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Sarasota and Venice
Capt. Rick Grassett
July 9, 2005
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Charlotte Harbor, FL Fishing Report for 7/2 through 7/9/2005
Anglers on the Snook Fin-Addict had good action during the past week with Spanish mackerel, trout and snook in Gasparilla Sound. Anglers using spinning tackle caught and released Spanish mackerel, snook, trout and a redfish while fly anglers scored on snook, trout, ladyfish and crevalle jacks. The best action was early in the week on deep grass flats near Sandfly Key.
Dave Brugh, from Akron, OH, fished the coastal gulf waters off Gasparilla Island with me on Tuesday. We found Spanish mackerel gorging themselves on glass minnows in 20’ of water. He caught and released more than 15 Spanish mackerel on Diamond Jigs before the frenzy subsided. We moved to the inside waters of Gasparilla Sound where we caught and released about 15 trout on DOA Deadly Combos. With plenty of trout under our belts, we moved to skinny water where Dave caught and released 4 snook to 25” and a redfish on CAL jigs with shad tails to complete his slam.
The next day, fellow Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers board member, John LaManna, and his wife, Deb, fished the same area with me. The mackerel weren’t there, although there were plenty of birds in the air searching for baitfish. We moved into Gasparilla Sound where we found trout, ladyfish and jacks busting glass minnow just like the mackerel had been doing in the gulf the day before. John and Deb caught and released numerous trout, ladyfish and jacks on Clouser flies and DOA Deadly Combos. We spent some time pounding the mangroves with flies and jigs. Although they did a great job of covering the shorelines, we only came up with one mangrove snapper, caught on a Clouser fly, for our efforts.
Fly angler, Bob Harness from St. Louis, MO, fished the same area again with me on Friday. We started before daylight where Bob worked lighted docks along Little Gasparilla Island. The tide was slow and daylight came quickly, but he managed a 25” snook, caught and released on a Grassett’s Grass Minnow fly before we moved on. We worked some deep grass flats near Sandfly Key where Bob caught and released several trout and jacks on Clouser and DT Special flies. The action that I had been on earlier in the week with Spanish mackerel, trout, snook and reds just wasn’t happening.
Hurricane Dennis gave us a glancing blow as it passed offshore on Saturday and threatens to give us more of the same, heavy rain and potential tropical storm force winds, for Sunday. With Saturday’s trip cancelled and Sunday’s forecast not much better, my customer headed for home. Hopefully, Dennis will spare residents in its path from too much damage. One potential side effect from the storm is that maybe it will break up some of the red tide that lingers in our area. The good news is that Sarasota Bay is improving and reports of reds, snook and bluefish caught during the past several days have been coming in.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
www.flyfishingflorida.net
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