Sarasota fishing report Capt Jim Klopfer 10/31/2015
Capt. Jim Klopfer
October 31, 2015
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
It was a tale of two weeks, the early part which was very breezy, then later when the weather cleared and it was warm and sunny with a light breeze. Fishing was good all week, but much easier towards the end as conditions improved. Redfish, Spanish mackerel, snook, speckled trout, jack crevelle, flounder, black sea bass, mangrove snapper, gag grouper, and ladyfish were landed by clients on charters this week. The Radio Tower and Middlegrounds were the top spots and most of the fish fell to live bait though a fly angler did well with a green Clouser Minnow.
On Monday morning I took out Bud Constantine and a couple of buddies, all from the Baltimore, MD area, out fishing. It was a bit breezy, making fishing and anchoring a bit challenging. One of the fellas cast a fly all morning and did quite well considering the conditions. He caught speckled trout to 17", ladyfish, jacks, and other species on a green Clouser. The other guys landed Spanish mackerel, mangrove snapper, sea bass, grouper, ladyfish, and trout using live bait. We finished up with small snook and more trout near Selby Gardens.
The weather had improved drastically by Thursday morning as the front cleared through. It was warm, sunny, with very little breeze. Glyn Smith from the UK and Kyle Cunningham from Lafayette, IN teamed up to catch a lot of fish. We caught bait and started at the Radio Tower, experiencing steady action on trout, Spanish mackerel, big ladyfish, and other species. The tide quit so we ran to Big Pass where we caught more ladyfish and mackerel. The dolphins moved in on us and shut down the bite, so we moved to the Middlegrounds to catch the incoming tide. Once again action was steady on a variety of species.
On Friday I went to Lake Manatee in search of crappie, but found the fishing pretty slow. The water temp was 77, probably still too warm.
I finished up my week with Ryan White and his buddy Joe from Cincinnati, Ohio. We started off casting jigs and caught a few fish, but I decided to catch bait. We sat at the Middlegrounds for an hour and a half, catching a lot of trout along with mackerel, sea bass, snapper, and ladyfish. The boys decided to try for larger fish, so we moved over to Selby, where Ryan caught a nice slot redfish and we ended the trip with a jack crevelle double-header.
More Fishing Reports:
