Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, caught and released reds, trout, little tunny, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, crevalle jacks and ladyfish on a variety of lures and flies this week. The best action was with little tunny on flies in the coastal gulf and bluefish on flies and jigs in New Pass.
Milt Liming, from Venice, FL, fished Little Sarasota Bay with me on Monday. We fished around oyster bars and docks targeting reds and snook. Milt caught and released a small red, a jack and a couple of trout on CAL: jigs with shad tails. The next day, Sarasota winter resident, Tom Lamb, his daughter Diane and Tim Cole, both also from Sarasota, fished with me. We found bluefish schooled in New Pass where they readily took CAL jigs with shad tails. They caught about 15 blues to 4-pounds before the action slowed.
Fly angler Frank Mariano, from CT, fished the coastal gulf out of Venice with me on Wednesday. We found plentiful little tunny and a few Spanish mackerel. The LT’s were being very selective, but the Spanish mackerel were less picky. Frank caught and released a couple of mackerel on Ultra Hair Clouser flies before we headed for Blackburn Bay, where he caught and released a pompano, also with an Ultra Hair Clouser fly. A steady drizzle made us decide to head for the dock.
The next morning, I couldn’t sleep because of thinking about a feeding frenzy of little tunnies, so I headed out to do some scouting. I ran into fellow Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers members Capt. Mark Phelps, Ron Whitely, Dusty Sprague and Dave Hutchinson, all on a little tunny mission. The action was good while it lasted, until about 10:30 or 11:00 AM.
I caught and released a couple of Spanish mackerel and 3 little tunny. One was more than 12-pounds and took me well into my backing as it pulled me offshore. Capt. Mark and Ron caught and released 6 and Dusty and Dave caught and released 4. They took olive and white Ultra Hair Clousers, Estaz Marabou and a wide profile pilchard pattern. Capt. Mark, Ron and I caught several blind casting in the trough just a few feet from the beach as the little tunny raced back and forth blowing up on baitfish. We all met at Pop’s Tropigrill and swapped stories over lunch. A great morning of fishing!
Fly anglers, Eric Dobkin from NYC and Don Kirson, from MD, fished with me on Saturday morning. They were in town to celebrate the birthday of our friend, Phil Rever from Sarasota. We fished New Pass with 200 and 300-grain sinking lines to get our flies down in the fast current and deep water. They caught and released a bluefish and a Spanish mackerel and had several other fish on with olive and white Ultra Hair Clousers before we headed into the gulf to hunt for little tunny. We found only a couple of schools and didn’t get a good shot at any of them, so we headed for the bay. Eric and Don finished the day with several trout, ladyfish and a redfish. The red was caught and released with a CAL jig with a shad tail in Roberts Bay and all the other fish were caught and released with olive and white Ultra Hair Clouser flies.
Next week’s tides are favorable for reds and trout in potholes or tailing reds in the morning, particularly in Gasparilla Sound, and catch and release snook at night. Snook season closed on Dec. 15, so all snook must be released. Trout season also remains closed in the south region, so handle any trout and snook gently and release them quickly. Merry Christmas to all!
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett |
