Fly and spin anglers on the Snook Fin-Addict caught and released a variety of fish during the past week. Tarpon, snook, trout, Spanish mackerel and ladyfish were caught on lures and flies in Sarasota Bay, Venice, lower Tampa Bay and the Peace River. Trout to 20” are plentiful and feeding on bait schools on the flats of Sarasota and Terra Ceia Bays. Anglers also caught snook on the shallow flats of Sarasota Bay near Buttonwood Harbor and around lighted docks at night in Blackburn Bay. Tarpon in the 20 to 30-pound class are feeding on baitfish in the Peace River and upper Charlotte Harbor.
970 WFLA’s Capt. Mel Berman, from Tampa, FL, and Capt. Pat Damico, from St. Pete Beach, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Monday. We found fast action with trout to 17” on deep grass flats at Stephens Point and near Buttonwood Harbor with jerk worms and Clouser flies. We also caught and released a pair of snook to 24” on a jerk worm and a fly popper.
Larry Dorman, from Englewood, OH, and Bob Gambale, from Rockaway, NJ, fished the ICW in Venice with me on Tuesday evening. We worked along docks and seawalls with top water plugs on an incoming tide at dusk and only had one strike. After dark, we moved up into Blackburn Bay and worked lighted docks with DOA Tiny TerrorEyz. The action was slow, but they did catch and release a pair of snook to 24” and a trout.
Fly anglers had a dozen or more shots at tarpon with a fly on Wednesday in the coastal gulf waters, but they were not interested in biting. We had a couple of tarpon turn on the fly and follow it, but most spooked away from the fly, maybe due to the effects of the approaching full moon.
Jason Miller and Justin Boynes, both from Wheeling, WV, fished lower Tampa Bay with me on Thursday. We had steady action with trout to 20” on deep grass flats in Terra Ceia Bay. They caught more than 20 trout and a 24” Spanish mackerel on MirrOlure She Dogs. Trout were feeding on schools of bait at the surface and aggressively striking our top water plugs.
My wife, Karen, my daughter, Dawn Gibson, her boyfriend, Andy Cotton, and I fished the Peace River for tarpon on Saturday. We found them plentiful and feeding on baitfish in the river and they turned on for a couple of hours in the middle of the morning. Although we all had strikes on a variety of colors and styles of DOA baits, it was the rootbeer DOA TerrorEyz that worked best. Andy jumped two tarpon and landed one, an 18-pounder, on the rootbeer TerrorEyz. We each had strikes on pearl TerrorEyz and nightglow DOA shrimp.
Tarpon in the coastal gulf waters and in upper Charlotte Harbor will continue to be an option next week. Flats fishing should also be good, but you need to be on the water early before the heat of the day begins to affect fishing.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
(941) 923-7799
E-mail [email protected]
www.snookfin-addict.com and www.flyfishingflorida.net
