August and September is a slower time of the year for business, although generally speaking fishing is good. I usually take advantage of that and take some time off. After a family vacation to the cool mountains of North Carolina, I headed to the Florida Keys to participate in the Islamorada-Sarasota Shootout fishing tournament. I squeezed a couple of days of fishing in Sarasota in before I left.
My good friend, Capt. Mel Berman, of 970 WFLA's Capt. Mel radio show spent a day fishing Sarasota Bay with me and we had fast action. We fished deep grass flats along the west side of the bay from Longboat Key Moorings to Buttonwood Harbor. We caught and released trout to 18', bluefish to 3-pounds, gag grouper to 17', jacks and ladyfish on a variety of jigs, plastic baits and flies.
I also took Sarasota residents, David Sugar and Don and Campbell Fee, out to fish Sarasota Bay on Labor Day weekend. David and Campbell had recently returned from an Orvis fly fishing school in North Carolina and wanted to give it a shot in the salt. The wind was out of the east that day, so we fished the east side of the bay from Stephens Point to Bayshore Gardens. They caught and released trout, bluefish, jacks and ladyfish on Clouser flies, DOA Deadly combos and CAL jigs with shad tails.
My wife, Karen, and I headed for the Keys on Tuesday morning where I would participate in the Islamorada-Sarasota Shootout fishing tournament. It is a low stress, fun fishing tournament with lots of social activities in the evening hosted by a group of anglers headed up by Capt. Pete Lutz in Islamorada and members of the Sarasota Sportfishing Anglers Club from Sarasota. My wife, Karen, and Judy Lutz, from Islamorada, run much of the festivities handling all the weigh ins, raffle prizes, etc.
Aledia Tush, owner of CB's Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, and I fished 3 days with good friend and fellow Orvis-Endorsed fly fishing guide, Capt. Duane Baker, from Tavernier, FL (www.keysflatsguide.com) . We usually do well when fishing with Capt. Duane and this trip was no exception. Actually, it was better than ever since Aledia and I each caught and released our biggest bonefish ever! On Wednesday, fishing Florida Bay west of Islamorada with a 20- mph plus wind, Aledia caught and released an 11-pounder with a live shrimp and I caught and released a 10-pounder (both fish weighed on a Boga Grip) on a crab fly pattern. The tournament didn't start until the following day, but with fish like that who cares! Conditions were better on Thursday, but fish were scarcer and didn't eat. However, we did have 3 or 4 shots at permit as big as 17 or 18-pounds. On Friday, conditions improved enough to allow us to fish the ocean side near Key Largo. Aledia landed a bonefish big enough to win the bonefish division of the tournament on a live shrimp and I landed a pair of smaller bonefish on flies to come in second.
The tournament is based on a point system for each place won by an angler. The final tally was Islamorada 19 and Sarasota 17. Islamorada won by a nose! With Hurricane Ike spinning towards the Keys like a buzz saw, visitors were ordered out of the Keys on Saturday morning. Hopefully, it will stay far enough south to give us and Keys residents a break.
Next week's tides improve as we head towards a full moon on the 15th. Fishing deep flats for a variety of fish, reds in skinny water, snook around lighted docks and tarpon in upper Charlotte Harbor should all 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
