaching front, and the barometer begin to fall, we would surely see a bite in spite of the tide. It would be all about the timing.
I met the boys who were with their folks Brad and Kari, Thursday morning at Castaways Marina. We chatted for a while and they took off for their trip with Capt. Sanders. It was overcast and breezy as we left the ramp. I made a mental note of where the tide was so that I could gauge its movement throughout the morning. The tide was stalled sort of between the high and the low, and movement was not perceptible. It was supposed to be a falling tide for the whole time we'd be out there, so I decided to chase redfish while there was still some water on the flats.
We made a long run to our first spot, which would allow us to use the prevailing wind direction which was just south of east. We all worked our assigned spots hard. Nothing. A few bumps, but no passion for the food behind them. We made a move to another nearby area that is always fertile redfish grounds if the tide is right. Again we struck out. I had seen reds while moving onto the flat, and knew they were there, but they weren't having anything to do with us. We were nearing the halfway point of our time, and I couldn't see any movement of the tide. Then our break came. The wind flipped to the south and began to blow in earnest. It was time for me to go hunting......for big winter trout. I figured that would be our greatest chance of success.
I moved to and area of deeper water off the edge of our flat where I had spotted large muds. I hadn't seen what was making them yet, but knew that it would very possibly attract redfish, or perhaps other species. As I got close to the area, I spotted the source of the muds. There were three manatee milling around in the water that was just deep enough to cover their backs. I made a cast into the mud. Bang! I had a nice trout on. I made another, and caught another. And, another. Three is a pattern, and I called the boys to come in and fish on either side of me. Once they were there and catching, I moved on to hopefully find bigger trout. There were some keeper size fish in this spot, but most of them turned out to be right at the cusp of keeping, at 14.75 inches.
I made a move to a hole about a quarter mile or so away. I hadn't fished it in a long time, but the wind was lined up on it just perfectly for all of us to fish it if the fish were there. In the first five casts I had five trout, all of which were 17” or better, and including two that were nearly 22”. I called Joe and Nate, and they joined me. They'd left catching trout after trout, to come catch larger trout after trout, and I think it was Nate that told me he had a string of 12 fish on 12 casts.
We were on a hot bite, and the trout were nice. We didn't catch any of the big winter trout that will run 4 to 6 pounds out there, but we caught a boatload of fish, and everyone caught at least one redfish in that hole, as well. The biggest was 26.5 inches.
I was now two o'clock, and the wind was building in intensity. We would have to run right up the gut of the wind for a long way to get home, and the brisk south wind had also overridden the tide and had it turned around and coming in. We'd be bucking that, too. We headed in. We all had our limit of trout on our stringers, as well as one nice flounder and the big redfish. A stringer full of fish will definitely slow you down, and we literally had to run our trolling motors and paddle our boats, as well, to get in. It took a little more than an hour to make the voyage.
At the ramp I asked the boys if they wanted to take any of the fish back to their condo so their folks could see them. They knew how to fillet fish, and were glad to take them whole. We gutted and bled the redfish, got a couple of inches of ice in one of my larger cooler bags, and carefully stacked all the fish in the cooler. We headed off to Casa Y'bel.
Kari was out walking the beach, so I didn't get to see her again. But, you should have seen Dad Brad's eyes when we opened up that cooler, and it was slam full of big trout and that big red. He was really excited. The boys were allowed to keep four trout each, as well as the flounder and the big red. They would have a bunch of fish to work on before they went home.
Joe and Nate showing off our loaded stringers!
We hung out and talked about the day for quite a while, but I eventually took off. I was getting late, and I still had a lot of work to do. It had been a great day with a couple of young college boys that were great to be with, and very good anglers. The best part for me was when Brad asked them how the trip was, they used the “A” word. They said it was “Awesome”. Tips are great, and we live by the tip, but the best tip a guide can get is the “A” word at the end of the day.
Capt. Butch Rickey
http://www.barhoppr.com/
11520 E Palm Drive
Ft. Myers, FL 33908
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