Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had action with tarpon, snook and trout during the past couple of weeks. A persistent west wind has forced us to fish in areas other than the coastal gulf. Although we spent some time fishing bridges and passes for large tarpon, the best tarpon action was with juvenile tarpon from 10 to 35-pounds in canals. Anglers fishing Sarasota Bay with me had good action with snook before dawn and trout on deep grass flats.
Wayne Dedyne, from MI, and his friend, Paul Broughton, fished canals in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda with me on Monday, 6/22. Since fishing the coastal gulf was not an option due to west winds, we chose to target smaller tarpon with lighter tackle. Wayne had the hot hand that day with a pair of fish jumped and one landed, a 35-pounder. Both fish ate rootbeer DOA TerrorEyz fished slowly along the bottom.
Tuesday was blown out so fly angler Hal Lutz, from Parrish, FL, bumped back to Wednesday due to a cancellation that day. Since Hal was fishing the Sarasota Sportfishing Anglers Club All-Release tarpon tournament, big tarpon were our target. He already has a good one entered in the fly fishing division of the tournament and was hoping to upgrade, but it wasn’t in the cards that day. We fished shallow water near the mouth of the Manatee River and only had a few shots.
Dan Bryant and his young son, Adam, both from NJ, fished with me on Friday and Saturday. We drifted big Pass early each day and had no bites. They jumped a pair of fish in the 10 to 20-pound class in a basin with live pinfish, but we couldn’t get it going with the larger fish.
Craig Notari and his son, James, both from IL, tarpon fished with me on Monday. We targeted large tarpon early and moved to the flats later in the morning due to no tarpon action. James tried his hand at fly fishing and did well, catching and releasing several trout to 18” on an Ultra Hair Clouser fly. Double hauling can be challenging for beginners, but James grasped the concept and was successfully double hauling before the end of our trip.
I was blown out of tarpon fishing a couple of more days on Tuesday and Wednesday, but was back on the water on Thursday morning with Clark Keator, from Orlando, FL. We fished lighted docks along Siesta Key before dawn and caught and released 6 or 7 snook to 6-pounds on my Grassett’s Snook Minnow fly. Mark Torkos and sons, Evan and Ross, from Jacksonville, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Saturday morning. They had fast action near Buttonwood Harbor with trout to 3-pounds on DOA Deadly Combos and CAL jigs with shad tails.
When the wind decides to switch back to the east and allows us to fish the coastal gulf, we should have some great tarpon action remaining during the month of July. Although tarpon schools will be smaller and will require different fishing techniques, they usually feed better after they have finished spawning.
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
Clark Keator, from Orlando, FL, caught and released this snook on a Grassett's Snook Minnow fly while fishing around lighted docks before dawn with Capt. Rick Grassett.
Evan Torkos, from Jacksonville, FL, caught and released this over slot trout on a DOA Deadly Combo while fishing Sarasota Bay with Capt. Rick Grassett.
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