Anglers fishing with me during the past week had good action with little tunny and trout. We also caught and released several reds in Charlotte Harbor and scattered bluefish and trout in Sarasota Bay. The best action was with little tunny out of Venice and trout in Charlotte Harbor.
Fly angler Marshall Dinnerman, his son Eric Dinnerman and son-in-law, Alex Medeiros, all from the Atlanta, GA area fished the coastal gulf out of Venice, FL and Little Sarasota Bay with me on Feb. 9th. After receiving a report of little tunny in the coastal gulf, we decided to check it out on Friday morning. The report was accurate, as we found them plentiful along Casey Key within a couple of hundred yards of the beach. Although they weren't breaking on the surface, I located rafts of birds sitting on the water and diving on baitfish with the little tunny feeding underneath them. The guys had non stop action for about 3 hours catching and releasing more than a dozen little tunnies to 12-pounds on Ultra Hair Clouser flies fished on an intermediate fly line and CAL jigs with shad tails fished on spinning tackle. They had 3 doubles and a triple. Great action!
The following day fly anglers Bernie Feinberg, from Sarasota, FL and Fred Weeman, from Elmira, NY, fished the same area with me. The action had slowed a little but they still managed to hook 5 little tunny, landing 3 of them, with olive over white Ultra Hair Clousers. There was more surface activity with large schools of little tunny traveling just under the surface with their backs out of the water. Blind casting the areas they had just passed through caught a couple of fish. If you've never caught one of these speedsters, you've got to do it. They are one of my favorite fish to catch with a fly!
An afternoon/evening trip the next day was very slow. We caught ladyfish and trout before dark in Little Sarasota Bay with CAL jigs and shad tails. We found very few snook in the lights and the ones we found would not eat. It has been a strange winter for snook that normally are very aggressive on flies and jigs through the winter. Monday's trip was cancelled due to a steady rain all morning long.
Dave Crawford, from Sarasota, FL, and his guest John Danneker, from Maiden Rock, WI, fished Gasparilla Sound in Charlotte Harbor with me last Tuesday. They had good action with trout and reds. They caught 15 or 20 trout, including 3 over 20", and 3 reds on CAL jigs with shad tails. Most fish were caught out of potholes in the backcountry of Bull Bay. The following day Sarasota winter residents, Harry Beaty and Tom Schalk, fished the same area with me. Reds were finicky that day and refused us, but they caught about 40 trout to 18" on CAL jigs with shad tails including 7 fish in the slot. Nice action!
Marshall Dinnerman was joined by another longtime friend and customer, Dick Reece, from Dayton, OH, on Thursday. The action was a little slow in Sarasota and Roberts Bays, but they managed to catch a pair of bluefish, several trout and ladyfish with Clouser flies and CAL jigs with shad tails.
A strong cold front moved through on Friday, dropping the air temperature below 40 degrees on Saturday morning. I think fishing will be slow for a couple of days, as the water temperature will probably fall below 60 degrees. Fishing potholes and deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay and Charlotte Harbor in the afternoon will probably be the best option for the next several days.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
www.flyfishingflorida.net and www.snookfin-addict.com
