Anglers fishing with me during the week of 4/27 on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB's Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had good action with snook and trout. Reds continued to be challenging but we caught and released a couple.
Bill Beauchamp and his brother-in-law, Chuck, both from Bradenton, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Monday, April 27th. They had good action with trout along the east side of the bay, including several in the slot, on CAL jigs with shad tails. We spent a lot of time targeting reds that wouldn't eat and finally caught one on a CAL jig with a shad tail.
Renno Peterson and Jay Crouse, both from Sarasota, FL, fished the same area with me on Wednesday with similar results. Renno fly fished while Jay threw CAL jigs and they caught and released trout on deep grass flats along the east side of the bay. We were on a "pile" of reds in north Sarasota Bay, had several follows on my Grassett's Flats Minnow fly and Jay finally caught one on a CAL jig with a shad tail.
One of the best trips of the week was when Pat Campbell, from Toronto, OH, fished Blackburn Bay with me on a night snook trip on Thursday evening. We fished my Grassett's Snook Minnow and epoxy shrimp fly patterns on intermediate sink tip fly lines with 6-weight rods. The light fly rods and small flies allowed us to make delicate presentations around docks. We caught and released more than a dozen snook to 26", including a couple that weighed 6-pounds.
I spent the last week from Saturday, May 2nd through Saturday, May 9th, hosting a group of friends and customers at Andros South bonefish lodge on south Andros in the Bahamas. Nick Reding, Bob Harness and Bob Reynolds, all from St. Louis, MO, Frank Rhodes, from Auburndale, FL, Hal Lutz, from Parrish, FL and Jon Yenari and I, from Sarasota met in Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday afternoon, May 2nd. We had a smooth, one hour flight over on a Lynx Air twin engine Cessna 402 and were greeted by managers Rick Sisler and Kateri Clay.
The weather and fishing were near perfect! I had an opportunity to fish with each member of the group and fish a variety of areas. Some days were better than others and some days were fantastic! Anglers fishing the vast sand flats to the south fished near Jackfish Channel, the Water Cays, Curly Cut Cays, Fish Key and the "airport flat". Some of these flats are so big they go all the way to the horizon. Frank and Jon had a great day at the "airport flat" one day catching and releasing more than 50 bones. Hal and I fished the south end one day and had a great morning wading along a mangrove shoreline on a flood tide. We caught 15 or 20 fish before noon. Frank, Jon, Hal and Kateri went offshore one day and landed more than 30 mahi mahi (dolphin) to 12-pounds on flies and conventional tackle. Their first mahi's on fly! Jimmy Buffet was also on south Andros last week in his 130' yacht, Continental Drifter. He and his guests fished with Andros South guides the day we arrived and Hal, Jon, Frank and Kateri ran into them on their offshore trip.
Several creeks; Deep Creek, Little Creek and Grassy Creek all cut through to the west side, crossing the "Devil's Backbone" ridge and open up into large flats and salt ponds with smaller creeks feeding into them. We caught lots and lots of bonefish to 6-pounds with most of them in the 2 to 3-pound class. Some were smaller and a few were even bigger. Another angler at the lodge, John from British Columbia, landed an 8-pounder one day. Bob Reynolds and I had a great day on a huge school over on the west side one day with guide, Fredlon. We waded and doubled and tripled for more than an hour. I also landed a 30-pound 'cuda that day! Nick and I fished with Torrie one day and learned a lot about targeting big bonefish.
Even though catching lots of fish out of a big school is a lot of fun, the most rewarding to me is stalking singles, doubles and smaller schools. A couple of the most rewarding fish I caught were tailing on a slick, calm morning when we had to wade like a "heron" and make a perfect cast to catch them! Top flies were Gotchas, Peterson's Spawning Shrimp and variations of them. We also encountered lots of sharks and 'cudas. Several 'cudas, up to 30-pounds, were landed on flies and conventional tackle.
I hated to come back to the real world, but the good thing is that tarpon fishing is getting ready to take off back at home in Sarasota. I have already received several reports of tarpon being jumped and landed from Tampa Bay to Sarasota. I'll be on the water this week hunting tarpon, which should get even better as we get further away from last week's full moon.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
www.flyfishingflorida.net and www.snookfin-addict.com
