Kingfish, Little Tunny Stealing The Show

Fishing Report 12/18/2007

Capt. Terry Frankford

The fish have really been hot in the Gulf of Mexico on the near shore artificial reefs with Little Tunny, and King Mackerel on lite tackle stealing the show. Inshore is a little different, client's aboard the Reelin & Chillin had to work for there catch, however hard work paid off on most all trips. Great fighting snook to twenty-six inches and Redfish to over twenty-seven inches were found around structure and mangroves. A few Sheepshead have been caught along with a couple Black Drum. Just a quick review of a few trips aboard the Reelin & Chillin this week:

Grandpa Rosy, son Todd, & Grandson Troy Rosenlund had a slow day at first, seemed all we could find was undersized Redfish. The day was completed with four snook being caught and released by all three anglers. Troy had the big fish of the day, a nice twenty-six inch snook he caught on only eight pound test line.Barney Sack & Dave Levine found some lite tackle action starting on the flats in Big Pass. We caught & released several Trout, and Ladyfish using white bait on lite tackle. Fun, however the dinner bell wasn't ringing. We headed for structure working docks off of St. Armand's and New Pass. By the end of the trip Barney had a twenty-five inch Redfish in the live well, and David a nice twenty-seven inch Redfish to top off the day. Great work guys.Pat Bryne and Merv Griffin headed out to the Silvertooth artificial reef off of Lido Key for some great lite tackle action. These two anglers had a ball with Little Tunny and King Mackerel ripping line off there reels. I would have to crank up the engine and follow the fish just to get more line back on the reel. Total count "landed" was five Little Tunny and three King Mackerel.The Jordan's had a fun day, however we were limited to inshore fishing do to weather conditions. Rob, Robb, Ben, and Elliott all caught fish, Betsy just enjoyed the show put on from the anglers, along with a group of about five Manatees that hung around the boat in New Pass for awhile. Rob picked up a Black Drum, and a twenty-two inch Redfish. Elliott caught a Red that measured in at twenty-seven inches, and Ben stole the show with "big fish of the day" a Redfish that was just over the twenty-seven inch limit that he released after a quick photo. Robb didn't land the big fish, however he was the Jack Crevalle king of the day for sure.Quick-Release Anchor set upAt times both inshore and near shore I find line being stripped off my light tackle reels at a rate that requires me to detach the anchor and follow the fish. This is necessary not only to get more line back on the reel, it's also necessary to keep the fish out of structure such as docks, crab buoy lines, other anglers fishing lines, and anchor rodes. I have one anchor, chain, and shackle for this purpose, and two different lengths of anchor line. Depending on where I'm fishing determines which length I will use. Inshore I carry a thirty foot section of line and for near shore reefs I carry seventy-five foot section. Length of line will vary depending on the size of your boat, mine is twenty-three feet. I attach a float at the boat end of each line, a large cork float for the inshore set-up and a small fender for the near shore set-up. When anchoring up I tie two half hitches, however only over the front horn of the cleat, this way I only have to grab the slack end of the line and pull to release the anchor. There are a few safety concerns, watch that angler, you don't want to gun the boat and possibly cause a fall. Also, keep an eye behind you when backing. It's very easy to get excited about the angler and his fish, losing site of what your about to run over. One nice benefit about using this set-up aside from the obvious being you just landed a big fish on lite tackle, is that you end up back in the exact location you just left and don't have the hassle of re-anchoring. Hope this tip helps you to have a better chance of getting that big one to the boat on lite tackle - Good Luck.Tight Lines & Good Times,

Capt. Terry Frankford

Reelin & Chillin Charters Inc.

