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Sarasota and Venice
Capt. Rick Grassett
May 9, 2004
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Sarasota, FL Fishing Report for 5/2 through 5/9/2004
Anglers on the Snook Fin-Addict had good action during the past week on lures and flies, particularly with trout. In addition, anglers caught and released redfish, snook and bluefish while fishing Sarasota Bay. I scouted the coastal gulf waters a couple of days and found no tarpon.
Fly anglers, Bernie Blanche from Copperhill, TN and Mick Mullen, from Mt. Joy, PA, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Monday morning. A front was bearing down on us so I thought fish would be feeding. They caught numerous trout to 18”, bluefish and ladyfish at the Middleground flat and near Bishop Point. Mick backed Bernie up with a spinning rod as I poled a sand bar and caught and released a redfish on a CAL jig with a shad tail. The afternoon trip was a wash as we got pounded by heavy rain and lightning.
Charlie Alexander, from Osprey, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Tuesday. We spent some time in the morning hunting for tarpon in the coastal gulf waters along Longboat Key. There was about a 4-foot swell with some chop on top and the water was only 75 degrees, which is not good conditions for tarpon. We didn’t see a thing, so we headed for the calmer waters of Sarasota Bay. Fishing was tougher following the front, but Charlie managed to catch and release numerous trout to 18”, including 5 slot-size fish, on Clouser flies and CAL jigs with shad tails at Stephens Point and along the east side of Sarasota Bay.
Clay Wilson and Carmen Chaar, both from Cortez, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Wednesday. The deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay have been fishing very well, so we started there and immediately had good action with trout. They caught more than 20 trout to 23”, including 5 slot-size trout, on DOA Deadly Combos and CAL jigs with shad tails along the east side of Sarasota Bay near the Ringling mansion. Clay caught and released a 24” snook on the west side of the bay near Buttonwood Harbor and Carmen connected with a big snook that jumped off, both on CAL jigs with shad tails.
Greg Field, from Elmira, NY and Chris Hennessey, from Portland, OR, fished the east side of Sarasota Bay with me on Thursday and did very well with trout. They caught and released more than 20 trout to 18” on CAL jigs with shad tails and DOA Deadly Combos. Mac McGee and Sandy Douglass, both from VA, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Friday morning. They also had good action with trout to 18” and bluefish on CAL jigs with shad tails and DOA Deadly Combos at the Middleground flat and near Bishop Point.
Brian and Joann Shenstone, both from Gross Point Woods, MI, fished the coastal gulf waters and Sarasota Bay with me on Saturday morning. We started at first light and hunted tarpon along Siesta Key. The water is beautiful, but I think still too cool at 74 degrees for tarpon to be plentiful. Since there wasn’t any action in the gulf, we retreated to Sarasota Bay near Bishop Point where Brian caught and released trout, bluefish to 2 ½-pounds and ladyfish on a chartreuse over white Clouser fly.
Hopefully, tarpon fishing will take off any day as the water warms and we head toward the new moon in May. I’ll start tarpon fishing next week and fish the flats for reds, snook and trout, if necessary. Next week’s tides improve toward the end of the week, so flats fishing should also improve as the tides get better.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
www.flyfishingflorida.net
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