Sarasota fishing report Capt Jim klopfer 7/11/2015

Speckled trout dominated the week, with a decent amount of quality fish in the 15" to 21" range being landed. Some very nice mangrove snapper to 15" were also caught by clients, as were gag grouper, silver trout, black sea bass, ladyfish, jacks, and catfish. Most of the fish hit free lined pilchards, but live shrimp and Gulp! shrimp also fooled some fish. The deep flats near Bird Key and the Radio Tower were the top spots this week {%image_id=44277%} I started my week off on Sunday with Morten Brante, his son Espen, daughter Nina, and her friend Wes. Despite the boat races being that day, traffic on the water was not too bad, especially early. We started off casting live shrimp and Gulp at the Marina Jack flat and Radio Tower. Action was steady, mostly speckled trout to 18", but with snapper, jacks, ladyfish, and other species mixed in. The tide turned to come in and I netted up some bait, then "hid" from the boats near Otter Key. Free lining pilchards produced more trout, snappers, gag grouper, sea bass and jacks. Craig Funk from Alabama and his friend Wendy went out on a charter on Monday. Bait was a bit tough to get at first, but I caught enough to fish with and they had decent action, mostly trout and a pair of nice mangrove snappers. I saw a nice school of bait and "loaded up in one throw. Chumming kept the fish excited, and the bite was good until around 10:00. Speckled trout to 17", snapper to 14", jacks, sea bass, gag grouper, ladyfish, and more kept the couple busy. Marker # 5 was the best spot. {%image_id=44278%} I had a fun charter with the Maranan family from Wisconsin on Tuesday. Paul, his wife Joanne and some Mike and Joe experienced steady action throughout the morning. They caught a lot of speckled trout, mostly "shorts", but several in the 15" to 17" range and lost a very big one that shook the hook. Mangrove snapper, gag grouper, ladyfish, jacks, sea bass, and catfish were also landed. The radio Tower was the top spot on Tuesday. The trout bite was very good on Wednesday for Tom Mazziotti from Atlanta and his children Mary Elizabeth, Caroline, and Thomas. We left Ken Thompson Park and made a couple of drifts at the Radio Tower, catching several nice trout and a few ladyfish and jacks on live shrimp. I then ran and caught bait and we tried a couple spots near Bird Key and had steady action. We finished up back where we started with hot action on speckled trout with quite a few being quality fish in the 16" to 20" range. Mangrove snapper to 12", silver trout, jacks, ladyfish, sea bass, gag grouper, and a few catfish rounded out the morning. {%image_id=44279%} Rob Gatton from Orlando, FL treated his dad Bob and son Aiden to a charter on Thursday, and once again the speckled trout bite was hot. The guys caught a lot of trout, perhaps near 50, with quite a few nice ones up to 21". A dozen mangrove snapper were also landed, with one going nearly 15". Gag grouper, sea bass, and ladyfish were also caught. All of the fish hit pilchards near Bird Key. I finished up my week with Kyle Booth and his son Ryder (11) from Colorado. We started off casting Gulp! Shrimp at the Radio Tower, catching a few trout and ladyfish, and some big sailcats. I caught bait and the action was steady on trout, snapper, sea bass, ladyfish, and catfish, though the larger trout eluded us. I took out my friend Beth Reis for a couple hours after that, and we did better on the slot trout, landing, and releasing a half dozen along with some smaller fish and a couple of snapper.