941-228-7802

http://www.charterfishingsarasota.com/

terry.frankford@verizon.net

http://www.naturetourflorida.com/

Fish Are Schooling In Mosquito Lagoon

Fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon the past two weeks has been about as good as it gets. Winds have been calm, the water clear and low, and both air and water temps have been in the mid 70's. The best part is that there have been plenty of fish each day. Schooling fish, tailing fish, and fish in the sand holes. Some days they have been less aggressive than others, but the numbers of fish have been excellent.Last week brought catches of black drum and redfish on DOA crabs along with other reds caught on fly. On Friday, I fished Mosquito Lagoon with Capt. Ron Presley of Cocoa Beach. We spent most of the day targeting the numerous black drum in 1-2 feet of water. We both caught black drum on soft plastic crabs and spooked a ton of big trout. The black drum normally do not eat the wide range of artificial lures that redfish will. The most effective technique was to slowly drag the crab along the bottom in front of the fish. If you are not getting bites, slow down even more.The drum were in schools of 10-200 and could be seen crossing the sandy patches.This Monday, Al from Orlando returned for his second trip. This time he brought his friend Danny from England. Within ten minutes, Al had the first redfish of the day to the boat that he caught casting a 4 inch DOA CAL to a group of tailing fish.We spent the next couple hours casting to redfish with not much success. When the sun got up, the drum appeared. Danny scored first with a drum of about ten pounds. A short while later, both guys we hooked up to some smaller drum.Al caught a trout to complete his Mosquito Lagoon slam and we moved on to look for some bigger fish. We found several schools finning and tailing and both Al and Danny caught some nice drum.We spent the end of the day trying to get Danny his red for the slam. We saw some reds and had some shots but it just didn't work out. Still, it was an excellent day.The next day, I had two fly fishermen from New York. The skies were clear and the winds light. We probably did not go for five minutes the entire day without having fish near the boat. It was their first time sight fishing for redfish and my anglers could not quite get the fly to the fish. Shallow water sight fishing requires stealth and quick accurate casts. If you are missing any one of these elements, the level of success diminishes. Although my anglers were questioning whether or not the fish were willing to eat, the fact that they were tailing aggressively, proves they were. The guys were dedicated to the fly, though, and stuck with it to the end. Even though we had at least 100 shots at fish, none came to the boat.Thursday, I took my flyrods and friend Capt. Tom Van Horn back to see if the redfish were still tailing. Capt. Tom let me go first and I landed three redfish and pulled the hook on five more within twenty minutes on an olive #2 crab pattern. We saw some black drum but could not get any shots at them and we both spooked quite a few redfish that were tailing and finning. Tom and I caught six or seven redfish and a few trout including a beauty of about 28 inches that Tom landed along the edge of a shallow flat.Friday, I was joined by two ladies from Orlando, Debbie and Connie. Although the weather was still warm, the leading edge of a front had moved in bringing clouds and wind. The redfish that had been so plentiful all week, were few and far between. We saw only three tailing reds the entire day. Fortunately, the trout and drum were much more cooperative. The women started the day catching around a dozen trout on four inch CAL tails in Arkansas Glow and Stark Naked. Next, Connie landed back to back black drum around fifteen pounds and Debbie caught her first drum also.We left the drum biting to make one more attempt at some redfish to complete the slam. I spotted several reds moving away in front of the boat. Debbie cast here CAL tail towards them and her line came tight with what we thought was the first red of the day. Instead, it turned out to be here largest trout to date. We never did catch a redfish but it was still another excellent winter day in Florida.If you are looking for some Christmas gifts for the fisherman in your family, visit Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka. Everything in their fishing department is 20% off.

Captain Chris Myers
321-229-2848
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com/
cmyers@floridafishinglessons.com

