Speckled trout action remains hot in Sarasota!
Capt. Jim Klopfer
July 17, 2011
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report

Fishing was excellent this week, particularly later in the week when we had a little wind and better tides. Speckled trout continue to please anglers, along with bluefish, mangrove snapper, flounder, sea bass, and ladyfish. Catching pilchards and using them for both chum and bait has produced the best results. We are landing between fifty and a hundred fish every day!
My charters on Monday and Tuesday were similar. It was very hot and still, with a tide change mid morning. On Monday Khris and Kelly Roeller and their son Jake from Cincinnati caught a nice mixed bag of mostly trout and ladyfish. The action slowed for a bit then picked up as the tide turned to go out. Marker # 5 was the best spot.
On Wednesday Rex Smith from Michigan took out his son Eric and 2 other family members. We caught a lot of fish at Bird Key and Marker # 5, including several nice mangrove snapper, then finished up with a flurry of slot trout to 20" at the middlegrounds.
Local Bradenton resident Todd Bannar and his 9 year old son Chase fished with me on Thursday. We caught a ton of fish on the flats near Big Pass, then moved up to the Moorings and caught a half dozen keeper trout and a big bluefish on pilchards and grunts.
Billy Montgomery from Indiana had the boat to himself on Friday. We absolutely wrecked them, he probably caught 70 fish by himself. Action at Marker # 5 was non-stop first thing on trout and ladyfish with mangrove snapper, a 2 lb Spanish mackerel, and a blacktip shark. We finished up with several slot trout at the Moorings.
I needed a break and slept in on Saturday morning. In the afternoon I took my wife out to M yakka River State Park. The river was too low to fish but we went into the lake and caught a mess of bream (bluegill and sunfish to you folks from up north) on black Beetlespins and jigs.
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