Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had good action with reds, trout, snook, large jacks and little tunny during the past couple of weeks. Fly and spin anglers scored with little tunny in the coastal gulf out of the Venice Inlet, reds in Little Sarasota Bay and Pine Island Sound and snook at night near Venice.
After receiving a couple of reports of little tunny and Spanish mackerel in the coastal gulf out of Venice on Saturday, Nov. 25th, I took my son, Bryan Gibson and son-in-law Andy Cotton, both from Sarasota, FL, to check it out on Sunday. We found a few schools but they were hard to get on. Bryan caught and released his first little tunny with a Diamond jig on spinning tackle. It was a windy day and Andy and I couldn’t get them to eat a fly.
Mike Sprague, from Hillsborough, NJ, fished Little Sarasota Bay with me on Nov. 27. He had steady action with several trout, a nice red and lots of ladyfish on CAL jigs with shad tails and DOA Deadly Combos. Sarasota winter residents, Harry Beatty and Tom Schalk, fished the same area with me 2 days later. We started our day in the coastal gulf out of Venice, where little tunny ambushed schools of bait everywhere. They had baitfish balled up so tight you could “cut them with a knife” and repeatedly slashed through them. They landed 3 or 4 little tunny on CAL jigs, Diamond jigs and small MirrOlure plugs before we headed into Blackburn and Little Sarasota Bays, where they scored with a nice pair of reds, some large jacks and ladyfish on CAL jigs with shad tails.
My brother, Kirk Grassett from Middletown, DE, fished with me for the next several days. We hit the LT’s out of Venice Inlet on Thursday morning where we caught and released 4 on olive and white Clouser flies. We were guests of my friend, Capt. Rick DePaiva from Ft. Myers, FL, on Saturday. We fished Pine Island Sound for tailing reds and landed 6 nice reds on Capt. Rick’s Merkwan fly and my Flats Minnow. It was a beautiful sight to see those crimson tails, tipped with blue waving at us. We ran across a school of large (10-pound plus) jacks on the way in to put the icing on the cake. We landed 3 or 4 of the big brutes on 8-weight fly rods. What a battle!
We rested a little and then headed out again on Saturday evening to fly fish for snook in the ICW near Venice. Despite a good tide and plenty of fish, they weren’t very aggressive. We caught and released about 6 snook to 24” on a variety of small white flies.
I had a couple of fly night snook trips on Monday and Tuesday evening, which were both slow. However, Scott Williams from Sarasota, FL, did have some action with me on Tuesday evening. We hit a light near the Venice Inlet where he scored with 6 or 7 snook and a pair of nice bluefish on my Grass Minnow fly.
Gene Armentrout, from St. Pete, FL, his son, Mike and a friend Bo, both from Kansas City, MO, fished Little Sarasota Bay with me on Wednesday afternoon. The action was steady with about 10 trout to 18”, a snook and several large ladyfish caught and released with CAL jigs with shad tails.
I had one of the best fishing trips ever on Thursday when Capt. Rick DePaiva invited Rusty Chinnis and I to fly fish for tailing reds near Pine Island. Conditions were near perfect for tailing redfish with a tide falling to -.58, an overcast sky and calm conditions. The first flat we hit yielded 4 reds before the tide bottomed out. We moved to a different flat and were greeted with tails waving everywhere.
To maximize our opportunities, I donned a pair of waders and slipped over the side of Capt. Rick’s Maverick Mirage to stalk the fish on foot. It was non-stop action for a couple of hours or more with several doubles as Capt. Rick, Rusty and I hooked up at the same time. We cast to pods of 7 or 8 reds tailing together as they dug crabs out of the bottom. The wind picked up as a front approached and we called it a day. The final tally was 16 tailing redfish caught and released with Capt. Rick’s Merkwan flies. Capt. Rick can be reached at (239) 246-8726 or www.saltwaterflyfishing.org.
A front swept through southwest Florida on Thursday evening dropping the air temperature into the 50’s with the wind gusting more than 20-mph. Saturday will be even colder. Next week’s tides will be favorable for reds and catch and release trout on the flats of Little Sarasota Bay, Gasparilla and Pine Island Sounds and snook at night in the ICW from Sarasota to Venice. Check out the coastal gulf for little tunny, Spanish mackerel, tripletail and cobia after the wind lays down following the front.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett |
