Hot speckled trout action in Sarasota!
Capt. Jim Klopfer
July 2, 2016
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
The speckled trout fishing was terrific this week on the deep grass flats near both Big Sarasota Pass and New Pass. Bait fish are plentiful and this in turn attracted the gamefish. Speckled trout to 20" were landed on every charter with several going close to 27"! I can't stress enough how important it is to carefully handle and release these big trout; they are the future of our fishery. I never keep trout over 20". Live shrimp and pilchards accounted for most of the action with the Radio Tower and Middlegrounds being the top spots. Along with trout, decent mangrove snapper showed up this week, and clients also landed sharks, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, jack crevelle, sea bass, flounder, grouper, and ladyfish.
I started off my week with a great charter with three friends from San Antonio, TX, Tony The, Ellie De La Cruz, and Meliss DeMiller. We used live shrimp early, catching bluefish, jacks, ladyfish, catfish, mangrove snapper, black sea bass, and a bunch of speckled trout to 18". After a couple of hours, I ran to New Pass and loaded up with bait, then chummed at the Radio Tower and Middlegrounds. Action was steady with Ellie catching a 24" trout then Tony topping that with a 26" trout. Both were handled gently for a quick photo then released.
Sarah Barlage from KY took her sons Tony (15) and Charlie (16) out on Tuesday morning. Action was steady using live shrimp, with the gang catching mostly speckled trout. I caught some bait and that really got them fired up! We caught a bunch of speckled trout to 20", mackerel, jacks, snapper, ladyfish and more.
Steve Parker from the Tamps area, his wife Jayne, son Hayden, and sister Chris experienced very good fishing on Wednesday. Live shrimp produced quite a few trout, though most were small, bluefish, ladyfish, snapper, and a shark on the flats near New Pass. Mid charter we ran out of shrimp and I loaded up on bait. Chumming at the Middlegrounds produced trout to 18", Spanish mackerel, jacks, and ladyfish.
Paul McGovern and his son Conner fished with me Thursday morning. Once again, we started off using live shrimp and then switched to white bait mid-morning. Speckled trout to 20" bit steadily, along with the other normal species. The Middlegrounds was the best spot.
I finished up my week with Mike Smith from Kentucky and his 12 year old daughter Micah. It was her first "real" fishing trip and she did VERY well! We used live pilchards all morning aqnd after a few lessons she was casting and catching right along side her dad. Speckled trout to 19", Spanish mackerel, mangrove snapper, jacks, flounder, and ladyfish kept the rods bent for the duo. The tide quit and I still had a ton of bait, so I ran to spot near Big Pass that had been productive recently. I started chumming heavily and the fish responded. For almost an hour it was bedlam as bluefish, trout, and ladyfish were busting the freebies all around us! Mike had a HUGE trout shake the hook right at the boat, but at least he got to fight it and see it. Finally, they could take no more and put up their rods. Great way to end the week!
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