Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim klopfer 11/9/2014
Capt. Jim Klopfer
November 9, 2014
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
This week illustrated the wide diversity of angling opportunities available to clients visiting the Sarasota area. The deep grass flats throughout the area, particularly those near the passes, are holding good numbers of speckled trout, though a lot of them are small. Bluefish, ladyfish, mackerel, grouper, flounder, and more were also found on the deep grass. Bass Assassin jigs caught most of the fish for me this week, but Rapala X-Raps also fooled some fish and produced the Spanish mackerel. The inshore Gulf of Mexico provided patient anglers with the chance to catch the speedy false albacore, though the schools of Spanish mackerel were noticeably absent. Snook are beginning to migrate up into the area rivers, primarily the Myakka and Manatee. Lake Manatee gave up speckled perch (crappie), Sunshine bass, and bream on Beetlespins and small jigs.
On Monday Ian Thomas from the UK treated his friend Gary and Gary's son Luke to a fishing trip. They were just looking to bend the rod so we concentrated on the deep grass flats. The wind was NE at 10-15, so we targeted the flats on the east side of Sarasota Bay. Bass assassin baits produced steady action and a decent amount of fish at Stephen's Pt., the Radio tower, and Marina Jacks, though most of the fish (speckled trout and ladyfish mostly) were on the small to average size.
On Tuesday I was in the Myakka River. Snook hit the new Rapala Jointed BX Minnow (gold) cast to structure near the Border Rd Bridge.
On Wednesday Dick Whiting from Osprey, FL and his grandson Chris Bedwell who was in town from Evansville, IN experienced very good action. We started off at the Middlegrounds, hooking a nice bluefish which bit Chris off right at the boat. Then, we got into ladyfish, and it was a bite on almost every cast using Bass assassin Sea Shad jigs, as well as a few trout and gag grouper. We moved to New Pass in search of Spanish mackerel, landing two on Rapala X-Raps and a bunch more ladyfish on jigs and plugs in the pass and the inshore Gulf of Mexico. The wind cranked up so we finished up catching trout, grouper, and ladyfish on live shrimp near Bird Key.
I was back in the Myakka river on Thursday with Vancouver resident Peter Saunders and his nephew Julian Saunders who was in town from the UK. They both wanted to experience the relaxation, solitude, and scenery of a river charter. It is a bit early in the "season" and the water has not cooled off enough, but there are still some fish moving up. They caught several snook to 25" on a #10 gold Rapala X-Rap and a Firetiger Jointed BX Minnow.
I finished up the week with an afternoon trip to Lake Manatee with Bonnie Czepiel. A front was approaching and we thought we could squeeze in four hours. The bite was a little slow, though they managed crappie, Sunshine bass (a striped bass hybrid), and bream on small curly-tail jigs.
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