Bluefish, trout, and tarpon action in Sarasota.
Capt. Jim Klopfer
May 28, 2016
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing was once again quite good in Big Pass and on the deeper grass flats throughout the area. Mangrove snapper, gag and red grouper, Key West grunts, ladyfish, and sharks were landed in Big Pass by anglers using live shrimp and jigs. The deep grass flats at Bird Key, Radio Tower, Middlegrounds, and Country Club Shores produced speckled trout, quite a few nice bluefish (which is a bit unusual; for this time of year), jacks, and ladyfish. Glow/chartreuse 4" Bass Assassin Sea Shad baits worked the best. Tarpon are being landed out in the inshore Gulf of Mexico; live crabs produced the most fish.
I started my week off on Monday with Rick Galloway from Chicago, his wife Janet, along with their daughter and son-in-law Emily and Mitch French. The couples experienced very steady action on a variety of species. We began in Big Pass on the slack tide, bottom fishing with shrimp and catching mangrove snapper, gag grouper, and Key West grunts. After the tide picked up, we made several drifts in the pass, catching ladyfish. Janet caught a nice bonnet head shark. We moved to the flats near the Radio Tower and did well there, too, catching speckled trout to 20", bluefish, ladyfish, and jacks.
Larry Bowman from Missouri brought along a bunch of teenage boys on a charter on Wednesday. We started off in Big Pass while the tide was still falling and caught ladyfish on jigs. The tide quit and we bottom fished a ledge and caught grouper and snapper. We finished up with some good action at the Middlegrounds on bluefish to 2 1/2 pounds, speckled trout to 16", jacks and ladyfish using glow Bass Assassin Sea Shad baits.
I had tarpon trips on Thursday and Friday. Chaz Boyter jumped a nice fish early and had another one on before the bite slowed. We saw quite a few fish, but could not get them to eat. On Friday Russell Parrish and his brother-in-law Ray went out, but despite excellent conditions, it was tough going. The fish were there, but would not stay up where we could get a nice cast into them.
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