Sarasota Fishing Report 7/24/2013

Capt. Rick Grassett’s Sarasota & Pine Island Sound, FL Fishing Report for 7/21/2013

Anglers fishing with me on my Action Craft flats skiff the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had good action fly fishing for tarpon in the coastal gulf. Fly anglers jumped 2 tarpon, had several other eats and numerous shots at tarpon with a fly in the coastal gulf during the past week. We also fished Pine Island Sound one afternoon and caught and released a big red on a fly.
Jerry Poslusny and Jay Peck, both from the Rochester, NY area fished Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with me. Conditions were tough a good portion of the week with a lot of clouds and some rain. However there were enough windows of good visibility to get them numerous shots at tarpon each day. They jumped 2 fish and had 3 other eats on Deceiver and Grassett Tarpon Bunny flies.
My brother Kirk Grassett, from Middletown, DE, came down to fish a few days later in the week. Rusty Chinnis, from Longboat Key, FL joined us on Thursday and we came across an osprey struggling and flopping on the surface as we ran in the coastal gulf. As we got closer to investigate, we could see that the bird was near collapse from exhaustion. It showed no fear and allowed Kirk to cover its head with a towel and lift it onto the deck of my boat. We took the bird to the beach and it was too exhausted to either fly or jump off the deck, so Kirk lifted him off the bow and sat him on the beach. The bird appeared to have an injured wing and was very waterlogged, so Rusty contacted Save Our Seabirds who came out to the scene to rescue the bird. A follow up call reported that the bird was recovering at the bird hospital. We only had a few shots at tarpon that day due to heavy clouds and fish deep in the water column but we had a dozen or more good shots on Friday.
Kirk and I were the guests of our friend Capt. Rick DePaiva, from Ft. Myers, FL, to fish Pine Island Sound on Saturday. Capt. Rick knows his fishery well and since conditions were good for reds to tail on shallow grass flats late in the day, we planned to be there at that time. We had some shots at tailing reds and Kirk caught and released a very nice, upper slot red on my Grassett Flats Minnow fly. Due to the dark, tannic water that is prevalent in that area this time of year, colors on the fish were vivid!
Tarpon fishing in the coastal gulf should be good next week depending on conditions. Beat the heat by catch and release snook fishing before daylight in the ICW and then look for reds and big trout in shallow water early in the day. Fishing deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay for trout, blues, Spanish mackerel and more should also be a good option.

Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
Orvis- Endorsed Outfitter Guide
CB’s Saltwater Outfitters-2011 Orvis Outfitter of the Year
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
www.flyfishingflorida.net and www.snookfin-addict.com

Once In A Lifetime Fishing Charter

I have been fishing out of Fort Lauderdale for 20+ years so I have seen a lot of things and caught a lot of fish in strange ways but today's trip was different by far. It started out pretty normal. The customers showed up a little late but no big deal there. We left the dock and on the way out some of them came up on the bridge. We started talking about what they have caught in the past, where they have fished and where they are from as normal. We get out to the fishing grounds and set the lines out and this is when things started happening.

Our first bite was on the long planer rod. We got one of the customers to wind it in to the leader then my mate starts bringing it in. Not knowing what we have on the end of the line, our immediate thought was a bonito. As the fish gets closer we see stripes. Wahooooo goes the yell. Gaff the fish and get it in the boat. A few high fives and such later we get the planer rod rebaited and set again. A minute or so later it gets bit again. Thinking again bonito we get the leader and start bringing it in. Wahoooo goes another yell when we see stripes again. We gaffed the fish and in the cooler it goes. Another round of high fives and so on. We get the baits back out again and continue trolling in 80 to 350 feet of water. We catch a few kingfish and small barracuda then head further offshore to see if we can find some mahi.

We came to a nice looking edge in 700 feet and started trolling along it when one of the guests on the bridge with me says "I just saw a fin over there". "What kind of fin was it?" I ask. "Did it look like a shark?" No, it was big and kind of round. I put the boat into a turn to try and get back in front of it or at least see what it was. We finished the circle turn and saw a sailfish jump in front of the boat. I trolled towards it and that is when things got wierd.

