Action good on multiple species in Sarasota
Capt. Jim Klopfer
December 17, 2011
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing was steady this week, improving towards the end as the wind eased up and tides were stronger. Speckled trout, pompano, ladyfish, jacks, flounder, sea bass were caught on the deep grass flats at the Radio Tower, Marker # 5, and Yacht Club Channel, and Middlegrounds on jigs and live shrimp. Spanish mackerel and silver trout hit shrimp and Rapala X-Raps just off Lido Beach. Sheepshead, redfish, snapper, and gag grouper are under Siesta Key and Bird Key docks.
On Tuesday I took out 3 of the guys from CB's Saltwater Outfitters. Despite breezy conditions, we caught a lot of fish. Sheepshead hit live shrimp near the mouth of Phillippi Creek. We found Spanish mackerel and the mother lode of silver trout off of Lido Key. We finished up catching speckled trout, flounder, ladyfish, and jacks near Otter Key.
On Thursday I fished a two boat corporate trip with Capt Jack Ryan. Fish of the day was a 3 lb pompano at Marker # 5 on a rootbeer Gulp! Shrimp. We also caught ladyfish, trout, and flounder. A move to the Bird Key docks resulted in grouper and mangrove snapper.
Later in the week Sarasota winter resident Jerry VanDyke went out on a trip. We started off catching a redfish under schools of glass minnows right at the 10Th Street boat ramp. Next, we caught
ladyfish and speckled trout at the Radio Tower and Marker # 5 flats on gold jigs. Then, a couple of gag grouper and flounder were taken from under the Bird Key docks. Big Pass was slow, we got cut off by a decent bluefish. Silver trout were thick off the beach and hit shrimp and jigs. A ledge in 25' yielded several flounder to 16". We finished up catching big ladyfish at the Middlegrounds.
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