Fish Take Flies In Gulf And On Flats

Capt. Rick Grassett’s Fishing Report for 12/5 through 12/16/2007

The best action in the last 10 days has been on deep grass flats and in the coastal gulf off Sarasota. Anglers fishing with me on the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had great action with Spanish mackerel, bluefish and trout. In addition, we also caught and released pompano and king mackerel in Sarasota Bay and the coastal gulf. The best action was in Big Pass and deep grass flats on the east and west sides of Sarasota Bay.
A night snook trip in Blackburn Bay on Dec. 6th was slow, with only 3 snook and several jacks and ladyfish caught and released with flies. It is important to have a good, moving tide for this type of fishing, which we didn’t have. Since this is usually a 4-hour evening trip, if there is a tide change during that time frame, it will usually kill the action. A couple of trips in Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound targeting reds were also slow. Despite good conditions, negative low tides and not much wind, fish in potholes and tailing on shallow grass flats ignored us. Although these things were slow, action on deep grass flats and passes of Sarasota Bay made up for it.
Walt Poxon, from MN, and his brother and sister-in-law Bill and Sue Poxon, from Sarasota, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Monday, Dec. 10th. We had steady action with large ladyfish, bluefish and Spanish mackerel on CAL jigs with shad tails, DOA Deadly Combos and MirrOlure Top Dog, Jrs. The next day, 970 WFLA’s Capt. Mel Berman, fished the same area with me. We had fast action at Stephens Point and near Buttonwood Harbor with trout, bluefish and Spanish mackerel on jigs and Ultra Hair Clouser flies.
I was the guest of my friend, Capt. Rick DePaiva from Ft. Myers, FL, on Thursday. Capt. Rick is an expert at locating and fishing tailing reds in Pine Island Sound. We had near perfect conditions and the reds obliged us by waving their tails all day long. Although everything was right, the reds had other ideas. They proved to be very challenging, ignoring most of our fly presentations. Rick’s friend, David McCleaf, did catch and release a nice red with a weedless-rigged DOA shrimp and I caught and released a nice trout on one of Capt. Rick’s Kwan flies. If you want to fish that area, Capt. Rick can be reached at http://www.saltwaterflyfishing.org/.
One of the best trips of the week was with fly angler Justin Bunting and his girlfriend, Sarah, from CO and Sarah’s dad, Duke Doster, from IN. We had fast action for a couple of hours in Big Pass with bluefish and large ladyfish on Ultra Hair Clouser flies and Diamond jigs. We then headed for the coastal gulf to hunt for little tunny and Spanish mackerel. We found fast action at the Silvertooth reef off Lido Beach, where they caught and released a little tunny on a Diamond jig, a king mackerel on a fly and a couple of Spanish mackerel on flies and jigs. The next stop was Stephens Point and the sand bar along the east side of Sarasota Bay where they caught and released trout to 20” and more bluefish and ladyfish. A great day!
On Saturday, my son-in-law, Capt. Andy Cotton and I did some scouting in Sarasota. We had fast action with bluefish, Spanish mackerel, trout and pompano on Ultra Hair Clouser flies near Bishops Point. Fishing will be challenging for a few days early next week due to a strong front that moved through our area Sunday morning. It will be cool and windy for a couple of days and fish will move due to the drop in water temperature. By the middle of the week it should warm back up and fishing will improve. Tides will also improve as we head toward a full moon next weekend.
Capt. Andy Cotton, from Sarasota, FL, caught and released this nice pompano on a fly while fishing Sarasota Bay with his father-in-law, Capt. Rick Grassett.



Sarah, from CO, caught and released this nice trout on a CAL jig with a shad tail while fishing Sarasota Bay with Capt. Rick Grassett.
Tight Lines,
Capt. Rick Grassett
FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
http://www.flyfishingflorida.net/ and http://www.snookfin-addict.com/

Snook Head Up River, Trout Come On Strong

December 18, 2007
A warm November did slightly prolong our Snook season as some fish were still holding on spoil islands and even on the beaches until mid month. As December rolls in though, there will be no escaping the cold so if you are intent on catching a Snook, head back into the bayous, residential canals or up a nearby river to find fish that will bite as inter-coastal water temperatures continue to drop. Live bait and slowly retrieved artificials will be most effective at getting the job done. The best day to catch a Snook in the cooler months will be the last day of a warming trend right before the next front comes through.
If you’re more interested in catching volumes of fish, it’s time to target trout. Our fantastic winter trout fishery is just beginning as some 20 inch plus fish have started to show on local flats and spoils. These “early season” trout are typically aggressive and respond well to jigs and even top water plugs on some days. With jigs, swim or bounce them across the bottom just above the grass. Top waters should be fished with the “walk the dog” retrieve…twitching the bait back and forth on the surface. Suspend plugs are also effective this time of year when fished with the same twitch type retrieve. On the live bait front, there’s probably no better bait than a nice select shrimp under a bobber, but whitebait, pinfish, and grass grunts all work well for larger trout…and yes, there is still whitebait out there.
Redfish are present through the winter and provide a nice alternative to the trout fishing. Legal fish are around but finding the big bruisers that we catch spring though fall is more difficult. Isolated pockets of bigger fish can be located on certain grass flats and docks, but the bulk of the winter fish are 15 to 20 inches. On the bright side, these fish will often school up in big numbers and can provide consistent action. Shrimp will catch these fish all day long as will a new penny colored “Gulp” shrimp. In certain locations, these reds will mix with the trout, making for some good “one stop” fishing.
The near shore “bonanza” that we had going for the last six weeks on the big Spanish Mackerel, Kingfish and Bonita seems to be settling down a bit. Although bait is still off the beaches, the predators have thinned out, with one interesting exception. Some kingfish are still holding as close as 150 yards off the beaches. A slow trolled large threadfin seems to be the bait of choice as that’s what they are feeding on. You would expect the Spanish to still be strong in close with all the bait, but they’re here one day for a few hours, then gone. One bite that is picking up now is the silver trout. There are schools of them off the beaches and in other locations so if you have a silver trout spot, give it a try. Although these trout are a little smaller than our winter sea trout, they can be caught in large numbers once a school is located. They’ll readily eat shrimp and small jigs. So get out there with the family and catch a bunch of fish.
Good luck.


