Sarasota, Capt Rick Grassett 8/20/2016

An angler fishing Sarasota Bay and the coastal gulf with me, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, during the past week caught and released snook, redfish, trout and Spanish mackerel on flies. I also spent some time scouting one day and caught and released a tripletail on a DOA Shrimp.

Since I was away hosting a group of fly anglers in Montana last week and had a couple of upcoming trips, I went out scouting early in the week. I found baitfish plentiful in the coastal gulf with Spanish mackerel feeding in them. I also found a tripletail that pounced on my DOA Shrimp! With baitfish being the key, it could be an early fall season for us. When Spanish mackerel show up in numbers, larger predators are usually close behind them.

Bill Fox, from GA, fished a couple of pre-dawn snook/coastal gulf trips with me on Thursday and Friday. He had good action both days but Thursday was the better morning when he caught and released 8 or 10 snook and a bonus redfish on my Grassett Snook Minnow and shrimp fly patterns on the pre-dawn portion of the trip. With the hardest 2/3 of a slam under his belt, we moved to some deep flats where he caught a couple of trout on an Ultra Hair Clouser fly to complete his slam! He also had steady action catching and releasing Spanish mackerel to 18” in the coastal gulf on Ultra Hair Clouser and glass minnow fly patterns.

Action should be good with Spanish mackerel and there are also reports of false albacore (little tunny) in the coastal gulf, which are one of my favorite fly rod targets. Snook season is closed now on the west coast of Florida, but catch and release night snook fishing around lighted docks and bridges in the ICW with flies and DOA Lures should also be good. In addition, there should be good action with trout, Spanish mackerel, bluefish and more on deep grass flats of Sarasota Bay.

Tight Lines,