Sarasota fishing report Jim Klopfer 7/5/2014
Capt. Jim Klopfer
July 5, 2014
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
Clients experienced another very good week of fishing on charters this week! Snook, sharks to 30 pounds, speckled trout to 22", bluefish, Spanish mackerel, sea bass, mangrove snapper, flounder, jack crevelle, ladyfish and more were landed this week. Most of the fish fell prey to live bait, both shrimp and bait fish, but jigs and Rapalas also fooled a few fish. The water temperature is climbing and we could use a bit of rain to cool things down. However, we have strong, incoming tides in the morning next week and fishing should remain very good.
I started off my week on Monday with Tim Mallik from the Cincinnati area. The mangrove snapper bite was on as the tide
ebbed out. Live shrimp free lined along the edges of deep grass beds produced a dozen nice keeper "mangs". As the tide turned to come in i netted bait and we caught speckled trout, Spanish mackerel, and more, then finished up with 3 sharks on cut ladyfish.
On Tuesday Rocky and Ron Richardson, along with Joshua Parnell went out on a charter. We started off in Big Pass, catching a bunch of ladyfish on jigs and shrimp on the bottom of the outgoing tide. As the tide switched, I netted bait and they landed speckled trout, mangrove snapper, gag grouper, and ladyfish. Josh ended the trip with 3 sharks hooked and 2 landed, one of which was estimated at 30 pounds.
Frank Regnery and his grown sons Bill and Rob, all from CT, had a great charter on Wednesday! We started off from Centennial Park at first light and ran across to the Radio Tower flat where there was a lot of surface activity, mostly bait but some fish popping. For an hour or so action was steady on bluefish, trout, ladyfish, jacks, and a nice flounder using jigs and Rapalas. The bite slowed so we switched to live bait and caught speckled trout to 18", mangrove snapper, jacks, and ladyfish near Bird Key. We finished up in Big Pass with a nice little snook bite, landing a dozen or so and finishing up the trip with a snook "triple-header" on the last cast. Nice!!
The wind cranked up a bit on Thursday and Friday, blowing 15 knots or so out of the southwest, which made catching bait more difficult. On Thursday Norm Shade and a couple of buddies experienced good action using jigs and live bait, with the Radio Tower flat being the most productive spot. Speckled trout to 18", Spanish mackerel to 2 pounds, bluefish, jack crevelle, sea bass, snapper, ladyfish, and more kept the boys fairly busy. On Friday Ralph Primavera and his 17 year old son Chris had a good trip. It was still breezy, but bait was easier and the speckled trout in particular were on the feed. Chris caught a nice 22" trout and several more slot fish came to the boat, along with snapper to 14", bluefish, sea bass, and jacks. Chris finished up the trip with a 3' long shark.
The wind laid down on Saturday morning for Johnathan Olmo and his girlfriend Elizabeth Bissell from Nutley, NJ. Bait was easy in Big Pass with a calm surface and the top of the incoming tide. Action was steady, mostly on speckled trout with a few gag grouper and mangrove snapper mixed in. Nothing huge, but a half dozen fat trout in the slot, up to 18". Liz finished off the trip with a bonnet head shark on a cut up grunt.
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