Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim Klopfer 2/16/2013
Capt. Jim Klopfer
February 16, 2013
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Charters this week were an even mix of structure and deep grass fishing. Docks throughout the area were reliable for sheepshead, snapper, grouper, and flounder. This is primarily bottom fishing with live shrimp. Deep flats produced Spanish mackerel, speckled trout, silver trout, flounder, sea bass, bluefish, sea bass, and plenty of ladyfish. The Middlegrounds and Marker #5 were the best spots. Gold Cotee jigs, glow Gulp! Shrimp, Rapala X-Raps, and live shrimp were productive. We also caught a snook, a black drum, and a permit. Nice week for variety!
Richard Fletcher from Minnesota invited his brother Tom who lives in Riverview, FL to go fishing with him on Monday. They wanted to focus primarily on "eating" fish, so we worked docks and structure in Big Pass and along Bird Key using live shrimp. Action was steady on Sheepshead to 3 pounds, mangrove snapper to 12", and gag grouper. The largest grouper landed was 16" but they got freight-trained a couple of times on fish they just could not handle on light spinning tackle.
Andy Singerling and his friend David Spies from PA had a good day of mixed-bag fishing on Tuesday. We started off hitting New Pass on the last hour of the outgoing tide. Unfortunately, the wind was the opposite direction and the drift was bad. So, we trolled Rapala X-Raps and caught a half dozen bluefish and a couple of Spanish mackerel. After the tide turned, we made a move to the Middlegrounds where Andy used a gold Cotee jig and David drifted a live shrimp. The result was speckled trout, flounder, mackerel, and ladyfish. Andy wanted a sheepshead for dinner, so we finished up working docks along Longboat Key and caught 2 keeper sheepies and a flounder. Fun day and a nice box of fish! Wednesday was foggy and windy, no fishing for me.
John Belicka from Woodstock, GA treated his brother Tim and father Bruce to a trip on Thursday. The weather was threatening, but first thing in the morning it was calm, so we made the run up to the Middlegrounds. Bruce caught a nice Spanish mackerel on a free lined shrimp on his first cast. John and Tim caught macks, bluefish, ladyfish, sea bass, and sail cats on Cotee jigs. The wind picked up so we started working back, stopping at some docks on Bird Key. Gag grouper, sheepshead, and mangrove snapper bit steadily. We finished up with a small snook near Phillippi Creek.
Bill Thiel from Naperville, IL fished with me on Friday. A front moved through the night before and we waited until 9:00 a.m. for the rain to clear through. Action was fair, though we did catch a lot of different species. A black drum hit a shrimp in Phillippi creek, sheepshead, snapper to 12", and gag grouper were caught under Bird Key docks, ladyfish, speckled trout, silver trout, Spanish mackerel, and a small permit took jigs and shrimp on the flats near bird Key.
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