Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had good action the past couple of weeks with reds, snook, trout and bluefish. The fastest action continues to be on deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay with trout, bluefish and a few pompano. We also had a few good trips with reds in skinny water and snook at night.
Dick Reece from Dayton, OH and Keith McClintock, from Lake Forest, IL, fished with me a couple of days in Sarasota Bay. They had good action with trout and blues on CAL jigs with shad tails on a trip on Tues, Feb. 17th. They caught and released lots of trout and 5 reds to 24” around oyster bars along a mangrove shoreline in north Sarasota Bay the following week. Sarasota winter residents, Norm and Francie Boardman, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Weds, Feb. 18th. They had steady action with trout to 19” on Ultra Hair Clouser flies and CAL jigs with shad tails along the west side of the bay near Buttonwood Harbor.
I fished Gasparilla Sound in Charlotte Harbor on Thurs, Feb. 19th with Ismo Uosukainen, from Helsinki, Finland and his two sons. They caught and released trout and ladyfish on Ultra Hair Clouser flies and CAL jigs with shad tails. We spent some time working mangrove shorelines and potholes for reds and snook but a strong wind made it tough. Bob Harness, from St. Louis, MO, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Friday, Feb. 20th. We caught and released more than 15 trout to 18” on Ultra Hair Clouser flies.
Sarasota winter resident, Phil Rever, and his guest, Eric Dobkin from NY, snook fished with me in the ICW near Venice on Sunday evening, Feb. 22nd. They caught and released about a dozen snook to 24”, a couple of blues and several ladyfish on my Grassett’s Snook Minnow fly. Dan Lynch, from Alburg, VT, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Tuesday. He had good action with more than 20 trout to 19” and a pair of reds to 28” on CAL jigs with shad tails near Long Bar. Jordan Hecktman, from Longboat Key, FL and his grandson Joey, from Chicago, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Thursday. They had good action with trout to 18” and a few blues along the east side of Sarasota Bay on CAL jigs with shad tails and DOA Deadly Combos
I was on the casting pond at the Frank Sargeant Outdoors Expo on Friday afternoon giving a seminar and casting demonstration on “Saltwater Fly Rodding”. It is one of the best outdoor shows in the state. It’s always good to see old friends and new products. DOA Lures (www.doalures.com) will soon have available a 5 ½” BFL (Big Fish Lure), which is a jointed, soft plastic mullet that swims like the real thing. New from Wang Anchor (www.wanganchor.com) is a quick release surface mounted bracket that will allow their stake out pole to be deployed from anywhere on the boat. The Wang Anchor on my new Action Craft 1720 flats skiff is sweet! It’ll quietly stop my boat on a dime in up to 5’ of water and weighs almost nothing.
We had another successful Orvis-Endorsed fly fishing school on Saturday. The course is for beginners and intermediate casters and covers basic casting, shooting line, roll casting and more. Students also learned leader construction, fly selection and saltwater fly fishing techniques. Dates for the two remaining schools for 2009 are March 14 and April 4th. Cost for the school, which runs from 9 AM to 3 PM, is $150 and includes an instructional video, a textbook, the use of premium Orvis fly tackle and lunch. Contact CB’s Saltwater Outfitters at (941) 349-4400 to sign up.
Snook season reopened today after being closed for 3 months and next week’s tides will be favorable for fishing the ICW for snook at night. As the water warms, we should also find more snook on shallow flats, particularly on warm, sunny days. Trout, blues and pompano on deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay or reds and trout in skinny water should also be good options.
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
Dan Lynch, from Alburg, VT, caught and released this over slot red on a CAL jig with a shad tail while fishing Sarasota Bay with Capt. Rick Grassett.
Dick Reece, from Dayton, OH, caught this nice red on a CAL jig with a shad tail while fishing Sarasota Bay with Capt. Rick Grassett.
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