Springtime explosion in Sarasota

March 22 Fishing Report

           Anglers aboard Sarasota Fishing Charters caught Redfish, Pompano, Sea Trout, Bluefish, Spanish Mackerel , Flounder , Grouper, and Huge Ladyfish. Most Fish were caught on the Gold Paddletail CAL jig followed by Shrimp fished under a Bayside Thunder float. These fish are so concentrated that if we fished an area for a few minutes without great success ,It was time to relocate. Almost all of the fish were found in the scattered grass areas of the bay in 4 to 7  ‘ depths.

                Dr Jon  Donaldson and son Luke from Charleston SC fished on a windy and blustery day where I thought about cancelling due to the winds, but knew of a few places to hide that could be very productive. They caught 13 Redfish and a bunch of  nice Sea Trout that were obviously feeding in before the Cold Front hit on Saturday.

                Saturday and Sunday were out as winds were up and temps were down. On Monday,  Bryce , Peter and Bill Methven From the Twin Cities Area had a great day with Pompano to 5 lbs,  Sea Trout to 21” , Spanish Mackerel  and Bluefish. Next Glenn Silvers and son Mark  and Grandson Seth From Sarasota and Colorado had a nice day with numerous Sea Trout, 4 Redfish and some Spanish Mackerel. Fishing with the Silvers family is always fun and lively.

                Wednesday Terry Ellenberger , son Jaryd and friends Darrel Goebel and Cody Aherns form Wisconsin  had a fabulous day with Pompano to 5lbs, Spanish Mackerel to 4 lbs , 3 Redfish, and so many Sea Trout we lost count. Thursday morning Dave Martin and friend Wayne from Toronto  tried fly fishing on a somewhat windy day. They were able to catch a few Mackerel ,Sea Trout and Ladyfish in conditions that just were not good for throwing flies. That afternoon the winds stopped and  Brian Martin and wife Elaine from Ontario joined me for a super time catching huge Sea trout to 22’ , Spanish Mackerel to 4 lbs and various other fish.  Honestly, they probably caught well over 60 Trout that afternoon .

                Friday , Jeff , Nancy and Meredith from Wisconsin caught huge Mackerel and Sea trout on a day that the wind again prevented a very good day from becoming a great day. Saturday dawned with calm winds and warm temperatures. Jim and Nanci Goodwin from Indiana caught 6 Redfish , some big Sheepshead, Black Druin and a 23 ½ “ black Grouper  fishing near old docks and then caught Pompano to 3lbs , Sea trout to 24” Mackerel to 6 lbs and flounder to 16” on the grass flats to end  the best trip of the time period .

                Monday,  Curtis and Cassie from Madison, Wisconsin had a great time catching large Mackerel and Sea Trout . Tuesday, The Fuqua family from St. Louis caught numerous Mackerel to 6 lbs and a few Sea Trout on a beautiful day

                Next Week’s tides are prime for fishing

Spring time angling in Sarasota

March 7 Fishing Report

Fishing is still great in the bays as the water temperatures  continue to rise . Sarasota Bay is now 72 degrees and the flats are warmer as the sun heats the shallow waters quickly. Anglers aboard the Lucky Dawg have been experiencing an unusual variety of Sarasota gamefish. Sea Trout are very abundant and are found anywhere in 4-6 ‘ of water or really shallow late in the day. has been about 35-40 trout and t These Trout are fat and and have measured up to 25” with a lot of fish in the 18-20” range. In deeper water, the bait of choice has been CAL jigs worked very quickly with small jerks. In the shallows a weedless  GULP !  jerkbait with a small worm weight has realty turned on the largest fish. The Trout are very concentrated, so, drift the grassy areas and throw out a marker when you catch your first good one. Spanish Mackerel, Pompano, a few Flounder and nice Bluefish have been mixed in with the Trout. If you get into Ladyfish, move slightly as they are on the edges of the Trout schools. As the water continues to warm be on the   alert for the first Cobia . Today, we saw our first Cobia as it chased a small hooked trout and then disappeared. A handpicked Shrimp put in front of a Cobia will result in an immediate strike. Snook and Redfish are being found on the lower tides and beginning to school.

