Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim Klopfer 7/13/2013
Capt. Jim Klopfer
July 13, 2013
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing was outstanding this week! The pilchards ( also known as shiners or whitebait ) showed up in big numbers. Although the bait is a bit small, it is large enough to use. Chumming the deep flats produced action, variety, and quality this week. Snook ( caught on a Rapala X-Rap), speckled trout to 24", silver trout, Spanish mackerel to 4 pounds, bluefish to 3 pounds, black sea bass to 15", jack crevelle, gag grouper, mangrove snapper, ladyfish, and sharks bent rods on my charters this week. The deep flats near both passes; Marker #5, Marina Jack, Radio Tower, and Middlegrounds, continue to be very productive. Most of the fish were caught on live shrimp or pilchards but Gulp! and Rapalas fooled a few fish, too.
The week got off to a good start on Sunday morning with Scott Pearce from Memphis, TN and his boys Jordon (21) and Mitchell (15). Despite the fact that it was the day of the Offshore Grand Prix, boat traffic was light in the morning. Mitch started things off with a snook on a Rapala first thing near the mouth of Phillippi Creek. We moved to Big Pass; not much happening. On my way to a deep grass flat I spotted a bunch of bait. It wasn't big, but it was big enough. Two tosses of the net resulted in a full well. For the next hour and a half it was steady action on speckled trout to 22", Spanish mackerel, bluefish, sea bass, gag grouper, jack crevelle, and ladyfish as I had them chummed into a frenzy! They had so much fun they went again on Monday afternoon with similar results. We started off casting jigs; Mitch caught a big sea bass near Marina Jack, but it was spotty. A thunderstorm chased us off and when it cleared I caught bait and once again it was resulted in a lot of fish. We finished up with a frenzy of non-stop action on big trout, ladyfish, jacks, and mackerel near New Pass.
On Tuesday Barry Palmer and his two boys Palmer (13) and Carson (7) from Stanton, KY experienced very steady action near Bird Key. Once again live bait was the ticket. After filling the well, chumming and fishing with the whitebait resulted in Spanish mackerel to 4 pounds, speckled trout to 21", ladyfish, jacks, and snapper.
I left the boat ramp at Centennial Park at 7:00 a.m on Wednesday morning with Norm Shade from Thornville, OH, his son-in-law Steve Bartalsky and Steve's dad Mike. We started off at the Radio Tower casting Gulp! Shrimp on a 1/4 ounce jig head. Sea bass, silver trout, speckled trout, Spanish mackerel, and ladyfish provided steady action. After an hour it slowed a bit, so I ran to my spot to catch bait. Once again, it was quick and easy and chumming on a deep flat neat the Twin Bridges resulted in 5 macks in the box along with ladyfish, speckled trout, and jacks being caught. We finished up at the Middlegrounds with a nice trout bite! a dozen or so trout in the slot including several over 20" were caught and released along with ladyfish and a nice bluefish.
We had another productive morning on Thursday with the Gratton clan from the Orlando area. Rob took his son Aiden (7) and dad Bob out fishing. We started off on the last part of the outgoing tide near Marker # 5, and using live shrimp under a cork caught small trout, ladyfish, and had a nice bluefish cut us off at the boat. Action slowed as the tide quit, so I ran to my spot and loaded up on bait in two tosses of the cast net. For two hours we sat in one spot getting a bite on nearly every cast. Pinfish were a nuisance, but we caught several Spanish mackerel, a bunch of speckled trout ( Aiden put a pair of keepers, one 20" and the other 16", in the box) along with mangrove snappers to 12" and ladyfish. We fished Phillippi Creek on the way in catching small snappers and a few jack crevelle.
I finished off the week with Darcy and Ken Rohr from Cleveland, OH and their two boys Zach (15) and Alex (13). Fishing was steady early, then slowed as the tide quit. A tide change mid-morning can be tough! But, once the water started moving in, the action picked up. Using pilchards near Marina Jack, they caught speckled trout, silver trout, jacks, snapper, ladyfish, and Spanish mackerel. Right near the end of the trip Ken hooked a nice spinner shark which cleared the water by four feet twice while spinning madly before breaking off. Very cool! Alex then topped his dad by landing a 4 pound Spanish mackerel on the last cast! Way to go, Alex!
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