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Trout, Blues and Little Tunny on Fly in Sarasota
Capt. Rick Grassett
December 20, 2008
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB's Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, caught trout, bluefish, little tunny, ladyfish and pompano during the past couple of weeks. In addition, we had lots of shots at tailing reds in Gasparilla Sound.
Several trips in Sarasota Bay during the week of Dec. 8th had good action on deep grass flats. Nick Reding, from St. Louis, MO, caught trout and bluefish with me at Stephens Point on Ultra Hair Clouser flies and Crease flies. Walt Poxon, from MN, and his brother and sister-in-law, Bill and Sue Poxon, from Sarasota, also fished the same area with me that week. They had fast action with trout, blues and a pompano on DOA Deadly Combos and CAL jigs with shad tails. Mark and Olivia Fisher, from Houston, TX, fished a couple of instructional fly fishing trips in Sarasota Bay with me and became proficient enough to catch a few trout with Ultra Hair Clouser flies.
The following week Glen Urban, from MA, Mike Perez from IN, Jeff Hanna from Englewood, FL and Clark Keator, from Orlando, FL fished several days with me in Sarasota Bay and Charlotte Harbor. Although we spent lots of time targeting reds and had plenty of shots, they didn't eat for us. We targeted reds in potholes in Sarasota Bay and tailing on shallow grass flats in Gasparilla Sound with flies. We caught and released trout, blues and ladyfish on deep grass flats with Clouser flies.
On Friday, Dec. 19, Sarasota Herald-Tribune Outdoors Editor, Steve Gibson, fished with me. Little tunny and tripletail on flies was our goal and we were successful. We covered a lot of water to find a few fish but it paid off. We found a large area of bait, deep in the water column, with birds rafted up sitting on the bait off Casey Key. We waited them out and eventually small schools of little tunny began to blitz through the area giving us a few shots. We hooked 3 fish on Gibby's Myakka Minnow and my Snook Minnow fly fished on intermediate and intermediate sink tip fly lines and landed one, about 10-pounds. We also found and hooked a 10 to 12-pound tripletail on a crab trap float in about 30' of water off Siesta Key. The fish was hooked on a chartreuse Clouser fly but managed to pull the hook loose when the leader snagged the crab trap float line. It was a nice one!
Steve Gibson photo.
Tides will improve next week as we head towards a new moon on Dec. 27th. Reds should be tailing in shallow grass flats of Gasparilla sound and should be in potholes of Sarasota Bay. The fastest action should be with trout, blues and ladyfish on deep grass flats. I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
www.flyfishingflorida.net
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