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Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim Klopfer 8/10/2013
Capt. Jim Klopfer
August 10, 2013
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing went from decent early in the week to fantastic by the end of the week! Snook, redfish, speckled trout, silver trout, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, mangrove snapper, gag grouper, black sea bass, flounder, sharks, jack crevelle, and ladyfish were caught by clients on my charters this week. Chumming with live baitfish on the deep flats near both Big Pass and New Pass continued to be extremely productive; on Friday we caught over 100 fish. The Middlegrounds, Radio Tower, and Marina Jack flats all produced steady action. Docks and shorelines in Robert's Bay held snook, redfish, mangrove snapper, jacks, and flounder. "Catch of the week" honors go to Mike Simon of Davie, FL who caught an inshore slam using Rapalas and topwater plugs, including a 27" speckled trout.
I started the week off with Drew Martindale and his new bride Ashton who were on their honeymoon. Fishing was steady, but the cormorants were an issue. I could not chum with the pilchards as they would eat them as fast as I tossed them in. At the one spot where I was able to chum, action was non-stop. Still, we wound up with speckled trout, Spanish mackerel, sea bass, bluefish, and mangrove snapper in the box and released more trout and macks along with jacks and ladyfish. The Radio Tower and Middlegrounds were the best spots.
Mike Simon and his 10 year old son Andrew fished with me on Tuesday. Mike likes topwater action, so we hit the radio Tower at first light and he caught trout and a Spanish mackerel while Andrew landed several nice slot trout using live pinfish. After the bite slowed, I netted bait and we caught more trout, mackerel, ladyfish, jacks, sea bass and snapper on the deep grass.
Sarasota resident Doc Dojutrek and I caught redfish to 23", speckled trout to 21", keeper mangrove snapper and flounder on Wednesday. I rarely fish on a charter, but Doc doesn't like to fish alone, so I "had" to fish! The trout were caught at the Middlegrounds and Radio Tower while the red, flounder, and snapper were caught under docks in Robert's Bay. We cast a few plugs and jigs, but almost all the fish were caught on live pilchards, pinfish, and grunts.
Mike Simon fished with me again on Thursday. We did the "deep grass" thing on Tuesday, so we decided to try for more challenging fish. We left CB's at 6:30 and worked docks and shorelines in Robert's Bay with plugs. Mike caught a snook on an X-Rap and a ladyfish on a Yozuri, then switched to a topwater plug. Good move! The result was a slot red, several jacks, a 24" snook which shook off at the boat, and a very large "mystery fish" which blew up on it but missed. And, to complete the inshore "slam" in style, Mike caught a gorgeous 27" speckled trout in a foot of water!
Don Loyd from Edmond, OK took out his son Greg and daughters Sydney and India on Friday. The fishing was spectacular! We started off drifting pinfish at the Radio Tower, catching one keeper trout, several smaller ones, and India landed a 30" shark; great fun on light tackle. Capt Roy String called and told the bait was thick very close by, so I "loaded up" and went back to the Radio Tower to chum. Two hours of non-stop action resulted in speckled trout, silver trout, Spanish mackerel, and mangrove snapper in the box. Short trout, gag grouper, ladyfish and catfish were released. Greg had a big trout (25" or so) shake off boat side. I spoke to Roy on the phone and he said he had them wound up near Marina Jacks but was getting low on bait. So, I re-laoded and ran over to him, gave him some bait, and we double-teamed them for an hour or so. It was two to three fish at a time on both boats! Capt Roy and I both like to fish with bait and often work together to catch bait and chum them up. Big fun.
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