Be Flexible and Watch the Weather
Capt. Jim Klopfer
January 30, 2016
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
The key to fishing this time of year is being flexible and taking advantage of the best weather days. This has been a wet winter with a lot of wind. Still, most weeks there are 3 to 4 days that are decent enough to get out. Anglers this week experienced very steady action bottom fishing structure in Big Pass and casting Bass Assassin jigs on the flats throughout the area. Flats at Marina Jacks, Radio Tower, and further south near Blackburn Pt produced a lot of ladyfish with trout, flounder, and jacks mixed in. The Myakka River is quite high right now and the bite is tough. It should impvove as water levels return to normal.
Peg Heaslip from Osprey, FL treated her sister Liz and brother-in-law Mike to a fishing charter on Monday. We left at 1:00 as it was quite chilly early and found the sheepshead biting in Phillippi Creek. We moved to Big Pass and for an hour or so it was pretty much a bite on every drop with sheepshead and mangrove snapper hitting shrimp.
On Tuesday Doug Forde and I fished the Myakka River, and the fishing was tough. We got a late start, but the river was high, cold, and fast; tough conditions. On Wednesday and Thursday it rained.
Long time client and friend Tommy Hyser from Pasedena, MD went out on Friday. It was cool and breezy so we launched at Blackburn Park and fished the flats north to Spanish Pt. and south to Marker #21. The bite was very good with a ton of ladyfish along with a dozen trout and a flounder hitting New Penny Bass Assassin jigs.
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