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Sarasota and Venice
Capt. Rick Grassett
May 22, 2005
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Sarasota & Charlotte Harbor, FL Fishing Report for 5/9 through 5/22/2005
Anglers on the Snook Fin-Addict had good action during the past couple of weeks with trout and reds on the flats and tarpon in the coastal gulf waters. We scored on trout, reds and snook in skinny water with flies, CAL jigs, MirrOlure She Dogs and DOA Deadly Combos. Tarpon were slow to start due to cool water in the gulf but have shown up strong within the last week. Tarpon anglers connected with tarpon on flies and live crabs. Several cobia and tripletail were also encountered and gave anglers shots with flies and DOA Deadly combos.
Roger and Joanna Williams, from Bradenton, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Monday, May 9th. We spent a couple of hours in the coastal gulf waters hunting tarpon and Roger got a shot at a school with a fly, but they didn’t bite. They only showed briefly and we couldn’t locate them again, so we came back into the bay to fish the flats. Roger caught and released several trout, ladyfish and a bluefish near Big Pass and Bishop Point on Clouser flies. He also had a couple of shots at reds in skinny water, but they didn’t bite either.
Mike Carducci, from Putnam Valley, NY, fished Sarasota Bay the next day with me. We had the same game plan to hunt tarpon early and then fish the bay. We saw one school of tarpon briefly and never got a shot at them. The bay was slow at first, but we got on a good trout bite near Buttonwood Harbor around noon. Mike caught and released more than 15 trout to 21” on MirrOlure She Dogs and DOA Deadly Combos. About ½ of the fish were 18” or larger.
John Leutner, from Herndon, VA, fished the Terra Ceia Bay area with me on Wednesday, May 11th. We focused on reds and snook in skinny water and it was a slow day, however John did catch and release a pair of reds to 28” on CAL jigs with shad tails. The following day, I fished Sarasota Bay with Dave Lincul and Rick Fletcher, both from NJ. We hunted for tarpon in the coastal gulf early and didn’t see anything, but the bay fishing was good. They caught and released numerous trout to 21”, bluefish, ladyfish, a Spanish mackerel and a redfish on CAL jigs with a variety of plastic tails, DOA Deadly Combos and MirrOlure She Dogs. The fastest action was at the Middleground flat and near Buttonwood Harbor.
Dave Lincul and Rick Fletcher, both from NJ, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Thursday. The action was slow to start we finished the day with numerous trout, ladyfish, and a redfish. The best action was in the middle of the day on a flood tide with DOA Deadly Combos and MirrOlure She Dogs near Buttonwood Harbor. Many of the trout were in the 18” to 20” class.
Pat Bennett, from the Ft. Lauderdale, FL area and Cathy Allchin, from MI, fished with me last Saturday and Sunday. Our goal was tarpon, but it just wasn’t going on yet. We fished the coastal gulf waters off Gasparilla and Cayo Costa Islands on Saturday, May 14th, with hopes of finding more fish than I had been seeing in the Sarasota area, but only saw one school of tarpon.
On Sunday, we fished off Sarasota and had a beautiful school of tarpon pop up first thing. Pat and Cathy each jumped one with a live crab and then the action abruptly stopped. We moved to the bay just to bend a rod with trout, reds or snook. They had plenty of action with mostly small trout on CAL jigs, DOA Deadly Combos, MirrOlure She Dogs and flies. They also caught a nice snook. The best action was near Buttonwood Harbor.
Tarpon action picked up this past week as numbers of schools increased. Sarasota Herald-Tribune Outdoor Editor, Steve Gibson and I traveled to Pine Island on Monday to fish with John Kumiski. Tarpon reports were good in that area, but we saw almost nothing from Blind Pass to Boca Grande Pass. We did get some shots at tripletail and connected with a pair of them on flies. Aledia Tush, from Sarasota, FL and her son, Mason, tarpon fished with me on Tuesday. We saw several schools of tarpon and Mason jumped about a 90-pounder with a live crab. We also spotted a cobia swimming on a sandbar as we headed in and hooked it with a DOA Deadly Combo.
Fly anglers fished with me Wednesday through Friday and although we got some shots with a fly on all days, Thursday was the day that they we were successful. We jumped a pair of tarpon on flies, landing a 90-pounder on a black and rust fly and jumped a big female estimated at 130-pounds on a chartreuse fly. We also had another bite on the chartreuse fly. On Saturday we saw very few tarpon until almost noon, when we had a few fish moving north. We got one bite on a crab, but didn’t hook up.
Early season tarpon fishing can be inconsistent. The water temperature has been unseasonably cool and is just now approaching 80 degrees, a key temperature for successful tarpon fishing. As we head away from the full moon this week and the water continues to warm, I expect tarpon fishing to really turn on.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
www.flyfishingflorida.net
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