Good action in Sarasota, despite unsettled weather
Capt. Jim Klopfer
August 7, 2016
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing was good once again this week, though we had some weather issues later in the week. The deep grass flats once again proved to be the most consistent spots, with the flats near Bird Key being best this week. Speckled trout, silver trout, Spanish mackerel, jack crevelle, mangrove snapper, gag grouper, juvenile sharks, ladyfish, and more were landed by clients this week. Just about all of the fish were caught chumming with live bait. The size of the trout diminished a tad but was offset by an increase in mangrove snappers.
I was off on Sunday and up at 6:00 a.m., so I figured I would go fishing. My friend Bonnie Czepiel and I went down to Turtle Beach in search of snook in the surf on fly. No luck on the snook, only saw two, but Bonnie caught a nice Spanish mackerel.
I was back to "work" on Monday with Jerry Hollifield from North Carolina, his 18 year old son Josh and a couple of friends. I caught bait and action was steady for the first couple of hours on trout, jacks, mackerel, and snapper. I reloaded on bait, move to Big Pass, and for the next hour it was a couple of fish on constantly! Trout, ladyfish, jacks, and snappers kept us all hopping until it was time to go home.
The bite was goon again on Tuesday for Bill Cornmesser from Colorado and his boys Drew (15) and Owen (13). The baitwell was loaded up and action was steady all morning. Speckled trout to 20", snapper, ladyfish, jacks, grouper, and sharks were all landed near New Pass.
Frank Gravely from Charlotte, NC treated his son and a couple of friends to a charter on Wednesday. Bait was really easy; I loaded up in two tosses. The boys landed over 100 fish with a lot of speckled trout, a dozen or so each ladyfish and mangrove snapper, several jack crevelle and gag grouper ad a couple of small blacktip sharks, and a Spanish mackerel. Great trip with some fun guys!
We had unstable weather on Thursday and Fri, so I rescheduled one and cancelled the other. I have no interest in fishing in the rain and am not taking any chances with thunderstorms in the area.
I finished up the week with 14 year old J.W. Pitts from South Carolina. J.W. is a hard-core fisherman and fishes a lot of tournaments. We started off casting jigs but the pinnies and puffers were a problem, so we switched to bait. He caught around 45 speckled and silver trout, ladyfish, snapper, grouper, and jacks on the flats near Big Pass. We spent a little time looking for snook, but no luck.
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