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Sarasota and Venice
Capt. Rick Grassett
January 7, 2006
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Southwest Florida Fishing Report for 1/2 through 1/6/2006
Anglers on the Snook Fin-Addict caught and released snook, trout, bluefish and ladyfish during the past week. Fly and spin anglers fishing Little Sarasota Bay caught and released mostly ladyfish on CAL jigs with grubs and Clouser flies on a couple of trips. Charlotte Harbor remained strong for trout, but reds were finicky. The best trip of the week was fly fishing for snook and bluefish at night near Venice.
Ken Kolinski, Jim Essig and Jim’s 9-year old grandson, all from OH, fished Little Sarasota Bay near Turtle Beach with me on Monday morning. The action was steady with numerous ladyfish and a nice bluefish caught and released on CAL jigs. That evening fly anglers, Phil Rever from Sarasota, FL and Eric Dobkin, from New York City snook fished with me from Blackburn Pt. to the Venice Inlet. They caught and released more than 20 snook to 23” and about 6 bluefish to 3-pounds on my Grass Minnow snook fly.
The next day fly anglers, Mike Witsil from Sarasota, FL and his friend, Liz, from NJ, fished Little Sarasota Bay with me. It was a repeat of Monday morning with lots of ladyfish and one trout caught and released on Ultra Hair Clouser flies fished on intermediate fly lines. The ladyfish population hasn’t been affected by the red tides of last year, but trout have been noticeably absent in the Sarasota area.
That’s not the case in Charlotte Harbor, where the population of reds and trout is healthy. Fly anglers, Paul and Donna Pezza from RI, fished there with me on Thursday. We had a very low tide at 11 AM and I figured that reds should be tailing if the wind stayed down. I was pleasantly surprised when they were already tailing by 8 AM. Paul and Donna cast repeatedly to tailing reds and later in the tide, when they dropped into potholes, they sight cast to cruising fish to no avail. The reds either ignored us or usually spooked after several casts to them. We moved to Bull Bay where they caught and released more than 20 trout on Clouser flies fished on intermediate fly lines. They also managed several trout and ladyfish in potholes near Sandfly Key. Sometimes you’ve got to go with what’s working!
A strong cold front this weekend will drop temperatures into the low 40’s along the coast. Next week’s 2-tide days will get better towards the end of the week as we head toward a full moon on Jan. 14th. Reds and trout in potholes of Charlotte Harbor and night snook fishing after the warm up should both be good options.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
www.flyfishingflorida.net
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