Sarasota Fishing Report 12-24-2011

Sarasota, FL Fishing Report
Capt. Rick Grassett
12/24/2011

Catch and release night snook fishing was on fire early last week! Anglers fishing with me on my Action Craft flats skiff the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, caught and released snook, reds, trout and bluefish during the past week. The best action was fly fishing for snook at night in the ICW near Venice. Snook gorged themselves on glass minnows around lighted docks and ate my Snook Minnow fly just as well. In addition, we also caught trout and reds around docks on the same fly.

Bruce McLean, from Sarasota and his son, Gray McLean, from Charlottesville, VA, fished the ICW near Venice with me on Monday evening. They caught and released more than 15 snook to 23”, 6 trout to 18” and 4 reds to 22” on my Grassett Snook Minnow fly. Not only did Gray catch his first snook on a fly, he also caught and released several slams!

The action got even better on Wednesday evening when Bill Rhodes from Hernando Beach, FL, fished the same area with me. The bite was so good at quitting time that we decided to turn it into a 6-hour trip. Bill also had a fly rod slam catching and releasing more than 40 snook to 23”, 6 trout to 19” and a 22” red on my Snook Minnow fly! Exercise caution when snook fishing this time of year. I always use tackle and leaders heavy enough to land them quickly with minimal handling. If water temperatures plummet following a strong front, I won’t fish for them at all until conditions stabilize.

Bill fished Sarasota Bay with me on Thursday morning. The action was slow, but he managed to catch and release a couple of trout and a bluefish on a Hansen Glass Minnow fly near Whale Key. He fished a tandem fly rig with a smaller fly about 24” ahead of a larger fly on an intermediate shooting head fly line creating the illusion of schooling bait fish.

Jerry Roth, from Longwood, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Friday morning. Despite beautiful conditions it was slow to start. We had a negative low tide with good sunlight and mullet so thick you could walk on them, but we covered a lot of water before we scored. Jerry finished the day with 4 reds to 24” caught and released on a CAL jig with a shad tail near Buttonwood Harbor.

Negative low tides early next week as we head away from a new moon should concentrate reds and trout in potholes. Fish deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay for trout, blues, Spanish mackerel, pompano and flounder. As long as it stays mild, we should also have action with false albacore, Spanish mackerel and tripletail in the coastal gulf when conditions are good. Have a Merry Christmas!



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



Gray McLean, from Charlottesville, VA, caught and released this red on a Grassett Snook Minnow fly while fishing the ICW near Venice at night with Capt. Rick Grassett.



Bill Rhodes, from Hernando Beach, FL, caught and released this snook on a Grassett Snook Minnow fly while fishing the ICW near Venice at night with Capt. Rick Grassett.



Jerry Roth, from Longwood, FL, caught and released this red on a CAL jig with a shad tail while fishing Sarasota Bay with Capt. Rick Grassett.

Apalachicola Fishing Report

Redfish rule in December and January on the mild sunny days that we love to experience here in winter on the Forgotten Coast. Just this past week of beautiful warm December weather, Capt. Tommy Holland's clients came in with about 60 legal fish and Capt. Chris is fishing for Reds as I type with Rob Bartosh. That's not to say that colder weather isn't fishable... because it is! If you've got the fishing bug bad enough, there's always someplace to tuck up out of the weather & hook up on striped bass or redfish or trout. Fortunately we do have a year round fishery here. Note: Tarpon are a HOT weather fish.



Congratulations Shawn Jarrell for correctly guessing the number of spots on the redfish in our last fishing report. Capt. Chris Robinson reported there were 41spots on that redfish. And local Shelley Shepard was the closest on the weight of the Bull Redfish. It weighed 22 lbs on the Boga-grip. Shelley's estimate of 22.5 was the closest. Shawn, your hat is on the way to you in the mail and Shelley, you have to come by our new office to get yours!




Bill Mudd just finished fishing with Capt. Tommy Robinson December 11-15 in the Florida Everglades for Snook, etc. The season for snook is closed, but they are still an exciting fish to catch & release. Tommy plans to continue to fish with clients in the Glades every year. Let me know if you're interested in Dec. 2012!



Dr. Ed Hall also enjoyed his Everglades fishing trip with Tommy this December! Plenty of snook, some "Ditch" fishing and a python. Fishing with Tommy is nothing but pure entertainment!

