Anglers fishing with me, out of CB's Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had some action with tarpon in the coastal gulf in Sarasota during the past couple of weeks. Spin fishing anglers hooked up numerous times on live crabs and brought several fish to the boat. Fly anglers got in on the action, also jumping a tarpon.
Fly anglers had plenty of shots on a trip early in the week of 5/28. After several color changes we got it right, jumping a tarpon and fighting it for several jumps before it chewed through the bite tippet close to the boat.
Dave Reinhart and Domenick Raschella, both from VA, fished a couple of days with me later in that week on 6/1 & 2. We had action both days, getting several bites and jumping a couple of tarpon on live crabs. Dave had one on for about 30-minutes, fighting the fish to the boat where it also chewed through our 80-lb leader.
A tropical weather system moved in on Monday morning, 6/5 and the system lingered all week long. Strong west winds roughed up the gulf and heavy rain and thunderstorms made it impossible to get into the coastal gulf to fish, so we were unable to tarpon fish through Friday.
Dennis Ondercin, from OH, and Cliff Ondercin, from Sarasota, were scheduled to fish with me all week. We only got a couple of hours in on Monday before the weather chased us off the water. We finally got back out on Saturday and found good conditions. They had a good day, jumping 4 tarpon and bringing 2 to the boat. The severe weather of the previous few days decided to move back north as a warm front, chasing us off the water again!
We are in the middle of the tarpon spawning season. Numbers of tarpon and size of schools should continue to increase and action will pick up as sea conditions improve. Snook season is closed on the west coast of Florida until Sep 1st, so please handle them gently and release them quickly. This is a good time frame to sight fish for snook in the surf when conditions are good. Fishing lighted docks and bridges in the ICW for snook with flies and DOA Lures also continues to be a good option.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
IFFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
Orvis-Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide at CB's Saltwater Outfitters
Orvis Outfitter of the Year-2011
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
www.snookfin-addict.com, www.snookfinaddict.com and www.flyfishingflorida.us
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
(941) 923-7799
