Sarasota Fishing Report 3-29-2012

Sarasota & Gasparilla Sound, FL Fishing Report
3/25/2012
by Capt. Rick Grassett


Anglers fishing Sarasota Bay and Gasparilla Sound with me on my Action Craft flats skiff the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, caught and released trout and reds on flies and jigs during the past week.

We fished the Marina Jack and Middleground flats and near Whale Key in Sarasota Bay on Sunday and Wednesday of last week and caught and released silver and spotted sea trout to 19” on CAL jigs with shad tails and DOA Deadly Combos. Paul Denesha and his son, Avery, from IN, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Tuesday morning. We focused on potholes in skinny water near Long Bar where they caught and released 7 or 8 trout on a Deceiver fly and a CAL jig with a shad tail. St. Pete winter resident, Wes Demmon, fished Sarasota Bay with me that afternoon. With the sea breeze and tide up, we fished skinny water on the west side of the bay. Wes caught and released 5 reds to 23” and a few trout near Bishop Point and Buttonwood Harbor on CAL jigs with shad tails and DOA Deadly Combos. A great afternoon!

Harry Beaty and Chris Denney, from Ontario, Canada, fished Gasparilla Sound with me on Friday. They had good action near Sandfly and Devilfish Keys with trout to 22” on CAL jigs with shad tails and DOA Deadly Combos. Harry also caught a 22” red on a CAL jig with a shad tail in Turtle Bay.

Reds and trout may be found along shallow edges of flats and bars or in potholes when the tide is low or along mangrove shorelines when the tide is high. Look for trout, Spanish mackerel, blues, ladyfish or pompano over deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay. Catch and release night snook fishing in the ICW should also be a good option.

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



Paul Denesha, from IN, caught and released this nice trout out of a pothole on a Deceiver fly while fishing shallow water in Sarasota Bay with Capt. Rick Grassett.



St. Pete winter resident, Wes Demmon, caught and released this nice red on a CAL jig with a shad tail while fishing Sarasota Bay with Capt. Rick Grassett.

Apalachicola Fishing Report 3-25- 2012

Captain Nathan Donahoe's 1st Pompano of the 2012 Season was caught on March 17th at the usual place at the usual time on the usual tackle. If you want more details than that you'll have to spend the day on his boat with him and pick his brain yourself! He's got a few days open next week and the week after next.

Keys Cancellations - Just got word that Chris has March 25 - 29 open for permit/tarpon fishing out of Key West. He is also available for either an April 1, 2 & 3 or 6, 7 & 8 three day trip. Please contact me ASAP if you can make this work! Also, Nathan has May 11-13 open for Redfishing in Apalach - this is normally an excellent time to fish.

And last, we just listed Capt. Jr & Rhonda's house for sale. It's on an acre about 3 miles from town and it is Gorgeous! Check out the real estate website for the listing.
www.RobinsonRealEstateCompany.com

Art Walk is this Saturday in Downtown Apalachicola! Enjoy Art, Wine and Friendly People!

Kathy Robinson
Robinson Brothers Guide Service
Apalachicola, FL
850-653-8896
www.FloridaRedfish.com

Sarasota Bay Fishing Report 3-17-2012

Sarasota & Venice, FL Fishing Report
3/17/2012
by Capt. Rick Grassett


Anglers fishing Sarasota Bay, Little Sarasota Bay, Blackburn Bay and the ICW near Venice 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, trout, Spanish mackerel, pompano, flounder, redfish and a small cobia on flies and jigs during the past week.

Bill Van Horne, from Sterling, IL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Monday afternoon. With a poor tide and a forecast for windy conditions in the morning, we chose to fish the better conditions in the afternoon. He caught and released numerous trout on CAL jigs with shad tails and DOA Deadly Combos fishing deep grass flats along the east side of bay. Bill finished the day with 3 nice reds caught and released on a CAL jig with a shad tail in very skinny water at the top of the tide.

Siesta Key winter resident Martin Marlowe and his son, Bruce from RI, fished Blackburn and Little Sarasota Bays and the ICW near Venice with me on Tuesday afternoon and night. They caught and released 7 or 8 snook and a few trout and ladyfish on Ultra Hair Clouser and my Snook Minnow flies. Martin also fished with me on Friday and we caught and released a few trout, ladyfish, a nice Spanish mackerel and a small cobia on flies and CAL jigs with shad tails in Sarasota Bay.

Mary Smiley, from Sarasota, and Linda Foy, from Twin Bridges, MT, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Wednesday. Linda hooked a big Spanish mackerel on an Ultra Hair Clouser fly and the fish ran so fast that the handle broke off the reel when it was bumped! They caught and released a few trout and a pompano on Ultra Hair Clouser flies at several deep grass flats on both sides of the bay. Mike and Roxanne Beshoar, from WA, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Thursday. They caught and released a flounder, Spanish mackerel, pompano and trout to 4-pounds on CAL jigs with shad tails at various deep grass flats on both sides of the bay.

