Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim Klopfer 3/9/2013
Capt. Jim Klopfer
March 9, 2013
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
The weather has been unseasonably cool and breezy in March after a fantastic January and February. Water temperatures are in the upper 50's where they should be in the low 70"s. Still, action on the deep grass flats has been very good! Loads of decent sized ladyfish kept rods bent and anglers bust with speckled trout, silver trout, and Spanish mackerel sprinkled in. Fly fishermen scored using bright Clousers while anglers using spinning tackle did well with jigs and live shrimp. Docks and oyster bars produced snook, sheepshead, and large speckled trout for anglers using live shrimp.
On Monday Nathan Adams from Seattle, WA and his dad Mike went out to do some fishing. It was cool and breezy and Nate is a fly fisherman. Not great conditions, but Nate caught a dozen ladyfish on pink/white and chartreuse/white Clousers at the Radio Tower and Marker #5 flats. Mike pitched in with 20 or so trout and ladyfish using "New Penny" Gulp! Shrimp.
Janet and Rich Guelfi from Elmhurst, IL had a god trip on Tuesday. It was cool early, but warmed up quickly and was a beautiful morning. Free lined shrimp produced speckled trout to 16", silver trout to 14", and ladyfish at Marker #5. Janet caught a 21" in the Yacht Club Channel along with smaller trout and more ladyfish. They kept 3 smaller slot trout for dinner and released the big girl to make babies.
It was blowing 30 knots on Wednesday, so no fishing. Jeff Bishop from Poland, OH went out on Thursday. We waited a bit for it to warm up and left CB's at 10:30. With all the wind I expected to find the water on the flats near Big Pass to be dirty, but it wasn't bad. Action was very good using Gulp! Shrimp and Cotee jigs. Most of the fish were ladyfish, but we also caught speckled trout and a nice Spanish mackerel. Jeff finished the trip with a 22" trout off an oyster bar on a large live shrimp.
Long-time client Bill LaPierre from Massachusetts had a good trip on Friday. Ladyfish, speckled trout, and Spanish mackerel hit gold Cotee jigs at Marker #5 and in the Yacht Club Channel. We finished up working docks in Robert's Bay and Bill caught a pair of 2 lb sheepshead and 5 snook to 24" on live shrimp.
The bite was a bit slow on Saturday for fly fisherman Norm Robakiewicz from MI. He caught ladyfish and trout using pink/white Clousers near Big Pass.
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