Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim Klopfer 6/14/2014
Capt. Jim Klopfer
June 14, 2014
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Fishing was kind of hit-and-miss this week. Clients had a couple of fair days, a decent day, and two very good trips. The deep grass flats near Big Pass and New Pass were the best spots, producing sharks, speckled trout to 27", bluefish to 3 pounds, Spanish mackerel, snapper to 14", gag grouper, jacks, and ladyfish. Live hand-picked shrimp under popping corks caught most of the fish. There were also some ladyfish and jacks in Big Pass.
On Sunday Matt Maranville from Uniontown, OH took his sons Jake (13) and Justin (19) out on a charter. Fishing was kind of tough early, we caught some small trout but that was about it. The bite turned on and they put 21", 20", and 18" speckled trout in the boat using live shrimp. We finished up in Big Pass catching a few ladyfish on jigs and shrimp.
Patty Brodbeck from Roanoke, IN and her boys Ethan (11) and Garrett (15) had a very good trip on Monday. The speckled trout bit good at Marker # 5 early, then slowed as the wind died. The deep flats near Bird Key gave up a nice 20" trout, along with a keeper flounder and some sea bass. We moved to Big pass and caught a few ladyfish for shark bait then hit a nearby flat looking for a shark. Surprisingly, Garrett caught a 27 1/2" trout on a chunk of ladyfish! Several minutes later he finished up the trip with a 4' blacktip.
On Wednesday the bite was pretty slow for the Derry family from the UK. We just picked at them all morning, catching a few fish at each spot. They landed speckled trout, mangrove snapper to 15", ladyfish, and jacks at the flats near Big Pass. We did finish up with a shark that spooled us.
The trout bite was on Wednesday morning for Scott Boles and Joe Culloo. We hit Marker #6, Marina Jacks, and the Radio Tower and caught a bunch of trout, probably ten or so were legal, a nice 14" mangrove snapper, a 2 lb bluefish, a 15" gag grouper, jacks, and ladyfish casting hand-picked shrimp under popping corks. A severe line of thunderstorrms was approaching, so we called it a morning, a quite successful morning at that, and headed for home. n Thursday was a "maintenance" day and Friday was a rain-out.
I finished up my week with Dan Sawilichik and his father-in-law Mike, both from the Chicago area, on Saturday. Fishing ranged between fair and steady. We started at Marina Jacks using live shrimp and caught a keeper mangrove snapper, jacks, ladyfish, and a couple of small trout. I ran to Big Pass and saw a bunch of bait!! A most welcome sight! It was small, but useable, so I loaded the well. Chumming and fishing with the shiners resulted in a pair of Spanish mackerel, two nice bluefish, several trout, a bunch of ladyfish and jacks, and some hard-pulling catfish.
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