Ok, enough fooling around. Here's the news. Capt. Jr. is in the process of building Robert the fish cleaner a new fish cleaning building. All of y'all who have had their fish professionally cleaned by Mr. Robert will appreciate this. Look for photos of his new place in the next newsletter.

Next on the agenda...Deposits for 2012 fishing trips. If we have contacted you and given you your dates and you wish to fish then your deposit is past due now. Reservations are not guaranteed without the deposit.

We LOVE our new space!! Can't wait for everybody to come see it!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & Tight Lines!

Kathy Robinson
Robinson Brothers Guide Service/Robinson Real Estate Company
44 Avenue E
Apalachicola, FL 32320
www.FloridaRedfish.com
850-653-8896

Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report 12-17-2011

Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
Capt. Chris Myers
December 17, 2011

The story so far this December has been one of weather and water. Neither one have been cooperating. The weather has been less than optimal for sight fishing. While there have been a few days with light winds and sun, there have been many more with one or both of those factors working against us. This time of year, the waters of the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River should be crystal clear. Unfortunately, that is not the case in most parts of the Lagoon system. The water temperatures are still hovering above 65 degrees and the bloom of exotic algae that plagued us most of the summer and fall is still lingering on. To see the fish, you need both sun and clean water, a combination that has been hard to get lately. The good news is that there are redfish around and they have been more than willing to eat well placed lures and flies.

To start the month off, I had fellow FFF Certified Casting Instructor Dan Boggs on board for what I was hoping would be one of the best fly fishing days of the year. The fish had been tailing well the week before and I was certain Dan would be able to hit the target. We arrived to find winds sustained at 19mph, chilly temperatures, and plenty of clouds. Not only do redfish not tail as much in the wind, it is more difficult to spot them when they do. Needless to say, the tailing fish were nowhere to be found. Dan's
father reeled in the only redfish of the day.



A few days later, I was joined by fried Rick for a day of fun fishing. We spent the first part of the morning exploring miles of water that held very few fish. After much searching, we found some clean water and plenty of cruising redfish. The black redfish worm fly and the watermelon holographic DOA shrimp were pounced on by most of the fish that saw them. While many of the fish we saw were digging in the grass feeding, we saw very few tails break the surface.



The following morning, I returned to a slick calm flat to find schools of tailing redfish in every direction. The first cast of the day with my 5wt flyrod resulted in a
redfish eating my brown and gold bendback fly but the fish broke off. I tied on a green and silver bendback and got 4 bites on the next 5 casts but no hookups. I inspected the fly and discovered the hook had broken just below the eye on the first bite. I grabbed my black redfish worm and quickly began hooking, and landing, fish. About 45 minutes later, the tails all went down, the fished moved off, and I never saw them again. I spent the remainder of the day scouting for some places to fish on what I knew was going to
be a windy charter the following day.

Scottish angler, Brian, joined me for another one of the days of 20 mph winds we have had. To go along with the wind, we had morning temperatures in the 40's. The water temperature had dropped thirteen degrees overnight. It was the last day of his trip, however, and he wanted to give it a try. His preference was fly fishing but, due to the wind, he decided a spinning rod might give him a better chance. Unfortunately, none of the fish I had found the previous day were in wind protected areas. We were the only boat in sight when Brian began getting bites on his weedless rigged three inch DOA CAL. For some reason, the fish were not getting hooked so I switched him to a four inch CAL in golden bream color. We were fishing in about 2 feet of slightly cloudy water with both grass and sand patches. A Woodies Rattle in the baits seemed to be helping the fish locate the small lure. Brain caught redfish on the 3, 4, and 5 inch CAL baits. The bite was consistent and he even got out the flyrod and made some blind casts with a brown crab pattern. He landed his flyrod redfish and turned some poor weather into an excellent day of catching.



This week's weather was even less flats fishing friendly with gray skies dominating the days. Steve and Hank joined me on the Lagoon for some sight fishing. The winds were light for a change but the clouds were thick in the morning. Unable to find any tailing fish we tried some trout fishing while we waited for the clouds to clear. I tied on a couple DOA Deadly Combos and we began hitting islands, bars, and dropoffs. They caught a dozen or so and we suddenly had a break in the clouds. We raced off to the flats in search of redfish. We had just located a decent concentration when the clouds. Unable to see the fish until we ran into them, they were forced to change tactics to blind casting for the rest of the day. Both guys had several bites from redfish but failed to set the hook and they never managed to land one.

