Sarasota fishing report Capt Jim Klopfer 10/18/2014
Capt. Jim Klopfer
October 18, 2014
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing was decent this week, better earlier in the week before a front moved through. Speckled trout, Spanish mackerel, gag grouper, jack crevelle, mangrove snapper, flounder, black sea bass, ladyfish, and sharks were landed by clients using live pilchards and threadfins on the grass flats near Big Pass and Stephen's Pt. Snook, jacks, and mangrove snapper hit the live bait near oyster bars in Robert's Bay. Clients landed two small yellowtail snapper this week, a portent of things to come??
I started my week off on Sunday with a charter for Brad Bardon and his fiance Allison Ruggari, both from Morristown, NJ. I caught bait and we started off casting threadfins towards the edge of a grass flat near Bird Key. For a couple of hours, action was steady on Spanish mackerel, speckled trout, mangrove snapper, gag grouper, black sea bass, and flounder. Brad even caught a small yellowtail snapper; VERY unusual! We decided to finish up looking for snook and hit a canal in Robert's Bay. The couple caught snapper, snook, and jack crevelle to finish up the trip.
Long time client and friend Chaz Boyter from New Jersey fished with me on Monday. We started off casting Rapala topwater plugs and X-Raps near the mouth of Phillippi Creek on the outgoing tide. Chaz had a couple of blow-ups and a small jack hit an X-Rap, but that was about it. I caught bait and Chaz had a bite on almost every cast for over an hour near Big Pass, mostly speckled trout but a few mackerel and other species, too. We finished up looking for snook and jacks, but only caught one of each.
The weather was bad Tuesday and Wednesday, no fishing for me. Stan Bell, his wife Ashley, and boys Blake (2) and Brent (5) from Oklahoma, joined me on Thursday. I started off with some live shrimp near the Radio Tower, with young Blake catching an 18" speckled trout and the others pitching in with gag grouper, smaller trout, and sea bass. As expected, Blake did not last too long, he is only two years old after all, so I took him and Ashley back to the dock. With Brent and Stan aboard, I loaded up with bait and we sat near Big Pass, catching trout, grouper, snapper, jacks, and Spanish mackerel, getting a bite on nearly every cast. Stan wanted a shark, so I cut up a mackerel and Stan landed a nice 30 lb shark to finish up the trip!
Conditions were tough on Friday for Gina and Mike Kymer, from Michigan. We were greeted with classic post-friontal conditions, NE wind, blue-bird sky, and high pressure. The first few hours were VERY slow, but a run to the Ringling flats proved to be a good choice, as they finished up with good action on speckled trout, Spanish mackerel, a lot of jack crevelle, ladyfish, sea bass, and grouper.
More Fishing Reports:
