Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim Klopfer 2/8/2014
Capt. Jim Klopfer
February 8, 2014
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
I had a nice mix of charters this week, three in Sarasota Bay and three in the Myakka River. As is usually the case, the bay provided great action while the river gave up the trophy fish. The deep grass flats at Marina Jack, the Yacht Club Channel, and Radio Tower all had Spanish mackerel, speckled trout, bluefish, and loads of ladyfish. Jigs produced the best, but fish were also caught using Rapalas and live shrimp. Docks in the same area held sheepshead to 4 pounds, mangrove snapper to 14", gag grouper, and jack crevelle, live shrimp was the ticket. The water in the Myakka River got a bit warm, up in the low 70's. Fishing was decent with a couple big fish being hooked casting Firetiger Rapala Jointed BX Minnow plugs. Anglers also landed largemouth bass to 3 pounds and gar.
I started the week off with a Myakka River charter with Trevor Grant and his son-in-law Alden, both from Ontario. The tide was a bit slack and the water murky from recent rains. They did not get a lot of bites, but Alden landed a fat 3 pound bass and a nice 14 pound snook using Rapala Jointed BX Minnow plugs.
On Monday Jay Lalley and his buddy John, both from Chicago, had a productive Sarasota Bay charter. The tide was still falling as we left CBs and headed north. I made several drifts in the Intracoastal Waterway just south of Siesta Drive Bridge, where the boys caught ladyfish, a pair of Spanish mackerel, and a nice mangrove snapper. The tide quit and we moved the the flats. The Radio Tower and Yacht Club Channel gave up more macks to 3 pounds, bluefish, trout, flounder, and ladyfish. We finished up with a jack in Phillippi Creek. Most of the fish hit live shrimp.
I was back in the Myakka River on Tuesday and Thursday. Mike Porter had a tough day on Tuesday, it just wasn't happening. No cloud cover or wind, bad tides, it happens. Thursday's trip was much better for Jim Mitchell and his brother John. They each landed several snook to 25" and Jim had a nice fish, estimated at around ten pounds, right up to the boat when it leaped and threw the plug.
Richard Fletcher from Minnesota and his brother Tom who lives in Riverview, FL got together for their annual fishing charter. We started off with good action at the Radio Tower, catching a mackerel, a bluefish, several small trout, and loads of ladyfish using DOA CAL jigs and live shrimp. The tide quit and so did the bite, and Richard likes sheepshead, so we hit some docks. We did not catch a lot of fish, but they put 5 fat sheepies in the box and released some gag grouper.
On Friday Shari and Jeff Mock and Beth Reis, all from Lakeland, went out fishing. They wanted a bag of fish to take to Clayton's for dinner. We started off catching three Spanish mackerel and a bunch of ladyfish trolling white Rapala X-Raps at the Radio tower. We then moved to nearby docks and caught sheepshead to 4 pounds, mangrove snapper to 14", gag grouper, several of which broke us off, and jack crevelle using live shrimp.
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