Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim Klopfer 4/26/2014
Capt. Jim Klopfer
April 26, 2014
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Although fishing was fair this week, it does look like the big speckled trout are starting to move through. Fish to 25" were caught this week, live hand-picked shrimp worked the best. It is VERY important to release these fish unharmed, they are the breeders we need to sustain the fishery. Also, some large Spanish mackerel were caught on the deep grass north of New Pass. Snook, jacks, bluefish, sea bass, mangrove snapper, gag grouper, sheepshead, ladyfish, and a blacktip shark were also landed on charters this week. The passes and surrounding deep grass flats were the top spots. Live shrimp and glow DOA CAL jigs fooled them.
On Sunday Frank Petruzzi from Staten Island, NY took out his boys Michael and Anthony. Fishing was steady with decent action. We started off in Big pass, catching sheepshead, snapper, and gag grouper on the bottom and ladyfish and Spanish mackerel free lining live shrimp. The nearby flats yielded speckled trout to 16", jacks, sea bass, and ladyfish. We finished up at a dock along Siesta Key where Frank caught a snook and the boys landed a few more snapper.
On Tuesday Cass Wennlund from the Chicago area and his sons Colt, Luke, and Tommy had a good trip. Action was a bit slow at first as there was very little tidal flow or wind. We just kinda picked at them, catching ladyfish and jacks in Big Pass on jigs and shrimp. A move to the flats resulted in one nice 18" speckled trout, smaller trout, and more jacks and ladyfish. The wind finally picked up a bit and we did well at the Middlegrounds and Moorings, catching a couple more nice trout to 20" along with some shorts, bluefish, jacks, and ladyfish.
Variety was the name of the game for John Carroll, his grand daughter Jonalyn Burt, her boyfriend Bruce, and John's friend Ken Rayner. Speckled trout, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, mangrove snapper, jack crevelle, ladyfish, catfish, sea bass, and a nice blacktip shark hit jigs and free lined shrimp in and around Big Pass.
Gary Johns from Union, KY took out his son and three grandsons on Friday. Action was sporadic though they did catch some quality fish. Gary caught speckled trout of 25" and 22", and Gary and the boys caught several big Spanish mackerel between 3 and 4 pounds. They also landed jacks, smaller trout, ladyfish, gag grouper, and sea bass. Live shrimp fished under corks and free lined along the west side of the bay did the trick.
I ended the week fishing with Tony and Eileen Mettes from British Columbia, their daughter Ashley and her husband Tony. We caught fish at every spot but action was sporadic; a fish here and a fish there. They ended up catching speckled trout, bluefish, sea bass, grouper, a nice Spanish mackerel that pulled the hook beside the boat, jacks, and ladyfish in Big Pass, the Radio tower, Middlegrounds, and Marina Jack flats. Jigs caught more fish than shrimp on this trip.
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