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Sarasota and Venice
Capt. Rick Grassett
September 4, 2004
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Sarasota & Charlotte Harbor, FL Fishing Report for 8/29 through 9/4/2004
Anglers on the Snook Fin-Addict had good action during the past week with trout and bluefish on deep grass flats, snook around lighted docks and tarpon on the beach. Fly anglers connected with snook, tarpon and trout while the best action for spin anglers was with tarpon, trout and bluefish.
Gary Witkin, from Nashville, TN, and Tom Lind, from Dallas, TX, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Monday morning. We found fast action with trout to 17” and ladyfish on DOA Deadly Combos at the Middleground flat and near Buttonwood Harbor.
Fly angler, Bill King from Osprey, FL, fished a pre dawn snook/flats trip with me in Sarasota Bay on Tuesday morning. Bill is new to fly fishing and is taking the sport seriously. He fished with me a couple of weeks ago and caught his first fish with a fly. His casting has improved tremendously since our last trip. He caught and released 4 or 5 snook to 24” on Grassett’s Grass Minnow flies near Big Pass and several trout and ladyfish on an olive Clouser at the Middleground flat and near Bishop Point.
Fly angler, Harry Davis from Dalton. GA, fished with me on Wednesday. Our original plan was to fish upper Charlotte Harbor for tarpon, but with reports still sketchy from that area we made a change in plans. Harry had fished the beach on Tuesday and spotted some tarpon, so we headed in that direction. We found a broad area of tarpon feeding on glass minnows and ladyfish near Gasparilla Pass. Harry connected with 4 tarpon, landing two of them. Two of the fish were on an orange and brown Enrico Puglisi fly and 2 were on DOA Baitbusters on spinning tackle. Both fish were in the 80 to 90-pound class.
The following day, Ed O’Hair from Glen Burnie, MD, and his dad, Brian O’Hair from Tampa, FL, fished the same area with me. We found more boats and less tarpon and they weren’t on the bite that they’d been on the day before. Eventually most of the other boats left and we opted to stick with it. With not many tarpon showing, we worked diving birds and found a few tarpon feeding on the baitfish. Ed and Brian each connected with a tarpon and Ed landed one of them, an 80-pounder. Both fish were on DOA Baitbusters.
Lance Miller, from Wheeling, WV, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Friday just ahead of Hurricane Frances. With a northeast wind gusting 15 mph, we fished the east side of the bay. We found fast action with breaking bluefish to 3-pounds, ladyfish, trout and crevalle jacks on deep grass flats. CAL jigs with shad tails and jerk worms and MirrOlure She Dogs accounted for most of the fish. We also caught numerous trout and a snook on DOA Deadly Combos.
Hurricane Frances is bearing down on the east coast of Florida as I write this report. It seems to have weakened, but it is slow moving, which is likely to cause flooding. Fishing will more than likely be impacted here due to the expected rainfall. However, Sarasota Bay usually rebounds quicker than Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor due to better flushing by its 3 passes and no rivers emptying into it. Next week’s fishing should be good toward the end of the week as tides and the water quality improve.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
www.flyfishingflorida.net
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