The best action in the last 10 days has been on deep grass flats and in the coastal gulf off Sarasota. Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB's Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had great action with Spanish mackerel, bluefish and trout. In addition, we also caught and released pompano and king mackerel in Sarasota Bay and the coastal gulf. The best action was in Big Pass and deep grass flats on the east and west sides of Sarasota Bay.
A night snook trip in Blackburn Bay on Dec. 6th was slow, with only 3 snook and several jacks and ladyfish caught and released with flies. It is important to have a good, moving tide for this type of fishing, which we didn't have. Since this is usually a 4-hour evening trip, if there is a tide change during that time frame, it will usually kill the action. A couple of trips in Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound targeting reds were also slow. Despite good conditions, negative low tides and not much wind, fish in potholes and tailing on shallow grass flats ignored us. Although these things were slow, action on deep grass flats and passes of Sarasota Bay made up for it.
Walt Poxon, from MN, and his brother and sister-in-law Bill and Sue Poxon, from Sarasota, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Monday, Dec. 10th. We had steady action with large ladyfish, bluefish and Spanish mackerel on CAL jigs with shad tails, DOA Deadly Combos and MirrOlure Top Dog, Jrs. The next day, 970 WFLA's Capt. Mel Berman, fished the same area with me. We had fast action at Stephens Point and near Buttonwood Harbor with trout, bluefish and Spanish mackerel on jigs and Ultra Hair Clouser flies.
I was the guest of my friend, Capt. Rick DePaiva from Ft. Myers, FL, on Thursday. Capt. Rick is an expert at locating and fishing tailing reds in Pine Island Sound. We had near perfect conditions and the reds obliged us by waving their tails all day long. Although everything was right, the reds had other ideas. They proved to be very challenging, ignoring most of our fly presentations. Rick's friend, David McCleaf, caught and released a nice red with a weedless-rigged DOA shrimp and I caught and released a nice trout on one of Capt. Rick's Kwan flies. If you want to fish that area, Capt. Rick can be reached at www.saltwaterflyfishing.org.
One of the best trips of the week was with fly angler Justin Bunting and his girlfriend, Sarah, from CO and Sarah's dad, Duke Doster, from IN. We had fast action for a couple of hours in Big Pass with bluefish and large ladyfish on Ultra Hair Clouser flies and Diamond jigs. We then headed for the coastal gulf to hunt for little tunny and Spanish mackerel. We found fast action at the Silvertooth reef off Lido Beach, where they caught and released a little tunny on a Diamond jig, a king mackerel on a fly and a couple of Spanish mackerel on flies and jigs. The next stop was Stephens Point and the sand bar along the east side of Sarasota Bay where they caught and released trout to 20' and more bluefish and ladyfish. A great day!
On Saturday, my son-in-law, Capt. Andy Cotton and I did some scouting in Sarasota. We had fast action with bluefish, Spanish mackerel, trout and pompano on Ultra Hair Clouser flies near Bishops Point. Fishing will be challenging for a few days early next week due to a strong front that moved through our area Sunday morning. It will be cool and windy for a couple of days and fish will move due to the drop in water temperature. By the middle of the week it should warm back up and fishing will improve. Tides will also improve as we head toward a full moon next weekend.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
www.flyfishingflorida.net and www.snookfin-addict.com
