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Sarasota and Venice
Capt. Rick Grassett
August 12, 2004
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Southwest Florida Fishing Report for 8/1 through 8/12/2004
Anglers on the Snook Fin-Addict had good action with tarpon, trout and bluefish during the past week and a half. In addition, several snook, redfish and a cobia were also caught and released. The best action was with tarpon in the Peace River and trout in Sarasota Bay on both spin and fly tackle.
970 WFLA’s Capt. Mel Berman fished a couple of days with me to shoot video for an upcoming TV show that he will be hosting. We fished Sarasota Bay and did very well with trout to 22” on the deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay. DOA Deadly Combos accounted for most of the fish, which were caught at the Middleground flat and near Buttonwood Harbor and Long Bar.
Fly angler, Carlos Ramirez from Ocala, FL, fished the same areas with me last Thursday and caught several trout and ladyfish on Enrico Puglisi flies. The weather was questionable and we dodged rain showers most of the morning. This has been the case for the last couple of weeks.
Scott Heidler, from Hudson, OH and his young son, Scottie, tarpon fished in the Peace River with me last week. We got off to a fast start with Scott jumping and landing a 29-pound tarpon with a DOA TerrorEyz on his second cast of the day. The rest of the day was tough. Tarpon were plentiful but finicky, often striking baits by swiping at them. They had another tarpon on and several other bites but that was it for the day.
Rusty Chinnis and I fished with our friend, Capt. Rick DePaiva, in the Ft. Myers area last Friday. We caught and released several snook to 26” and hooked a couple of big snook that we didn’t land on fly and spin tackle. If you ever want to fish that area, Capt. Rick is an excellent guide with quality equipment.
John Rettig, from Tampa, FL and his brother Dave Rettig, from St. Petersburg, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me last Saturday morning. We fished lighted docks near Big Pass before daylight where they caught and released several snook and mangrove snapper on DOA Tiny TerrorEyz. We moved to the flats at dawn where they caught and released several trout on DOA Deadly Combos. My son, Bryan Gibson and grandson, Caleb Gibson, joined me for a few hours later that morning for Caleb’s fist fishing trip in a boat. They caught and released 12 or 15 trout to 18” on DOA Deadly Combos at the Middleground flat and near Buttonwood Harbor. Caleb caught his first fish ever- a trout!
I participated in the Ladies Let’s Go Fishing seminar in Sarasota last weekend. On Saturday afternoon, I manned a skill station teaching the ladies how to cast with spinning tackle. On Sunday morning, Vicky Cochran and Susie Musser, both from Lakeland, FL, joined me for a 6-hour trip in Sarasota Bay. It was slow to start but they finished strong with a redfish, numerous trout, bluefish and ladyfish. The red was caught on a gold Huddle Spoon and the other fish were caught on DOA Deadly Combos. At one point we had a feeding frenzy of breaking fish, which consisted of trout, bluefish, ladyfish and tarpon. Bluefish were biting trout and ladyfish in half and tarpon were eating the ladyfish. It was pouring rain, but they didn’t care!
Fly angler, Ed Kilgore from New Castle, Northern Ireland, tarpon fished with me on Monday. Ed had fished with me several years ago and caught a huge snook (36”) in Sarasota Bay. He jumped 4 tarpon from 10 to 90-pounds in the Peace River. The smaller tarpon was on an Enrico Puglisi finger mullet pattern fished on a sink tip fly line. The bigger fish, from 75 to 90-pounds were all jumped with DOA Baitbusters near the mouth of the river. Ed also caught and released a 26” cobia on a DOA Baitbuster.
Joe Dutmers and his son Mark, both from Sarasota, FL, tarpon fished in the same area with me on Wednesday before Mark returns to school at Georgetown University, where he is a pitcher on the baseball team. Mark fly fished for quite a while, but the tarpon were too widely scattered to be able to connect with one on a fly. We moved to the mouth of the Peace River where tarpon had been plentiful a couple of days before but nothing was showing. We made a cast at a nervous bait school with a DOA Baitbuster and immediately jumped a 75-pound tarpon. We worked the area hard mostly blind casting or casting to an occasional bait school and rolling tarpon. We jumped 2 more tarpon on DOA Swimming Mullet, landing one of them, an estimated 70-pounder.
We are battening down the hatches anticipating the arrival of Hurricane Charlie. Following the storm, I expect good action with tarpon, snook, redfish and trout. Next week’s tides will be favorable for tarpon, snook and flats fishing as we come off the new moon.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
(941) 923-7799
E-mail [email protected]
www.flyfishingflorida.net and www.snookfin-addict.com
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