Saltwater Fishing Report for Sarasota, Florida.
Capt. Bob Smith
July 18, 2003
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Summer Time Fishing
Both inshore and offshore fishing has been good to excellent but with plenty of stops and starts.
Mangrove snapper are being caught on the bay and in the Gulf out to the sixty-foot depths. The Gully area has produced the largest and the most snapper on live shrimp. The artificial “M” reefs are also holding fish but are overrun with jewfish that grab your snapper as soon you hook them. It is best to fish the natural bottom for snapper.
Spanish mackerel have been hot in the passes and out to the thirty-foot depths around the “I” reefs. King mackerel are still being caught in good numbers in eighty feet of water offshore.
Snook are being caught every day mostly in the backwaters and on live bait. You will also find that you may see plenty of them but they will not bite. This is what snook do best. Chumming might work but I don’t do that.
Tarpon are still on the beach and if you have the time to hunt them, you have a good chance of a hook-up. I also see the smaller ones on the bay mixed in with the big jacks feeding at first light.
Spotted sea trout are plentiful on the grass-flats when using live shrimp but the largest ones are being caught on live pigfish fished with a popping cork. The right sized pigfish are harder to find than the trout.
Cobia, pompano, bluefish, sharks and many more species are showing up from time to time while fishing the bay’s grass-flats.
Enjoy and Protect
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