Good action on the deep grass flats in Sarasota
Capt. Jim Klopfer
June 11, 2016
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Inshore fishing was very good this week on the grass flats around New Pass and in Big Pass, despite the fact that we had a tropical depression move through on Sunday evening. Speckled trout to 22", bluefish to 3 pounds, sharks, jack crevelle, snappers, flounder, and ladtfish hit lures and shrimp on the deeper flats along Longboat Key, Radio Tower, and at the Middlegrounds. The pattern that worked best was casting Bass Assassin jigs early, then as the sun came up and the breeze slacked off, a switch to live shrimp worked well. Big Pass is holding a lot of mangrove snapper and there are decent numbers of snook in there as well. Live shrimp worked well for both species.
I started off my week on Sunday with Matt Shevchuk and his buddy Austin Gippy, both from Missouri. The bite was good early at the Radio Tower, with the guys catching trout, ladyfish, and a shark, then tapered off a bit. A drift in Big Pass produced a few ladyfish but the best action was at Country Club Shores on decent sized bluefish, which hit glow Bass Assassin Sea Shad baits.
A tropical storm shut down fishing on Mon, Ties, and Wednesday. On Thursday Quintin Frey, his son Ethan, and grandchildren Grayson (4) and Logan (6) had a good morning, catching a half-dozen nice speckled trout to 22" using live shrimp free lined at the Middlegrounds, along with steady action on smaller trout, plenty of ladyfish, and catfish. We did have to dodge a little rain, then it got VERY warm and we headed in a little early.
Sarasota residents Doc Dojutrek and John Englander had a good charter on Friday. We started of at the Middlegrounds, casting Bass Assassin jigs and live shrimp. Speckled trout, bluefish, and ladyfish kept the boys busy. Around 9:30 I spotted some birds working in closer to the shallows and for 45 minutes it was non-stop action as fish were busting small baitfish all around us! Jigs, shriomp, and small Rapala X-Raps were all effective. That bite quit so we moved to the Big Pass where John caught a decent snook. We finished up with a hot bite on mangrove snapper, though most were a bit short.
Fishing was very good on Saturday for Melissa and Greg Wells from Sarasota and their boys Nathan (10) and Scott (8). White/chartreuse Gulp Shrimp produced steady action on ladyfish, jacks, a flounder, and a bluefish at the Middlegrounds. None of them had used jigs before, but they picked it up quickly and all four did well. I stopped to get some shrimp and try for speckled trout. They bit pretty well at Country Club Shores, with some ladyfish and a couple of larger bluefish mixed in.
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