Anglers fishing with me on my Action Craft flats skiff the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB's Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, caught and released trout and bluefish in Sarasota Bay, snook at night in the ICW and tripletail in the coastal gulf on flies during the past couple of weeks. The best action was fly fishing for snook at night in the ICW.
A strong front with winds above 20 mph pushed through early Thanksgiving week. Since I was due for maintenance on my outboard, it was a good time to put my boat in the shop for service. John Nelson, from Tampa, FL, his son, Mark and son-in-law, Chris, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Friday, 11/29. Since all 3 were fly anglers, our plan was to wade shallow flats. However with a 10- degree drop in water temperature, we didn't find anything in that zone. We drifted deeper grass flats near Stephens Point where they caught and released trout on intermediate sink tip fly lines and Ultra Hair Clouser flies. Mark and Chris each caught and released their first saltwater trout on flies!
Patrice Camillieri, from France, fished Sarasota Bay and the coastal gulf with me on Monday, 12/2 and again on Thursday, 12/5. We fished deep grass flats on both sides of the bay on Monday where he caught and released trout, including a couple of upper slot fish, and bluefish on an Ultra Hair Clouser fly. He sight fished a 6-pound tripletail on my Grassett Flats Minnow fly in the coastal gulf with me on Thursday morning and later we moved to skinny water in Sarasota Bay where he caught and released a 6-pound "gator" trout on the same fly! I feel that these big trout, which are mostly females that may be full of roe, are important to the health of our trout fishery, so I release all trout over 20".
Bill Rhodes, from Hernando Beach, FL, snook fished with me in the ICW on Tuesday evening, 12/4. He had nonstop action catching and releasing numerous snook to 24" on my Grassett Snook Minnow fly. With a good incoming tide, compounded by a south wind and a warming trend following the last front, snook gorged themselves on glass minnows and shrimp. Every once in a while several factors will align and the bite will be amazing. It's good to be there when it happens!
Bill also caught and released trout, ladyfish and bluefish in Sarasota Bay on flies with me on Wednesday, 12/5. He understands the advantage of fishing the entire water column and had his fly rods rigged with floating, intermediate and faster sinking fly lines. Bill also has a lot of success fishing tandem flies, a very effective technique for fishing deep grass flats. We fished deep grass flats from 5' to 8' on both sides of the bay and he had steady action including a couple of doubles where he caught a fish on each fly!
Snook season is now closed through the end of February on the west coast, but there should be good catch and release action with snook around lighted docks at night in the ICW. Use tackle heavy enough to catch and release them quickly and handle them gently. Big trout are moving into shallow water in Sarasota Bay where you may find them in potholes when the tide is low. Fishing deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay for trout, blues and more should also be a good inshore option next week. Look for false albacore and tripletail in the coastal gulf when conditions are good.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
Orvis- Endorsed Outfitter Guide
CB's Saltwater Outfitters-2011 Orvis Outfitter of the Year
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
www.snookfin-addict.com
