Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim Klopfer 8/31/2013
Capt. Jim Klopfer
August 31, 2013
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
It sounds like a broken record, but fishing remains outstanding on the deep flats near Big Pass using live pilchards and threadfin herring. We did land snook, ladyfish, and jacks on Rapala X-Raps and trout and a nice flounder on Gulp!, but most of the action resulted from chumming with live bait. The bait is plentiful and very easy to catch. Spanish mackerel and mangrove snapper have been very consistent. Most of the trout were small but we did land several around 20". Snook, redfish, and jacks were caught in Robert's Bay.
Early in the week Steve Owen who lives in Cincinnati, OH came to Siesta Key. His son Stephen lives here in town and they joined me for a morning charter. We started off at first light casting Gulp! Shrimp at the Radio Tower. We caught a few, kinda picked at them, though Steve caught a nice flounder. I ran around the corner, loaded up on bait, idled 200 feet away to the edge of the flat and we caught fish steadily for two hours. The boys caught a dozen Spanish mackerel, some nice mangs, plenty of speckled trout, one of which was 22", jacks, bluefish, and more. Oddly enough, we never hooked a ladyfish. We moved back to the Radio Tower and got them going again, catching a couple of big mackerel and some nice jacks.
Sarasota resident Jessica Dean went out one evening. We caught a few trout and then a storm chased us to cover. We sat it out for a bit, then ran down to Robert's Bay. We found a spot where the tide was running along a mangrove shoreline and bait was thick. Jessica caught a nice redfish on a pilchard and we caught jacks, small snook, and ladyfish on Rapala X-Raps and live bait. We finished up at the Radio Tower with a few trout and ladyfish.
Joe Gallegos and his son Joe Jr from Idaho met up with Joe's other son Sean, who lives in Gainesville, on Lido Beach for Lador Day and decided to go fishing. We left Ken Thompson Park and made a quick drift using Gulp! at the Radio Tower; not much happening. So, a short run around the corned, several tosses of the net, and we were in business. Just about every bait that hit the water got eaten, mostly Spanish mackerel, but also jacks, speckled trout, and ladyfish. A storm sent us scurrying for cover and after a 20 minute break we were back at it, this time the Radio Tower. Action was fast and furious as the boys caught mangrove snapper to 14", speckled trout to 20", jacks, ladyfish, mackerel, and catfish.
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