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Sarasota and Venice
Capt. Rick Grassett
November 17, 2003
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Sarasota, FL Fishing Report for 11/9 through 11/17/2003
Spin and fly anglers on the Snook Fin-Addict had good action during the past week. Snook, redfish, trout, bluefish and Spanish mackerel were caught and released in Sarasota Bay and the coastal gulf waters. Strong north winds as fronts approached forced me to cancel a couple of days
Fly angler, John Dorazio from Princeton, NJ, fished a pre dawn trip in Sarasota Bay with me last Sunday. We fished lighted docks near Big Pass before daylight to catch several snook to 24” and a redfish on Grassett’s Grass Minnow and Enrico Puglisi Bay Anchovy flies. After daylight, we fished docks in Roberts Bay where John landed 2 more snook on Clouser flies. We spent the rest of our trip fishing deep grass flats near Marina Jack and at the Radio Tower flat, where John caught and released more than a dozen trout to 18” on Clouser flies.
Cliff Ondercin and Brie Willet, both from Sarasota, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Tuesday and had a good day. We searched the coastal gulf waters off Longboat Pass early in the morning and found breaking little tunny just outside the pass, however they were moving so fast we couldn’t get a good shot at them. We moved to the flats near Cortez where they caught and released 3 snook to 28”, 3 reds to 24” and a couple of flounder on CAL jigs with Exude slugs and a chartreuse/white Clouser fly.
Will Booth, from Los Angeles, CA, and his brother, Dan Booth from Cockeysville, MD, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Thursday. We fished deep grass flats near Big Pass where they caught and released more than 20 trout to 17” on CAL jigs with shad tails. We briefly fished an artificial reef in the gulf off Lido Beach and caught 1 ½ Spanish mackerel. A large mackerel was cut in half by a ‘cuda or a shark. Since there wasn’t much surface activity, so we opted to head back into Sarasota Bay where they caught and released a small red and 6 bluefish to 4-pounds on CAL jigs and MirrOlure top water plugs near Buttonwood Harbor.
Steve Meyer, from Sarasota, FL, and Ron Ciani, from Cape Coral, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Saturday. It was a beautiful morning with a light east wind, but fish were not feeding early in the day. We fished a couple of deep grass flats near New Pass and caught only a few trout. We decided to take a look for Spanish mackerel and little tunny in the coastal gulf waters, but there wasn’t any surface activity for them to cast their lures or flies to so we headed back into Sarasota Bay. With a rapidly falling tide, I decided to work potholes near Tidy Island looking for reds and snook. They finished strong with 3 reds to 24”, a 25” snook, a 23” Spanish mackerel and a flounder. Ron caught his first red on a fly, a chartreuse/white Clouser. Most of the other fish were caught on CAL jigs with Cotee Chubby Grubs.
Next week’s tides are favorable for fishing the flats or night snook fishing. Hopefully, the coastal gulf waters will explode with activity since the water temperature is now in the low 70’s.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
www.flyfishingflorida.net
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