Anglers fishing Sarasota Bay with me during the past couple of weeks, out of CB's Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, caught and released juvenile tarpon, trout and jacks on DOA Lures and flies. Although there is red tide in some areas of Sarasota Bay, particularly close to passes, there are areas that are fine. Red tide may actually concentrate fish in some areas as fish move away from affected areas.
Marshall Dinerman, from the Atlanta area, fished deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay with me on Monday, 9/26. He had good action catching and releasing trout and jacks on Ultra Hair Clouser flies. We also fished a backwater area where he caught and released a juvenile tarpon on my Grassett Flats Bunny fly with a 6-wt. His first tarpon on a fly!
I had an instructional fly fishing trip in Sarasota Bay on Tuesday, 9/27. We worked on basics and were shooting line and catching and releasing a few fish before the end of the trip. This is a good option for beginning fly anglers, since it is different when fishing from the deck of a boat with different fly lines and weighted flies as opposed to casting on grass or from the shore of a lake.
I traveled to Jensen Beach on Florida's east coast on Sunday afternoon, 10/2 to fish the DOA Fishing Lures "Outdoor Writer's Festival" out of River Palm Cottages and Fish Camp. The annual event features a couple of days of fishing with outdoor writers from around the country and other fishing industry sponsors. It's always good to see old friends and see what's new in the fishing world. New from DOA Fishing Lures this year are the "PT", a weedless top water, surface walking bait and a new and improved 2 ¾" DOA Shrimp. Good friends, good music, good food and good fishing!
We worked docks in the Indian River where we caught and released snook and jacks on CAL jigs with shad tails and jerk worms. Surprisingly several bonefish, which usually aren't found that far north, were caught and released on CAL jigs with jerk worms by other anglers. In addition to bonefish, anglers caught and released snook, trout, reds, jacks and tarpon on a variety of DOA Lures. A few anglers headed over to Lake Okeechobee where they had good top water action with DOA PT's on largemouth bass. Their "mullet run" was in full swing, which had jacks and tarpon blowing up in mullet schools. They were fast moving and tough to get on but several anglers hooked up with huge jacks on DOA Airheads and PT's.
Back in Sarasota, John Freeman and Dave Willer, both from MN, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Thursday, 10/6. We fished the east side of the bay, which had good, clean water. They had steady action catching and releasing trout and jacks on DOA Deadly Combos and CAL jigs with shad tails and jerk worms. Friday 10/7's trip was cancelled due to high winds associated with Hurricane Matthew.
I look for action in the coastal gulf with false albacore (little tunny) and Spanish mackerel to take off as the water cools down and baitfish become more plentiful. Tripletail will also become a good option since stone crab traps are being placed in the coastal gulf, increasing the amount of available structure for them. Night snook fishing around lighted docks and bridges in the ICW with flies and DOA Lures should be a good option. You might also find a few juvenile tarpon and reds in the lights along with snook. In addition, there should be good action with trout, Spanish mackerel, bluefish and more on deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
IFFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
Orvis-Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide at CB's Saltwater Outfitters
Orvis Outfitter of the Year-2011
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
www.snookfin-addict.com, www.snookfinaddict.com and www.flyfishingflorida.us
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
(941) 923-7799
