Angler Systems
A Solid Couple of Hours on the Water with my Daughter
After watching FSU take out UNC in the ACC final my daughter and I went for a quick fishing outing. As we only had a couple hours I decided to hit one of those close spots I overlook many times thinking I need to make a run to find quality fish. As the tides were up we fished a mangrove edge that holds between 2 ½ and 3 ½ feet of water on a +2’ tide. On my first cast my soft bait was inhaled by a 30 1/3 inch Snook. After a great fight using 10 lb Fins braid and 20 lb Seaguar fluorocarbon with my daughters help we were able to land her. Took a couple quick photos and made sure she was good to fight another day. After being hit by a quick rain shower we caught three smaller Snook and my daughter also picked up a Flounder. Nice quick afternoon on the water.
Inshore Slam in our 28 foot Offshore Boat
I had not used my offshore boat in about two months, due to weather and fuel prices, but we decided that on Saturday my son & I would burn some fuel and maybe catch a few fish. As the conditions did not allow us to run offshore we figured we’d stay inside and play around in the bay. With the winds blowing 15 to 18 knots we picked a spot, deeper than we typically fish in the flats boat, but somewhat hidden from the wind. Anchored up and using tackle we typically use only on our small boat we began to pick up a bunch of Trout on the DOA 3″ Shrimp and the MirrOlure Lil John. The Trout were nothing special but we caught about a dozen in the 14 to 20″ range. When the bite slowed my son let out another 20 feet of anchor line and this moved us into casting distance to a water depth of around 2 feet. Soon thereafter a 22 1/2″ Redfish nailed the MirrOlure. Needing a Snook to complete the slam I grabbed the DOA and made a few casts along a deeper drop off where baits was being pushed upward. It did not take long and I had a 17″ Snook to complete the slam. Although the fish sizes were not impressive it was a first in that we had never got an inshore slam in our offshore boat before, sort of cool.
01/28/2012 – SRQ Inshore Report
Fished yesterday with my son and Mark Amuso from the club. We left the dock around 8:00 AM with a plan to run north into Sarasota bay. The first stop was in the ICW just north of the Stickney Point Bridge where what we thought at first were small Jacks hitting fry bait. It actually turned out to be Trout. Caught our first keeper fish (a 18″ Trout) on the first cast of the day. Moving northward we hit the east side of Sarasota Bay and picked caught and released a bunch of small Trout (13″ to 15″). Most of these came on a Mission Fishin 1/8 oz. jig head and a MirrOlure Lil John plastic. Then the first 15″ Pompano entered the cooler after eating a Cotee paddle tail on a small jig head. We continued northward searching for some larger fish. Got into some larger trout which were holding close to several schools of Mullet. The 18″ to 22″ Trout loved the Sebile and we found them in about 2 feet of water. Decided to move across the bay and found a large amount of Trout holding in about 3 feet of water. Had several double and triple hook-ups and also picked up another 15″ Pompano. These fish came on a variety of soft plastics including the Li John, DOA Shad tails and Cotee’s. Our final stop was just north of Big Pass where we found several more Pompano but a couple were just under-sized. Back at the dock before 3:00 PM. All in all caught 30+ Trout (20+ keepers) plus the Pompano. We released a bunch of keeper fish which always feels good. Is this really winter????
12/22/2011 – Little Sarasota Bay Report
Got out today and worked the bay south of Stickney Point Bridge to just south of Blackburn. Action still solid. We got the Trout and Redfish on Mission Fishin Jig Heads with DOA CAL tails. Later we moved to the ICW edges and caught a nice selection of snapper and sheepshead on shrimp pieces using 3/8 oz jig heads to get them down. We plan to head out Saturday morning and run north into Sarasota Bay. Feel free to contact me if you plan to fish in the area on Saturday. Text messages to 941-780-0121.