Captain Stewart Ames
727-421-5291
http://www.captainames.com/
sames001@tampabay.rr.com

US Coast Guard Licensed Captain


Member Florida Guides Association

© 2007 Captain Stewart Ames, Gone Fishing Charters, Tampa, FL727-421-5291

Silver Trout, Whiting Take Up The Slack

12/10/2007
Hey everyone! December is here and the New Year is around the corner. Even with a few coldfronts, the weather here in Florida has been mild and the fishing action is great. There have been some exciting days out here as we have been able to see a lot of calm winds and blue skies. What better opportunity than Christmas break, to get out and do some fishing. Keep in mind, Gift Certificates can also be a creative gift idea for a loved one. OK. Here's what's happening.You haven't heard me talk a lot about Silver Trout, but they are a nice alternative during the closed season on Spotted Sea Trout for the table. These fish are very cooperative when you find them and can be easily caught no matter what experience level of the angler. We are using Gulp Shrimp by Berkley which is a heavily scented artificial bait on an 1/8 oz. jighead. There are a couple of good locations for the Silver Trout in my area. One is off of the beaches in 5 - 10 feet of water. The flat sandy bottom has held schools of bait over the past few weeks and the Silvers are hugging the bottom under these unsuspecting baits. Just cast out the Gulps and slowly hop them back to the boat. We are also getting a few Whiting and even some Spanish Mackerel with this same technique. Although smaller in most cases than the Spotted Sea Trout, these fish will bend the rods.Speaking of Spotted Sea Trout, they are really starting to show up again as they do each year around this time. The spoil islands are holding decent numbers as well as some of the flats along the East. A slow drift across these shallow flats with a jerkworm can often lead the discovery of a large school of Trout. The sandy potholes and scattered rocks seem to be a feature they like to stage around. Live shrimp under a cork or especially Greenbacks are an easy way to draw them in for a strike. While working the spoil islands, try to focus on the deeper edges until the water gets in the low 60's. The fish have seemed to be in the 6 or 7 foot ditches well off of the islands themselves. Of course, the grass flats between the dump banks are full of the smaller versions. I tend to use a smaller 3 - 4' tail on a jighead when drifting those areas. The season reopens for Spotted Trout on January 1st. there will be tremendous pressure on this species so be very careful while handling them. We need to preserve them as much as possible if not taking them for food.Redfishing has been pretty spotty lately. We are mostly catching the smaller variety around the rocks near the spoil islands. Mangroves are still a target when the tides are up, but not too close. The potholes in front of the bushes are holding the most fish. Oyster bars are also a good area to work. Even a few Snook are eating when the water temps are right. On a recent trip, we were able to hook a Red then a Snook nearly each cast. The Reds were 16 -20 inches and the biggest Snook was around 25 inches. Although not the monsters we see in the summer, the action was unbeatable.Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish are still around. These fish both have very sharp teeth and when not rigged correctly, you can lose a hook, sometimes without even feeling the bite. When targeting the Macks, I use a long shank hook such as the Mustad brand. This prevents their teeth from getting to the leader in most cases. They will still win a few times though.Even through the cold fronts we have had some beautiful days. Sometimes you need a break from the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Call me at 727-365-7560 to plan a trip or to purchase a Gift Certificate while there is still time. Have a Merry Christmas.
Capt. Brian

Captain Brian Caudill
727-365-7560
braincandle2@yahoo.com
http://www.captbrian.com/