We saw something dragging across the surface of the water and turned to get a better look but couldn't make out what it was. Then we looked about 50 feet ahead of it and saw that the sailfish was towing it. Now we realize what was going on so we cleared all of the lines we had out and got a spinning rod with a weighted treble hook attached. We catch up to it again and my mate casts the hook over the line that is trailing behind. He hooks the line and gets it to the boat as I am still backing down to keep the pressure off the fish. What we hooked onto was somebody else's broken off planer set. We attach a rod to the planer so if the fish took off we could stay with it. My mate grabed another rod and as we are still backing up on the fish he splices the leader on the other side of the planer so we can now wind the sailfish to the boat. We got the fish to the boat pretty fast because it was already worn out from dragging the rig behind. My mate grabbed ahold of the bill and held it next to the boat. There was a prerigged ballyhoo wire leader attached to a mono leader that the fish was hung on literally. There was no hook in the fish, the wire leader was wrapped around it's bill. We safely untangle the wire, revived the fish and release it. One of the customers said that the fish came to us so we would save it's life.

We were all happy and excited for this experience of a lifetime. We went back to trolling and had a few more bites but fishing had slowed down a little. We finished the trip catching a dozen vermillion snapper. Now I know that I have caught fish that had other hooks and rigs in them. I have event got some that we got our rig fouled in line that was hooked to a fish. But I have never to my knowledge done what happened with this sailfish. Especially not after getting 2 nice wahoo on our first 2 bites.

Reel Work Sport Fishing Charters
301 Seabreeze Blvd.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
954-522-9399
1-877-524-9377
Email: lauderdalefishing@gmail.com
Website: lauderdalefishing.com
Charter Fishing Fort Lauderdale

Ft Lauderdale Fishing Charters 7/9/13

[caption id="attachment_258" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ft. Lauderdale Shark Fishing[/caption]

We had a pretty good day of fishing Fort Lauderdale waters on Sunday. Anglers fishing with me aboard the Reel Work had a fun day catching bonito, king mackerel, a sailfish and a large shark.

As usual, we started the day catching bait before heading offshore to do some trolling. The bonito and kingfish were keeping our anglers busy when a sailfish decided to join in on the fun. After a few blistering runs and some acrobatic tail walks and jumps our lucky angler managed to get the sail to the boat for a quick picture before we released the fish. On the way back to the dock we stoped to do some bottom fishing. A big shark ate one of our baits and after a hard fight our angler managed to get it boat side for a picture and a quick release.

Don't miss out on all of the great Fort Lauderdale offshore fishing action. Fill in the form on the left side of this page or give us a call to set up your Fort Lauderdale fishing charter.


Reel Work Sport Fishing Charters
301 Seabreeze Blvd.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
954-522-9399
1-877-524-9377
Email: lauderdalefishing@gmail.com
Website: lauderdalefishing.com
Fort Lauderdale Fishing Charters

Fish Provide Fireworks On The 4th

What better way to spend the 4th of July then taking a Fort Lauderdale fishing charter. That is what Zac and Rachel did with us this last Thursday and they were rewarded with a good mix of bonito, tuna kingfish, bottom fish, sharks and even a cobia. We started our day by catching some bait then heading offshore to do some trolling. It wasn't long before the bonito started biting along with some blackfin tuna and a few king mackerel. After the couple had there fill of trolling we stoped at a few wrecks on the way back to the dock. We managed to catch a few bottom fish, a couple of sharks and a nice cobia. Zac and Rachel were all smiles after a fun day of deep sea fishing on the Forth of July.

Don't miss out on all of the hot fishing action this summer. Fill in the form on the left side of this page or give us a call to set up your Fort Lauderdale fishing charter.


Reel Work Sport Fishing Charters
301 Seabreeze Blvd.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
954-522-9399
1-877-524-9377
Email: lauderdalefishing@gmail.com
Website: lauderdalefishing.com
Fort Lauderdale Fishing Charters