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Sarasota and Venice
Capt. Rick Grassett
February 26, 2006
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Southwest Florida Fishing Report for 2/20 through 2/26/2006
Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, caught and released a variety of fish during the past week. Bluefish, pompano, trout and large ladyfish on the flats and snook at night were caught and released with flies and CAL jigs with shad tails.
Gary Bartell, from Rome, NY, and Sandy Lawrence, from Sarasota, FL, joined me for their annual trip on Monday afternoon. We fished they flats of Blackburn Bay in the afternoon where they caught and released a pair of pompano, trout and large ladyfish on Ultra Hair Clouser flies. We shifted to lighted docks at dusk and found snook feeding very selectively on tiny glass minnows. They caught and released about a dozen snook to 23” on my Grass Minnow snook fly.
Bill Walsh and sons, Mathew and Andrew, from Winchester, MA, fished near Blackburn Point with me on Tuesday afternoon. The action was steady with large ladyfish. They also caught and released 5 trout to 17” on CAL jigs with shad tails. Fly anglers, Dick Reece from Dayton, OH, and his grandson, Daniel Rinehart from Lennox, MA, snook fished with me on Tuesday evening. They caught and released several large ladyfish and a bluefish on Ultra Hair Clouser flies fished on intermediate and sink-tip fly lines at dusk. We found the snook even more finicky than they were on Monday evening. They caught and released 7 or 8 snook, which is much slower than a normal evening trip with fly anglers. I went down to a #6 hook for my Grass Minnow fly but the snook were still hard to fool. An increase in fishing pressure at night, which happens as it warms in the spring, is part of the reason for snook feeding very selectively.
The next day I headed for Everglades City to meet up with Capt. Pete Greenan, president of the Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers. Capt. Pete and I teamed up to donate a couple of days of fly fishing for the club’s banquet last spring. Roger Williams, from Bradenton, FL, his son, Robert Williams, from Oveida, FL, Dave Hutchinson, from Punta Gorda, FL, and Bink Webster, from Naples, FL joined us on Wednesday evening to fish the backcountry of the 10,000 Island area on Thursday and Friday.
We each had several shots at “laid up” and rolling tarpon on Thursday morning, but no takers. We spent the afternoon fishing mangrove shorelines and the action was slow. Each boat connected with a snook, but that was it. The following day, we fished Gaskin Bay where Robert hooked a nice fish on an Estaz Marabou fly, but the fish won the fight, breaking him off on a mangrove shoot. Robert and Roger fished hard for a few more fish the rest of the day. We fished as far south as Pavilion Key before heading home for the day.
Fly angler, Marshall Dinerman from Atlanta, GA, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Saturday. We fished Robert’s Bay, south of the Siesta Drive Bridge, where Marshall had several shots at reds but they wanted no part of us. He caught and released several large ladyfish on Ultra Hair Clouser flies between shots at reds.
A front blew through on Sunday morning, which will make fishing challenging for the next couple of days. Negative low tides next week, as we come off a new moon on Monday, should concentrate reds and trout in potholes. Night snook fishing will also be a good option.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
www.flyfishingflorida.net
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