Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB's Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, caught and released trout, reds, snook, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, tripletail and barramundi during the past couple of weeks. That's right, barramundi! We also jumped the first tarpon of the season with flies and a live crab. The best action continued to be on deep grass flats of Terra Ceia Bay, Sarasota Bay and Gasparilla Sound.
Sarasota Herald-Tribune outdoors editor, Steve Gibson, and I traveled to central Florida, near St. Cloud, to fly fish for barramundi with Osceola Outback Adventures on Monday, April 23rd. Byron Hennecy, along with his partner, Tony Burraston of Australia, operate Eco Barramundi, which raises and sells barramundi as a seafood product under licensing from the Florida Dept. of Agriculture. They also sell the opportunity to fish for the hard fighting fish. Steve and I were his guests for a morning of fishing that was a great experience. For 4-hours we caught and released barramundi in the 6 to 8-pound class with 8-weight fly tackle and floating lines. The barramundi ate a variety of flies including DT specials, Myakka Minnows, Estaz Marabou and MirrOlure flies. The deep bodied fish, cousins of our snook, slugged it out and jumped like tarpon. We caught and released 40 or 50 fish in 4-hours.
Mike Carducci, from NY, fished Terra Ceia Bay with me the next day. Mike caught and released a pair of reds and several trout with CAL jigs and shad tails. On Wednesday, I was the guest of my friend, Capt. Rick DePaiva, to do some scouting in Pine Island Sound. We checked a couple of spots for tarpon and saw one roll, but opted to hunt for reds and snook instead. Rick connected with a nice red that was sight-fished and we cast to some monster snook. A nice day!
Fly anglers, Kent Beveridge and Rob Oldham, from Vancouver, British Columbia, fished Gasparilla Sound with me on Thursday. Our best action was on deep grass flats with trout, ladyfish, Spanish mackerel and bluefish. My friend, Mark Nichols, of DOA Fishing Lures fished with me on Friday and Saturday for the 12th annual Sarasota CCA Photo All-Release Challenge. We fished the Terra Ceia area and caught and released snook and trout with night glow and holographic DOA shrimp. We had a good time fishing the event, which raises money for conservation in a low key, fun filled catch, photo and release format. The highlight of our fishing was when Mark bailed out of the boat to try and land a monster snook (and save his DOA shrimp) which had weaved it's way around a series of pilings. Since anglers in the tournament are limited to fishing with lures provided to them by donors, it was as important to save the lure as land the fish. The snook won!
Bernie Blanche, from TN and his dad, Bernie from PA, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Monday. We spent a couple of hours hunting tarpon off Sarasota without seeing any. Bernie connected with a false albacore with a Clouser fly, but there wasn't anything else going on. We came back into Sarasota Bay where they had good catch and release action with ladyfish, Spanish mackerel and bluefish on flies and jigs.
Fly angler, John Colwell from Seattle, WA, fished the same area with me the next day. The action picked up as John caught and released large ladyfish, Spanish mackerel, bluefish and a pair of 8-pound tripletail with Clouser flies.
Long time friends and customers, Norm and Francie Boardman from Sarasota, tarpon fished with me on Thursday in the Boca Grande area. We were pleasantly surprised to find a school of about 100 tarpon just leaving Gasparilla Pass as we headed out the pass. We stayed with the school for several hours, jumping one and hooking another on Enrico Puglisi flies (Black Mullet and Mullet). After a while the school of fish quit showing and stayed deep. We tossed a live crab at them, which was immediately eaten, putting another fish in the air. The first tarpon of the season!
I look for tarpon action to pick up next week as we get further away from Tuesday's full moon. In addition, reds and catch and release snook should be a good option in skinny water. However, you will probably have faster action on deep grass flats in bays with trout, Spanish mackerel, bluefish or tripletail.
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
