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| Vinny Caruso of Sarasota with one of several big flounder taken on jigs in an hour near Buttonwood Harbor. |
Big spotted seatrout showed up in good numbers in Sarasota
Bay just as expected.
And
that’s good news. We anticipate good action on big trout through April.
From
Jan. 1 until now, Southern Drawl clients and myself have caught a total of 35
trout weighing 5 pounds of more from Sarasota Bay. The largest trout of the
year was a 9-pounder.
“Gator”
trout are among the most fun fish to catch. They’re unlike our typical “school”
trout. These big fish are wary and fight impressively when hooked on suitable
tackle.
For
bigger trout, we like to use a variety of artificial, including D.O.A. Shrimp,
MirrOlure MirrOdines and topwater plugs.
The
best spot are along the west side of Sarasota Bay near Buttonwood Harbor.
Fly
angler Chuck Dodd joined me for a day on Sarasota Bay and did fair. Dodd
managed a number of seatrout and a snook and jack crevalle on Clouser Deep
Minnows.
An old
buddy of mine, Frank Ross of Ocala, formerly a photographer at the Sarasota
Journal, joined me for a day on the bay . He brought along one of his old Navy
buddies, Dave Love of Pennsylvania. We caught nearly a dozen species of fish,
including spotted seatrout, snook, flounder, mangrove snapper, jack crevalle
and bluefish. Most of the fish were caught on light jig heads and 4-inch MirrOlure
Little Johns.
Vinny
Caruso of Sarasota fished with me on two occasions. The first outing was his
first fly-fishing outing. We fished Lake Manatee and totaled 80 bluegill. Most
of the fish were taken on No. 12 and No. 14 nymphs under a strike indicator.
Patrick
O’Connor of Rotonda fished Lake Manatee with me and did very well. Using a
variety of nymphs, we caught a mess of bluegill and a pair of hard-fishing
channel catfish.
Lake
Manatee produced nicely for me during the month. I caught big bluegill, bass to
4 pounds, shellcracker to 1½ pounds, speckled perch, channel catfish and
tilapia. Most of the fish were caught on nymphs, but we also used No. 10
popping bugs and my Myakka Minnow.
We had
some negative low tides earlier in the month and found tailing redfish in Palma
Sola Bay. First time out, I caught one red on a topwater plug. The next day, I
flyfished and landed three reds on a Gurgler. In addition, I caught seatrout,
flounder and jack crevalle.
I made
a solo trip to the Long Bar area of Sarasota Bay and had a fair day. It’s a
45-minute paddle, but often is well worth the effort. This day was only so-so. I caught a pair of
reds, a snook, 10 trout and a couple of jack crevalle.
On his
second trip of the month, Vinny Caruso and I did well. We landed 25 trout to 5
pounds, redfish to 27 inches, a 25-inch snook and 11 doormat flounder.
It’s
getting the time of year when you can go out and target flounder. They’re
plentiful on sand edges and will hit most any soft plastic on a light jig
head.
I fished
the 8th annual Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers/Sarasota Coastal
Conservation Association Fall Fly Fishing Challenge and again won a division.
Despite 25 mph wind and rough conditions, I caught 67.75 inches of trout for
the victory. I would have had well more than 100 inches of trout had I not
released the first five I caught, thinking they were too small to fool with!
If we
get some negative low tides, Pine Island Sound (all-day trips only) will give
anglers at shot at tailing redfish,
snook, spotted seatrout and tarpon. It’s the best chance of a Grand Slam that
we have.
We’ve
had some windy conditions caused by Hurricane Irene. The big storm didn’t do
any damage here, but did produce some win. We expect conditions to settle.
BEST BETS FOR
NOVEMBER:
1. Large
spotted seatrout;
2. Flounder;
3. Redfish;
4. Snook
at night;
5. Bluegill;
6. Speckled
perch.
Steve Gibson
Southern Drawl Kayak Fishing
(941) 284-3406
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