Recent catches of note: James Almonter from Wisconsin used a 5wgt TFO fly rod with Gibby’s Big Eye Baitfish fly and a Shrimpee fly to catch 25+ Spanish Mackerel to 4lbs and 20 or more Sea Trout to 18 “. Tom Whitehurst of Sarasota caught 50 + Trout to 19 “ on CAL jigs and 2 Redfish on GULPS. Scott Tunis from Kansas and his golfing buddies Trent and Mike caught numerous trout to 20”, 4 Redfish to 23” Mackerel to 4 lbs and several nice Bluefish. Dan and Pete Morgan form Georgia caught 3 Pompano, Flounder to 15”, Grouper to 18” , several big Sheepshead to 5 lbs and finished out the day with numerous Spanish Mackerel and Sea trout . Dave Bressan from PA and son Mike from Sarasota had a great day catching Sea Trout and Spanish Mackerel on CAL jigs and Deadly Combos. Honestly I couldn’t tell you how many fish they  caught , we lost count by 10 am . Jamie Douglas from NJ caught 30+ Sea Trout to 16 “ on a very windy day. Alan Woczynski from Wisconsin and son Graham and his friend Aaron caught Spanish Mackerel to 5 lbs , numerous Tout and finished the day with 4 Redfish .

Warm water = Hot Action in Sarasota

Fishing Report Feb 20 2011

Anglers aboard Sarasota Fishing Charters caught Pompano, Sea trout, Redfish, Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish , Flounder, Sheepshead and some very large Ladyfish this past week or so.  We have quickly gone from winter type of Fishing to spring in matter of a few days due to rapidly rising air and water temperatures. The areas we have been fishing are deeper grass patches in 6 + ft of water and we are using CAL jigs and Deadly combos most of the time. 10 days ago catching 20-25 fish in a day was pretty good, but now those numbers have increased to 50 + due to the feeding frenzy of spring. Thanks to Steve Gibson, a local guide, for pointing out that our Sheepshead is very Different from Northern Sheephead. Our Sheepshead are good fighters and are delicious table fare, Northern Sheephead are considered trash fish.

                On chilly Friday morning, Steve and Barb Miller from Michigan joined me for a round of Sheepshead, redfish and Sea trout in channels and near docks due to the cooler weather. Some of the Sheepies ran to 5 or more lbs and let me tell you, these fish fight very hard and are delicious to eat.

                Curt Vagos from  Birmingham joined me or a solo angler trip. It was 38 degrees when we departed and fishing was slow until the sun began to warm the water up. He caught 4 small reds, a ton of Sheepshead to 4 lbs, and about20 trout to 16 “. Actually fishing was best from 10:30 to 12, as he caught 80% of his fish in the last hour and ½.

                Rob Erhart and sons Will and Kane from Connecticut caught Sheepshead, Sea Trout and Ladyfish on a cool day that never really warmed up. They had lots of fun and believe me, they could have caught 50 trout, but finding bigger ones proved to be impossible.

                Tim Voegeli  from Ohio joined me for my 1 angler special and he have a very fun day. Beginning in a cool morning , he caught Sheepshead . Then as the day warmed he caught Redfish in the backwater and then he caught nice Trout and Blues on Artificals. This was a gratifying trip for me as he learned the techniques of jig fishing very, very, quickly.

                Ross Fisher and Bill Sullivan from Ohio fished with me on a wonderful, beautiful Sarasota Spring day. It started warmed and stayed warm.  The fish really responded as the water temps went from 58 to 66 in 2 days. They caught Pompano, Spanish mackerel, Bluefish, Flounder, Sea Trout and large Ladyfish. Honestly I have no idea how many they caught, but it had to be more than 70 fish. The CAL jig again was the ticket to success, but also the DOA deadly combo produced some very large trout to 19”.

