Steady action in Sarasota between fronts

Fishing was very good early and late in the week, a front brought strong winds on Thursday and Friday. Big Pass and the surrounding flats have been yielding pompano, speckled trout ( catch and release in Nov and Dec ) Spanish mackerel, ladyfish, flounder, and jacks. Early in the week long-time client Jim Mitchell from Minnesots took out a friend for the morning. Steve had never fished before, so we kept it simple, free lining live shrimp over the deep grass. Steve caught a nice 20" speckled trout, along with other trout, a couple of Spanish mackerel, ladyfish, and other species. The wind in the middle of the week kept me off of the bay, but not off the water! I fished the Myakka River on Thursday and Friday using ultra-light spinning tackle. Largemouth bass hit plugs, bluegill and speckled perch were fooled by Beetlespins, and catfish, shellcracker, stumpknocker, bluegill, and bullhead ate nightcrawlers. We had a great trip on Sunday morning with the Matthews family from Boise, ID. Mike, Alysse, Zachary (20) and Masen (16) caught speckled trout and ladyfish near Marker # 5 on gold Cotee jigs. We moved to the deep flats near Bird Key and landed a bunch of trout along with a half dozen Spanish mackerel to 3 lbs and more ladyfish. We finished up in Big Pass, where they caught more ladyfish on jigs and shrimp. Mike finished off the morning with a pompano on a gold Cotee.