Sarasota Slam time !

April  19  Fishing Report

Big Spanish Mackerel , The biggest Sea Trout we have seen in Years, Big Blues, Mangrove Snapper beginning to show up in numbers, Redfish starting to school, Snook  making their presence known, Flounder, Kingfish, Jack Crevalle, Ladyfish and even a few Pompano …. Yes… it is springtime in
Sarasota !!!
 The Spanish Mackerel are on the grass flats , artificial reefs and just off the beaches on their annual migration. They are suckers for white bait which is here in huge numbers. Netting good bait at daybreak is about as easy as it has ever been in recent history. Big Sea over 20’ is an everyday event and most days we catch several over 20” . The bigger Trout are targeting top water plugs like the Chug Bug, Deadly Combo, a big white bait freelined  or a hand picked Shrimp under a popping cork. Mixed in with the Trout and Macks are some Pompano, Flounder, Ladyfish, Jacks and some Big Bluefish.

James Pound from the UK joined me and caught a “Sarasota Slam” .That is, Sea Trout Snook, and Redfish all in the Same day. James caught 5 Redfish to 25 “ , 3 Snook to 23” and Sea trout to 19” His best luck was throwing a freelined Shrimp under docks on the east side of the bay. The next day Tate Miller from Ohio and his son Zack and daughter Hannah and Father in law Greg. Let me tell you this crew was fun and they really can fish ! We lost count of how many fish they caught around 10 am . Tate sent me a Text message saying the fish fry was fabulous that night.

That afternoon, Russ Zuege brother Wayne and his daughter Jalissa and family friend, Hannah continued the hot bite. The guys had a great day, but the girls were really on fire. Again , I have no idea how many fish were landed .
Friday, Brent Smith and son Quinn  had a really nice am bite from 7:30 to around 10am catching numerous trout and mackerel. At 10 the wind stopped and so did the bite . after about 30  minutes of inactivity, the wind picked up and the bite continued. James Starks from the UK  started out by using topwaters and caught 3 reds in the 25+ range along with 3 Snook with one going to 26”. After the topwater  bite slowed, we went to deep grass and he caught a 29” and 30 “  Sea trout , 2 Pompanos and a 15” Flounder. A super Sarasota Slam !
Sunday John Buckley from Sarasota and brother Steve and brother in law Bill joined me for John’s 70^th birthday fishing party. Man oh man, what fun ! These guys all can fish and caught many Sea Trout in 20 inch range, Huge Mackerel , Big Bluefish and others. Nick Rinaldi and buddy Bill from Longboat Key continued the hot bite in Sarasota Bay. Nick wanted to learn the techniques of bay fishing Sarasota Style and he proved to be a great student.  He really did well and with his friend ,Bill caught a lot of Trout Blues and Macks.Ron Slovick and son Ben ,age 6, had a fabulous day . While Ron was busy fly fishing, Ben was catching huge Trout , one after the other. Soon, after a fly change Ron joined the fun catch Large mackerel and Trout. The following day Ron‘s dad, Ron fromSarasota joined us . After a slow start, We caught  big Blues, Trout and Mackerel.
  Steve Perkins from New Jersey joined me for a morning of  a mixed bag of Trout , Flounder, Mangrove snapper, Redfish, and small Snook. It was by far the slowest day of the week ,but overall he had a great time throwing topwaters and jigs.  Dan Dunn from RI fished Friday am and caught 6 reds, Sea Trout including a 26 “ monster and Mangrove Snapper. He hooked 3 or 4 huge Reds only to lost them around dock pilings.
The final 2 trips of the report period were with 2 great families. First, Carl Almeter and Sons Taylor and Andrew along with daughter Kate had a super day catching big Trout, Mackerel, and bluefish. These were novice fishermen  who became pretty darn good by days end. Of course, Kate had to show the guys up as she caught the most and biggest fiah of the day. Finally the Katz family from NYC  ( Ben, Sam, Garrett, and Eli ) fish on a windy day. They were rewarded with Pompano, Trout and Macks

