Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim Klopfer 6/29/2013
Capt. Jim Klopfer
June 29, 2013
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing this week pretty much dispelled the whole "Fishing is slow on the full moon" theory. Action on the deep flats was steady on a variety of species. Sharks, speckled trout to 21", Spanish mackerel, bluefish, flounder, sea bass, mangrove snapper, gag grouper, jack crevelle, ladyfish, and catfish hit Gulp! and live shrimp this week on the flats near both passes. Top spots were the Marina Jack and Radio Tower flats.
Chris Sambach, his wife Lila, and ten year old daughter caught a LOT of fish on Monday morning! The "Super Moon" must have made them bite! Every spot produced fish. We started off in Big Pass catching jacks and ladyfish. As the tide came in we moved to the deep grass flats in the Yacht Club Channel and caught a ton of ladyfish along with speckled trout, flounder, jacks, and mangrove snapper to 14" free-lining live shrimp.
Fishing was good on Wednesday for Larry Grisham from southern Illinois and his teenage grandsons Gavin Grisham and Lucas Griffith. We started off in Big Pass catching a bunch of ladyfish using jigs and shrimp on the outgoing tide. After a bit of that, we tried some docks and structure in the pass on the slack tide with ninimal results; just a few snapper and grunts. As the tide turned to come in, action resumed on the deep flats with the boys catching speckled trout to 18", a big 17" silver trout, jack crevelle, sea bass, and ladyfish.
Melissa and Jon Rankin had Jon's sister Beth Rankin in town from Denver, CO, and they decided to go fishing. They wanted fish for dinner, so I concentrated on the deep flats near the passes. The Radio Tower, Marina Jack, and Marker 5 and 7 flats all produced steady action. Both girls landed a nice, fat 20" speckled trout, along with a bluefish and several other slot trout. Jon pitched in with a nice Spanish mackerel, a keeper mangrove snapper, and a keeper trout. In between the eating fish, they had steady catch and release action on ladyfish, smaller trout, jack crevelle and finished up with both Melissa and Jon catching sharks. Fun day with enthusiastic anglers!
Monte Clithero and his girlfriend Dana from Springfield, MO had another productive trip on Friday. We left Ken Thompson Park at 6:30 a.m. and hit the Radio Tower first thing. Speckled trout, ladyfish, and jacks hit live and Gulp! Shrimp. After netting up some pilchards, I moved over to the flats near Selby and chummed them up! The bait was small, so I used the chum to lure them in then shrimp to catch them. Some of the bait was large enough to use. It didn't matter, it was pretty much a fish on every cast. Speckled trout to 18", Spanish mackerel, a shark, sea bass, mangrove snapper, gag grouper, jacks, ladyfish, and catfish kept the rods bent and Dana happy!
On Saturday Sid Marcum took out a large crew on a CB's rental pontoon with me as the captain/guide. These are actually good fishing boats. The trout bite was hot with a half dozen nice trout between 17" and 20" going in the box along with a 16" flounder. Gulp! Shrimp and live shrimp worked equally well; the Radio Tower was the best spot.
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