When the weather cooperates and the fish are tailing, the fishing is excellent. During periods of clouds and wind, finding the fish can be a challenge. Hopefully, as we move towards what is traditionally the coldest time of the year in Florida, the algae bloom will clear and more areas will be open to sight fishing. Clean water and blue skies are at the top of my Christmas wish list.

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

Tarpon Springs Fishing Report 12-2011

Tampa Fishing Reports
December 2011 Tampa Fishing Report
by Stewart Ames



With winter rapidly approaching, the fish targeted on Tampa fishing charters will become much more predictable. Large seatrout will become the primary species and, although not open until January 1st south of Fred Howard Park, will provide consistent action. As the water is not real cold yet, these fish should readily eat suspending plugs and swim tail plastic jigs. Anglers fortunate enough to get on the water during the early hours of the day on a calm morning during the week can successfully entice big trout to crash surface lures as well. Although bringing home a limit of trout to eat is a primary motivator for many anglers, those wishing to enjoy some great sport should fish before the season opens as action will be strong and fishing pressure much lighter. On productive days, catching 15 to 20 trout over twenty inches is a realistic expectation. From a live bait perspective, most Tampa fishing guides start each day well stocked with select shrimp when big trout are the focus. Fishing these under a slip bobber is a can't miss proposition although, on days when fish are less aggressive, simply free-lining a shrimp can be another productive approach.



November RefishThe other logical early winter target is the redfish. Once November rolls around, many areas holding larger redfish see an influx of smaller fish and a departure of the larger ones. True to form, recent Tampa fishing charters targeting redfish are being rewarded with good numbers, but fish are ranging from 16 to 23 inches. Nevertheless, there's decent action and fillets for the table. The big breeder redfish action appears to have subsided so areas prospected by Tampa fishing guides for these fish will probably get little attention until next year. Tampa redfish dinnerDocks and oyster bars become much more important structures for redfish in the winter...maybe because of the abundance of small crabs. With other bait fish becoming more scarce, these locations may offer better dining options. Also, dark oyster bars and and dark muddy bottoms found around residential docks may hold heat a little better as well. Whatever the reason, these locations, along with some of the spoil islands along the inter-coastal waterway, are good areas to target. With redfish being crustacean focused, shrimp are probably the most effective winter bait. A good second choice would be smaller pieces of cut bait and small pinfish. "Bobbering" and "free-lining" a shrimp are two effective tactics when fishing oyster bars. Docks are best fished with heavy split shots to facilitate accurate casting and to hold your bait in a desired location away from pilings.





Big Tampa Shallow water grouperNear shore gag grouper fishing was as good this year as it has been in quite some time, making the grouper season closure next year even more perplexing. The latest word is that the season will open from July 1st through October 31st, which translates to two things. Anglers wanting to catch grouper during the open season next year will need to burn some gas as fish will be deep and inshore Tampa fishing charters that target grouper during the late fall will not be allowed to harvest them. Tampa Fishing for fall grouperNevertheless, Tampa fishing guides working depths from 20 the 35 feet consistently found fish over the last month. Although there were days when only one or two legal fish were hooked, most trips resulted in several quality fish being landed. Unlike grouper hooked at greater depths, large fish hooked in shallow water tend to run "sideways", giving the angler a clear indication of where the rock is that they are running to. The initial strike of a big fish could safely be classified as violent in this shallow water. With pinfish migrating out to these near shore rocks and large thread herring suspending a quarter mile off the beach, grouper were perfectly willing to eat both although, interestingly, showed a strong preference for one or the other on certain days. Heavy conventional grouper tackle was the standardAssorted fish on fall Tampa Fishing Charter approach employed by most Tampa fishing guides however when fish became reluctant to eat, going to lighter tackle and less weight would often trigger three or four strikes in a row on a spot that had yielded no bites with the heavier gear...dispelling any theory that grouper aren't occasionally line or "heavy sinker"shy.