Reds and trout may be found along shallow edges of flats and bars when the tide is low or along mangrove shorelines when the tide is high. Look for trout, Spanish mackerel, blues, ladyfish or pompano over deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay. Catch and release night snook fishing in the ICW should also be a good option. Spanish mackerel and bluefish may be found in passes especially when the tide is strong. Spanish mackerel, false albacore (little tunny), tripletail and more may be good options in the coastal gulf.

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



Bill Van Horne, from Sterling, IL, caught and released this nice red on a CAL jig with a shad tail while fishing a shallow Sarasota Bay flat with Capt. Rick Grassett.



Roxanne Beshoar, from Spokane, WA, caught and released this 4-pound trout on a CAL jig with a shad tail while fishing a Sarasota Bay sand bar with Capt. Rick Grassett.

Indian River Fishing Report 3-16-2012

Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
March 16, 2012
by Capt. Chris Myers

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report
The first two weeks of March have been complete opposites. Last week we experienced high winds and lots of clouds every day except one. This week was a flats fisherman's paradise with calm winds, clear skies, and thousands of happy fish in shallow water. While we caught fish on every trip, even during the windy days, it was much easier and productive this week.


I stared last week with Dave. Despite a forecast of winds between 20 and 30mph, he still wanted to venture out for what would be his only chance to fish Mosquito Lagoon. Fortunately, my boat handles rough water quite well and we found ourselves the only anglers on the flat. We spotted a few fish and a couple schools but nothing like we were hoping for. Still Dave got his first few redfish.

The following day it was nearly as windy as I set out with Neal. Clouds were hampering our sight fishing and the school of large reds we were on kept managing to sneak out of our view. It was a tough day fishing but Neal's first and only redfish topped the 20 pound mark.



The next three days I spent fishing with injured veterans from Afghanistan. Wounded Warrior Outdoors is a non-profit organization that provides therapeutic outdoor adventures to injured active duty personnel. The participating soldiers come directly from military hospitals and the activity is part of their ongoing rehab. If you want to thank a soldier for their sacrifice, I highly recommend supporting this program. I had the pleasure of fishing with Jacob and Seth, both Marines, for what was their first saltwater fishing trips. We did not get the best of weather and had to spend much of our time hiding in protected areas in the northern Lagoon. We were able to get some calmer weather the second day which allowed the guys to experience sight fishing for tailing drum. They caught a variety of fish over the days including redfish, black drum, trout, bluefish, ladyfish, jack crevalle, and more.









This Monday, the winds subsided, the skies cleared, and the sight fishing was red hot. Richard and his son Ryan landed double digit redfish on DOA CAL tails before finishing the day with some seatrout on the Deadly Combo.

Tuesday, Nick and I found ourselves surrounded by hundreds of tailing redfish throughout the morning. Every cast that landed on target resulted in a bite. The schools eventually moved off and we spend the remainder of the day with nonstop shots and single redfish.



Billy and Frank experienced similar conditions the following day. The three inch DOA CAL in the new Bloodworm color resulted in multiple bites. Later in the morning, we found some incredible seatrout action catching and releasing over 30 fish.



Irl was my final client this week. Tailing redfish again greeted us at first light. He used a silver and green bendback fly to fool several reds. Irl had some shots at black drum and 20-30 pound redfish during the day but could not convince them to eat.



Schools of finger mullet are pouring back into the Lagoon and the pinfish are making their appearance as well. Topwater baits will produce but most areas have lots of floating grass that lifted up off the shorelines as the water levels rose. For tailing reds, the 3 and 4 inch DOA CAL has been very effective along with the 3 inch shrimp. Fly anglers should use an unweighted fly that will land softly when casting to tailing fish on calm mornings.

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

Apalachicola Fishing Report 3- 2012

Dr. Rob Bartosh takes a a well deserved "Fishing Break"!

80 Degrees in March? This spring break is proving to be the most favorable weather-wise in years! Forcast is for the unseasonably warm weather to continue at least into next week. For beach goers the water is swimmable and for you fishermen/women on my fishing report list, The Redfish are Biting! Oh, and so are the speckled trout. The warm weather now bodes well for our summer fishing season - we are so looking forward to being out on the water!

Dr. Bartosh fished with Capt. Tommy Holland on Friday March 9th when he caught the above Bull Redfish over 30".



Scott Johnson - 33 inch Redfish

Scott & Ray Johnson spent March 10th on the boat with Capt. Ken Finch where they both hooked up on some beautiful Reds...



Ray Johnson 30" Redfish

So, after this Pictorial essay, must I use my words to entice you to make your Spring Break Fishing plans NOW?

April-May Redfishing / Flats and Bay trips are still open and we do still have June & July Tarpon dates available. Capt. Chris Robinson had a cancellation for April 6,7 & 8 in Key West for Permit & Tarpon - first call, first served!

Capt. Bruce Millinder is back this year with his 36 foot Hattaras and Capt. Ken & Capt. Grayson are both offshore & inshore guides.

Cypress N Honey (Suite B at 44 Ave. E) has April - July availability if staying in Apalach is appealing.

Hope you have a bright & shiny weekend!
Don't forget the sunscreen!

Kathy Robinson (Realtor & Fishwife)
Robinson Brothers Guide Service
44 Avenue E - Apalachicola, Florida
www.FloridaRedfish.com
850-653-8896 or 877-6Redfish