Finally Old friends and clients, Glenn Silvers and Dave Martin from Sarasota enjoyed catching Sheepies, Sea Trout, Spanish Mackerel Bluefish and Ladyfish. Dave loves to catch Pompano, but they had moved away from the grass flats, but we caught a good amount of quality fish anyway.

Next week’s tides are good and the warming trend will out the fish in a feeding mood.

Sarasota Fishing Report and Forecast- Feb 2011

Feb Report and Forecast
Capt Jack Hartman
http://www.sarasotafishingcharters.com/
The weather has finally stabilized and last week was as good for fishing as it can get in February. Typically the weather in February is 4 or 5 days days of beautiful weather with highs in the 70's and lows in the the upper 50's, then a couple of days with a nasty cold front, rain and wind. 5 nice  days out 7 ain't bad for winter !  Thursday, in the afternoon, Roger Lindsey and Rodney Brase were guests aboard the Lucky Dawg. Being novices, they were attentive and diligent and their effort paid off in a grand way. They were able to catch and release around 60-80  Sea Trout to 22”. For the trout the Exude Dart rigged with a ¼ oz jig head did the trick, bouncing the jigs down channel edges.  Friday, Andy Madison of Columbus Ohio joined me for a 3/4 day adventure. Fishing was a little slow until around 10 am then got really hot, really fast. Andy threw the same DART combo along channel edges in Golden Bream color and was able to land loads of Sea Trout to 20”, Flounder and  other species. I really don’t know how many he caught in the 3+ hours we fished channel edges, probably well over 50 fish. When I did not think it could get much better, we headed into the north bay hoping to find Snook and Reds sunning themselves in the potholes. The Reds were spooky, but a few smaller Snook were hungry. Andy caught 4 to 20” (and lost another 10 ) and again the RT slug was a killer bait. All Andy had to do was find a pothole and throw the Slug past it and work it SLOWLY into the hole, when the Snook came over to investigate, he just twitched it and they exploded on it.

Sunday, Bill Johns and his brother inlaw Darby joined me for the same action in the same places using the same rigs. After many Trout, the wind came up so they got a chance at Sheepshead and redfish around the docks. Action was steady,but not spectacular as the winds got up into the 20's making fishing difficult . Monday, in a heavy fog, I went out on a exploring trip. Near White Key area, I found a bar high and dry with a 2  ft drop just outside . The big trout were stacked up. For about an hour I threw Slugs and Chug Bugs and caught Trout to 28” with the smallest ones around 20” Needless to say, I’ll mark this new area on my map. After awhile, I found small reds to 18” sitting in 3’ of water and used a slow retrieve and bounced a jig in front of them to catch a few.

Looking forward to next week and temperatures in the 70’s every day.

 February forecast :

You can have great fishing in February if you fish wisely. Fish the nice conditions beyween fronts for a successful day. When it is blowing or cool fish the docks and channels anchored up . Following fronts, sunny afternoons are GREAT  fishing.  Trout, Reds and maybe Snook may sneak out onto grass flats and around bars to feed on sunny afternoons. Sheepshead should be plentiful around docks and oyster bars and they are a good cool weather option.
Trout will be found in channels, potholes or on drop-offs along the edges of bars and flats in February. They will drop into drop-offs along the edges of flats or bars when the tide is low. You may find them in skinny water over shallow grass when the tide is high on a sunny afternoon. On grass flats, I like to drift and cast with CAL jigs to the bottom to get a bite.Darker colors like New penny, Brown and gold seem to work best.  For live bait anglers, Shrimp free lined works best.
Reds will be found in some of the same areas as trout this month. On low tides fish the same channel edges that you would for Trout. In the afternoon  however, things change. If you a have a warm and sunny day, the Reds will move up into very shallow flats to feed. Use spoons, weedless plastics and topwaters and remember that these reds are spooky so make Long , long casts to get them. Bluefish, Spainsh Mackerel, and Pompano can also be found on the deeper grass patches in the same areas that you would find the trout,
once the temperature reaches 65-70 ( currently 63)> Use the same techiques that you would for Sea trout.
Hope to see you all on the water soon
Capt Jack