Anglers fishing with me the past couple of weeks continued to have action with tarpon in the coastal gulf along Sarasota beaches. Tarpon schools have thinned and aren't showing well on the surface, so the best technique to catch them in deep water (15'-20') has been drifting live crabs under a float. We're also still getting shots at tarpon in shallow water with flies, which is one of my favorite things to do. In addition, we've had decent action in Charlotte Harbor and Sarasota Bay with reds, snook, trout, bluefish, crevalle jacks and ladyfish. Another good option has been to snook fish before daylight around lighted docks and bridges and then hit the flats at dawn.
David Dyer, from Dallas, TX and sons, Doak and Matthew, fished Sarasota Bay with me on July 17. They caught a couple of snook before dawn in Big Pass on CAL jigs with jerk worms. We stopped in the pass to take a shot at some tarpon and a big school of jacks popped up. They caught several on CAL jigs with jerk worms before moving to the flats at Stephens and Bishops Point to catch trout, ladyfish and bluefish.
I even caught a tarpon on a fly myself on July 18th. I had about a 2-hour window between errands that day, so I went out to scout and take a quick shot at tarpon. I had a dozen shots at tarpon and caught one on a chartreuse Toad fly. We fly fished for tarpon 2 other days that week and had 20 or more shots per day which resulted in a couple of bites and several follows. The post spawn tarpon that we are encountering now are more aggressive and most fish showed interest in our flies. If you've ever done this before, you know that everything has to be just right to result in a tarpon in the air or alongside the boat. It is not always a long cast, but usually a quick accurate cast to the right fish.
Wayne Dedyne, from MI, and his son Matthew, from Clearwater, FL fished with me on Friday, July 20th. We had one of the best days of the season. With very few fish showing, we drifted live crabs under floats off Siesta Key. We jumped 6 tarpon and landed 2 of them, a 70 and a 90-pounder. Great day!
I spent several days the week of July 22nd in Stuart at the annual DOA Guide/Outdoor Writer get together. As always, there were some quality fish caught. Anglers caught snook to 25-pounds, trout to 9-pounds, tarpon to 100-pounds and a variety of other fish including little tunny. I had the pleasure of having Vic Dunaway of Florida Sportsman magazine on my boat one of the days. The day after the event, Capt. John Meskauskas, took Rusty Chinnis and I out for a day of fly fishing. We had shots at tarpon in the surf and caught numerous little tunny on Gummy Minnow flies just outside St. Lucie Inlet.
Steve Sutter, from Sarasota, FL, fished Charlotte Harbor with me on Friday, July 27th. He caught and released snook, trout, and ladyfish with Estaz Marabou and Clouser flies in Gasparilla Sound and Turtle Bay. Howard Rosenberg and his son, Jason, both from Bradenton, FL fished Sarasota Bay with me the next day. They had steady action with trout, ladyfish and bluefish on DOA Deadly Combos near Bishops Point. Coming off Sunday's full moon, action slowed on the flats. As is sometimes the case, fish will feed under the light of the full moon at night rather than during the day.
As tarpon thin out along the beaches they will move up into Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay to feed. The flats of Gasparilla Sound and Charlotte Harbor should provide good action with trout, snook, reds and a variety of other fish including tarpon. Juvenile tarpon in the canal systems of Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda and snook under dock and bridge fender lights from Sarasota to Bradenton should also be good options.
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
