Sarasota Fishing Report Capt Jim Klopfer 7/20/2013

I get a lot of family charters this time of year, and the main objective on these trips is to bend the rods. Action and variety are the goals, and the deep grass flats near both Big Sarasota Pass and New Pass provided that for clients this week. I did quite well chumming with pilchards towards the end of the week as we had incoming tides early and the bait was easy to catch. Pompano, speckled trout to 24", silver trout, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, black sea bass to 14", mangrove snapper to 15", sharks, jacks, and ladyfish pleased anglers this week casting Gulp! Shrimp, live shrimp, and pilchards at Marker # 5 and #6, Marina Jacks, Bird Key, and the Radio Tower flats. Ryan Schmidt from Alpharetta, GA and his two sons Luke (10) and Lansden (15) fished with me early in the week. They had very little experience fishing so I got a bunch of lively shrimp at CB's. We hit the Marina Jack flat and made a couple of drifts on the high, outgoing tide. The boys caught several trout including two in the slot, and a 15" mangrove snapper; some fine eating! The wind picked up so we went in behind Bird Key and caught a bunch of ladyfish along with more trout, sea bass to 13" and a nice Spanish mackerel. Pete Layden from Ocala, FL and his boys Thomas (16) and Matt (20) had a good trip this week. The boys had never been fishing before, but after a few minutes of instruction, they were casting very well. They used Gulp! Shrimp and caught speckled trout, silver trout, black sea bass, jacks, ladyfish, and catfish near the Ringling Bridge. Thomas finished off the trip with a nice pompano at Marina Jacks, which I got to eat for dinner, thanks!! John Vieger from San Antonio, TX and his sons Chris (15) and Bryan (14) along with Andrew Jones (14) from GA caught some nice fish on Friday. We started off casting Gulp! near the Radio Tower, catching sea bass and trout, when Chris hooked a nice bonnetthead shark. The flats near Big Pass provided more sea bass to 14", along with trout, bluefish, and ladyfish. Action slowed and the tide turned to go out, so I netted up a bunch of bait and we got a hot trout bite going right at the end, landing a pair of 23" and 21" speckled trout, and several others in the slot. Nice way to end the trip! Brian Mahnken and his 13 year old son Tate did well in the Yacht club Channel chumming with pilchards. We started off casting large live shrimp under popping corks near Marker # 5 but there wasn't much happening. Bait was thick and in short order the well was full. From that point on it was a bite on every cast. Speckled trout, silver trout, mangrove snapper, Spanish mackerel, and jacks kept the rods bent. Surprisingly, we did not hook a single ladyfish, pretty unusual.{%image_id=34268%}