Although there are few fish better to eat than the grouper, two other species were fairly abundant this year in the same areas targeted for grouper...the black seabass and the flounder. Both provide exceptionally tasting fillets. Flounder, laid up on sand bottoms Tampa's best fish dinnerimmediately adjacent to these near shore limestone "patch reefs", would eat smaller pinfish and cut baits. Tampa Fishing for flounderSeabass would eat the same offerings as, even though smaller in size, they have big mouthes. Once seabass approach about a foot in length, they are worthy of filleting. Legal length is 10 inches. It may take two or three to feed one hungry person but when placed side by side with grouper in a taste comparison, most people will choose saebass, which is actually a grouper, as the tastiest. So even after grouper season closed on the 15th, catching grouper on light tackle for sport and bringing home some seabass and grunts to eat made for an enjoyable day. If the tide was strong enough, some Tampa fishing guides would split thier time between grouper and redfish, providing a nice mix of onshore and offhsore fishing.



As winter descends upon us, good fishing days will be determined by two factors....strong tides and the movement of weather fronts. Like most fishing, winter fishing for trout and redfish is almost always better on days with good tidal movement. The other critical factor is the timing of the cold fronts. Fishing the days in front of an approaching cold front is almost always productive. Fishing immediately after is usually frustrating and disappointing. So, look for strong tide days in front of an approaching front and you've given yourself the best odds for a good day of winter fishing. Good luck and good fishing.

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

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report 12-13- 2011

Mosquito Creek Outdoors Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
December 10, 2011
By Captain Tom Van Horn


Upcoming Seminars and Events

Central Florida Shad and Crappie Derby Dates
Thursday December 15th, Shad and Crappie Derby Anglers Meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Mosquito Creek Outdoor, 170 South Washington Avenue in Apopka.

Saturday December 17th, Shad and Crappie Derby begins at safe light.

Saturday January 14th, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Crappie Rally and Seminar at Boat Tree Marina at the Port of Sanford.

Thursday January 26th 6:30 - 9:00 PM, Free Shad and Crappie Fly Tying Event at Orlando Outfitters, 2814 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL 32808, phone (407) 896-8220. Visit: www.orlandooutfitters.com. Fly tying instruction and seminar by Capt. Beau Osborne. Learn what you need to catch shad and crappie on fly in the Orlando area and see how easy it is to tie effective fly patterns for both species. These tying techniques can also be used to create your own shad and crappie jigs.

Saturday February 25th, 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. Shad Rally and Seminar at the Jolly Gator Fish Camp on the St. Johns River and HWY 46 east of Geneva.

Saturday March 17th, Shad and Crappie Derby ends at dusk.

February 11th and 12th, Old Florida Outdoor Festival in Apopka, Florida.


This Weeks Fishing Report
Like selecting a candy from an assorted box of Christmas chocolates, you never know what to expect while fishing during the month of December on Florida's Space Coast. Sometimes you're looking for somewhere to spit, and others reward you with unforgettable memories difficult to duplicate. Well that's the story of my life on the lagoon coast this past week, and a reflection of years past during the month of December.

In December, calm days are few and far between, so you fish when you have a chance, and on Thursday strong post frontal winds and 40 degree air temperatures almost made me call off the charter. I'm glad we didn't. We departed the dock around 8 a.m. and headed east across the lagoon. On the previous day during calm conditions we located a few large redfish while on a scouting mission and my plan was to start in that location despite being on the windward side of the flat.

As we drifted into position, heavy chop broke over the stern and the water look like chocolate milk. I was hoping for the best as I staked out the boat, thinking maybe we would get lucky and catch a few fish. Well, the fish gods must have felt sorry for the only fools on the water, blessing us with 8 redfish and a nice sea trout, with 4 of the redfish exceeding 30 pounds. About the only tactic we could use on a day like this was stake out and chunk bait, but as a guide you do what you have to do to catch fish, and on Thursday the tactic work well.



Grampa Don and Grandson Mike with a double header to start the day.

On a different note, my good friend Charlie McCullough caught his first shad on the discharge side of Lake Harney while slow trolling for speckled perch. The shad derby starts next Saturday, and on Thursday the 15th we have our anglers meeting and seminar at Mosquito Creek Outdoors and general sign up begins on Friday the 16th. For more information on the 3rd Annual Shad and Crappie Derby visit www.cfshadderby.com.

Lastly, the holiday season is upon us, so be generous this year and spend some time fishing with those close to your heart, and be obliged to those spending their time away from their families serving our country.

As always, if you need information of have any questions, please contact me.

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn
mosquitocoast@cfl.rr.com
http://www.irl-fishing.com
(407) 416-1187

For all of your outdoor needs, visit www.mosquitocreek.com, it's where your adventure begins.