Several trips during the week of August 27th produced trout, bluefish, jacks and ladyfish on deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay at Stephens Point and along the west side of the bay from Bishops Point to Buttonwood Harbor caught with DOA Deadly Combos, CAL jigs and Clouser flies. We also jumped a 20-pound tarpon with a root beer DOA TerrorEyz fishing canals in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda.
I spent the following week in Islamorada fishing the Islamorada-Sarasota Shootout fishing tournament. It is a "for fun" fishing tournament that pits anglers from Islamorada against members of the Sarasota Sportfishing Anglers Club against each other in offshore, reef and backcountry divisions. Aledia Tush, owner of CB's Saltwater Outfitters, and I fished the backcountry division with fellow Orvis-Endorsed guide Capt. Duane Baker, from Tavernier, FL, as our guide. If you ever want to fish the backcountry of the Keys in the Islamorada to Key Largo area, Capt Duane is an excellent guide. He can be reached at www.keysflatsguide.com or 1-305-852-0102.
Aledia won the bonefish division with a 7 1/2-pound bonefish caught with a live shrimp and I was second with a 6-pound bonefish caught on a fly. I caught a total of 3 bonefish on flies and Aledia caught 2 with bait. Sarasota anglers placed in several other offshore divisions, but unfortunately it wasn't enough for Sarasota to win the tournament. With a point system that scores 3 points for a win, 2 points for 2nd place and 1 point for 3rd place in each division, the final tally was Islamorada 23 and Sarasota 9.
When I got back on the water at home this week, I found the fishing even better than I left it. The action was still strong on the deep grass flats and we found large schools of reds in Sarasota and Gasparilla Sound. Harold and Bill Johnson, both from Sarasota, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Tuesday. They had good action with bluefish, trout, ladyfish and jacks at Stephens Point and along the west side of Sarasota Bay with flies, CAL jigs, DOA Deadly Combos and MirrOlure She Dog and Top Dog, Jr's. We encountered a large school of reds in 8' of water near Long Bar with 4 and 5-pound bluefish mixed with them. The bad news was that you couldn't land a redfish due to bluefish either getting to the lures and flies first or cutting off our hooked redfish. The blues averaged about 4-pounds. So it was still great action.
Brad Sodowick, from Washington Crossing, PA, fished a couple of days with me on Thursday and Friday. He jumped a pair of tarpon and landed one of them, a 10-pounder, with a root beer DOA TerrorEyz in a Port Charlotte canal on Thursday. We fished Sarasota Bay on Friday where he caught trout, ladyfish and bluefish on DOA Deadly combos, CAL jigs and MirrOLure Top Dog, Jrs.
I fished Gasparilla Sound in Charlotte Harbor yesterday with Joe Larosa, from North Port, FL. He had a great day catching and releasing 3 reds to 32". We found a large school of reds in Gasparilla Sound and Joe hooked 2 fish and landed a 32" red on a MirrOlure Top Dog, Jr. We also spent some time sight casting to reds along a sandbar where Joe landed a pair of reds to 28 1/2" on a root beer/gold CAL grub. It was Joe's first fish caught by sight casting!
The action should continue next week on the deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay and in skinny water for reds in Sarasota Bay and Gasparilla Sound. I also look for tarpon fishing to improve in upper Charlote Harbor and Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda canals.
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
