Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
JASON LUSKThe sandy flats outside the Pithlachascotee River offer plenty of fish for anglers with the right boat to get there at low tide.
PORT RICHEY - The Pithlachascotee River is no place to be at low tide.
There is a clearly marked channel along the back yards and docks of houses and apartments, but the 40 yards or so to the channel from the boat ramp at Nicks Park present several speed bumps to any craft that draws more than a foot of water or is driven by a boater unfamiliar with the area.
And at low tide, the dock at Nicks Park can be a bit tricky. Instead of a floating dock, it has a permanent structure that doesn't rise and fall with the water level. At low tide boaters have to climb down a ladder or the side planks to get their boats.
But the gorgeous flats at the mouth of the river - with nearby stilt houses, mansions, mangroves and islands - make the trip downriver worthwhile. One of the fishiest-looking spots along the Nature Coast, the thin water is home to snook, redfish, trout and many more that attract shallow-minded anglers.
After navigating the sand and oyster bars and idling 15 minutes down the river to the gulf during a break-in cruise of a new flats skiff and outboard motor, the open flats called for a cast. Fishing wasn't really in the plans on this boat's first trip into the salt, but it was hard to ignore the occasional swirls as baitfish were battered by predators.
With the low tide and bright sun, the fish were skittish. Snook had abandoned their haunts along the mangroves for deeper water, and redfish followed schools of mullet in 10 inches of water around Durney Key until storm clouds chased most of the boats out of the gulf and back up the river.
Inside the river, schools of baitfish flashed over sand bars. The Times' Mike Casey made a cast into the channel along the bar, and his jig was thumped by something. He never saw the fish, which spit the hook after hugging the bottom of the small cut.
The dark clouds closed in - no lightning yet but with the promise of strikes in the air - and this abbreviated first look at the Pitchlachascotee, also known as the Cotee, was over. At low tide several boats churned the bottom on their way to cover out of the main channel, and we idled to the ramp to load the boat.
But the flats at the mouth of the river left an impression. The clear water and relatively light boat traffic that weekday afternoon were a relief after too many trips to easily accessible but more crowded hot spots along the Nature Coast and in Tampa Bay.
The threat of a storm might have chased us away, but the fish are still there. We'll be back.