Shrimpee Fly catches everything in Sarasota Bay

I do not pretend to be the best fly fishing guide or fly tying expert , but I work to get better and better at my craft every day. I have discovered a fly that is hot right now in Sarasota Bay and has been for the past few years in the water cooler temperatures . A few years ago, I was playing around and trying to design a Shrimp fly .  Most prototypes failed , but the Shrimpee fly was an immediate success . The fly only works when the water is cold to cool ; approximately from November to mid May. The first time this fly proved it's worth was with my son, Zach, in Zwick's channel. We were catching small Trout almost every cast with CAL jigs when Zach decided to try his fly rod . Since the Trout were hitting dark shrimp like jigs , he grabbed the Shrimpee. Zach then proceeeded to catch bigger , fatter Trout for the next 30 minutes until the tide stopped. Just last week, Ron Slovick from Appleton Wisconsin started out using a Clouser in an area that was full of feeding fish ( his son Ben age 6 was catching loads of big Trout Macks and Ladyfish) . After a few minutes of futility, Ron changed to the Shrimpee and immediately began to catch Big Trout and Spanish Mackerel. The Shrimpee has caught Snook, Sea Trout, Flounder, Spanish Mackerel, Gray Trout , Ladyfish and Jacks so far. But I am sure that Redfsih or Pompano will hit it if given the chance.

It can't get any better than this.....

April 4 Fishing Report

                It just doesn’t get any better than fishing in Sarasota in Late March and April. Redfish can be found on low stages of the tides waiting for rising water to get them on the flats and all of my favorite docks are holding reds. A few Snook are starting to show on the flats and mangroves. Flats from 3-6 are full of Huge Spanish Mackerel, big Sea Trout, scattered Pompano and Bluefish. The Passes are still holding Sheepshead , Mangrove snapper have begun to move in , Spanish Mackerel are thick, and pompano can be jigged up in the early stages of the tide. Best of all white bait is here in greatly increasing numbers.

                Best baits for Redfish have been GULP! baits rigged on a 1/16 jig head or weed less and for docks, nothing beats a chunk of whitebait.  On the deeper flats , CAL jigs in gold, new penny and greenie colors along with a Deadly combo (Gold fleck DOA) have produced a huge variety of fish. For Pompano lovers the paddletail gold seems to really turn them on. For live baiters , a freelined shrimp or white bait have really worked. Be sure drift your live way, way behind the boat for best results. Last week I had a father and son fishing and I was casting the shrimp for the son. He was catching fish after fish while dad was not even getting bite. The dad was only fishing his bait 20 feet behind the boat and the son 40’ or more. With a slight adjustment, dad began to catch a lot too. On calm days a shrimp rigged 3 ‘ under a deadly combo cork is the best bet for Pompano and really large Sea Trout. In the passes , a small diamond jig works quickly can result in monster Mackerel , while a silly Willy with a fly trailer is the ticket for Pompano. For  the Sheepies and snapper nothing beats a SMALL shrimp drifted near the rock piles.

Recent trips

Joe Wasserman and family  from Michigan had a very fun trip with numerous Sea trout and Spanish Mackerel .Kevin and his 2 sons Will and Chase Caught some huge Trout to 25 “ . John Slekins and sons Brock , Mason  and Peyton from Indiana caught Redfish to 14 LBs , beautiful Pompano and nice Sea Trout.

Mark and Emily Harper from Texas caught 8 Pompano,  a few Snapper to 15” , about 50 Sea Trout to 22” and a flounder that measured 19” . Ken Stieger and wife Betty from Ohio caught a few small reds, huge Spanish mackerel and nice Sea Trout. Pat Evans and son Daniel had a great morning until the wind got so bad we had to cut the trip short. They had were lucky enough to get a serious Sea Trout before the front bite that resulted in no stop action for about 3 hours. I have no idea how many they caught, but it was enough for a great fish dinner. After a couple of days canceled due to high winds.

 Pat and Daniel joined me again in windy but very fishable conditions. They Caught  4 or 5 Redfish, flounder and a few Sea trout. Jim and Barbara Cook caught a about 60 Sea Trout including the biggest of the year at 30”, a few Spanish Mackerel and 1 flounder that measured 17”. Finally Valerie and Sonny Fagen and friends Jack and Mary Jo caught numerous Sea Trot to 24”, some Spanish mackerel and others.