Sarasota Florida Fishing Report
By Capt. Bob Smith
It has been excellent fishing along the coast for the past week. We found
plenty of large Spanish mackerel and a few King mackerel along with some
keeper size cobia and flounder on the bottom. Fishing the "I" reefs in 25
to 30 feet of water using live bait like shrimp, pilchards and pinfish, we
found fish on the bottom and the top. Fishing was also good on the bay
grass flats with sea trout leading the way. Although most of are bay and
coastal fishing can be handled with 12 pound test line, it is a good idea to
carry some heavier stuff in the 20 to 50 pound test line when fishing along
the coast. During the spring and fall runs, you can often find big fish
within 3 miles off the beach. I have caught bull reds to 50 pounds, cobia
to 70 pounds, Kingfish, and cuda to 30 pounds, large jewfish, gags and black
grouper, sharks and rays too large to hold, and most tarpon are over 100
pounds. Of course you're not going to find these big fish just sitting and
waiting for you with open mouths. They are always possible, but you never
know when.
Mark Zisser and family from Missouri were visiting last week. Mark likes to
book a few or more trips with me, as he has done for the last 25 years. One
of the days I took Mark offshore 6 miles to fish some nice natural hard
bottom. The bottom is surrounded by a two foot break that the grouper like
to fan out and hide under. It turned out to be a shark day! It was shark
after shark, all kinds, all sizes on light tackle; the largest was a nurse
shark over 8 feet. Mark was the only one fishing and was using 12, 20, and
50 pound test outfits with different baits. This kept him running from rod
to rod all morning and me getting his other rods out of the way when he
hooked up. The last fish of the day was the big shark and was around 300
pounds. Nurse sharks are the least acrobatic of any of the sharks that I
know of, but they just keep on ticking. Mark caught the shark using a Penn
4/0 reel, 50 pound test mono line, 100 pound test mono leader and a 2oz
lead. The bait was a one and half pound live blue runner with a broken
tail. By breaking the tail I was able to use less lead to keep it down and
in place for grouper. Mark was fishing without a harness and the reel's
drag was set for grouper digging. So by the time he was bringing the shark
back to the boat from its third run and I was snapping pictures, Mark
hollered out "cut the #@!*% line! I will buy you a new hook". I knew then
that he had a good fight and had caught his largest shark to date.
Enjoy & Protect
My Website: http//www.sarasota-fla-fishing.com
Thank you!
Capt. Bob Smith
Phone: (941) 366-2159 Cell: (941) 350-8583
Email: capt.bobsmith@verizon.net
My Website: http://www.sarasota-fla-fishing.com
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