Capt. Rick Grassett’s Sarasota, FL Fishing Report for 3/3/2018

Anglers fishing with me, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had good action catching and releasing snook in the ICW at night and trout in Sarasota Bay on flies and trout, redfish and snook on CAL jigs with shad tails in Gasparilla Sound near Boca Grande during the past week. The best action was with snook at night.

Jerry Poslusny, from Palmetto and Rich Hunter, from Longboat Key, fished the ICW with me on Wednesday night. They had good action catching and releasing numerous snook and a nice trout on my Grassett Snook Minnow fly. Snook season reopened on March 1st on the west coast, although personally I will continue to ask clients to release them. Snook are a fantastic gamefish and too valuable of a resource to only catch them once, in my opinion.

Tom Sachs, from Longboat Key and Jeff Holsworth, from MI, fished an instructional fly fishing trip in Sarasota Bay and had some action catching and releasing trout on deep grass flats on Ultra Hair Clouser flies with me on Thursday. They had some freshwater experience with trout on Michigan rivers, so we focused on saltwater fly fishing techniques including line management, hook setting and playing fish.

Keith McClintock, from Lake Forest, IL fished the backcountry of Gasparilla Sound near Boca Grande with me on Friday. With a big full moon and behind a front, fish weren’t too aggressive that day. However he had good action with some nice trout and also caught a red and snook on CAL jigs with shad tails to complete his slam.

Fishing shallow water for big trout, snook and reds should be a good option. There should also be good action with trout, blues, Spanish mackerel, pompano and more on deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay. Fishing dock lights in the ICW at night is always a good option for snook and more. Our natural resources are under constant pressure, please limit your kill, don’t kill your limit!

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

Capt. Rick Grassett
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