Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim klopfer 11/2/2014
Capt. Jim Klopfer
November 2, 2014
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Action continues to be steady on a wide variety of species, although most of the fish have been of moderate size, on the deep grass flats near Big Pass and in the pass itself. Bass Assassin jigs and live shrimp accounted for pompano, speckled trout, small cobia, gag grouper, bluefish, jack crevelle, mangrove snapper, Spanish mackerel, flounder, ladyfish, black sea bass, and more. Oyster bars in the area are holding jacks to 3 pounds, snapper, and flounder. A severe front shut things down over the weekend, but the drop in water temperature should get things cranked up out in the inshore Gulf of Mexico. On the "sweetwater" scene, the speckled trout (crappie) bit is hot in Lake Manatee.. Jigs, spinnerbaits, and live minnows work best drifted or trolled along the edges of the channel.
On Monday brothers Joe and Greg Puhy from Michigan went out on a charter with me. Action was steady early at the Radio Tower and Marina Jack flats. The boys cast Bass assassin jigs and caught ladyfish, trout, jacks, and a small cobia. A move to Big Pass produced more ladyfish, a sea bass, flounder, and a nice bluefish. We ran out into the gulf in search of breaking fish, but it really wasn't happening. Trolled spoons on a #1 planer produced a half dozen mackerel, none very large. We finished up at the Middlegrounds, catching a few more fish on jigs.
I ran a two boat charter out of CB's Saltwater Outfitters with Capt Roy on Tuesday. I had Alan Ridgeway from Denver, CO and his three daughters Sydney, Gwendolyn, and Joseyline on my boat. Live shrimp and jigs produced a nice pompano, speckled trout, ladyfish, and grouper near Marina Jack. I idled over to Roy and using live baitfish, they added Spanish mackerel, sea bass, and jacks to the species list. We finished up hitting some bars in Robert's Bay looking for a redfish, no luck on that but they did catch a few mangrove snapper, jacks, and a flounder.
Later in the week I ran a freshwater fishing charter. Peter Saunders from Vancouver, Canada and a friend Rich wanted to do some fishing. The water in the rivers is still a bit high, and with the crappie bite hot at Lake Manatee, the decision was easy. Slow trolling black Beetlespins and 1/16 ounce chartreuse curly tail jigs produced a nice mess of tasty crappie near the SR 64 Bridge. Rich also caught a decent channel catfish on a nightcrawler and a couple of bream hit a Beetlespin later in the morning, but it was an early bite for the most part, which is not unusual in freshwater fishing.
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