Fresh Sarasota County Fishing Reports

Had a great inshore trip with Stephen Rebout and his family out of Sarasota this morning. Kids were new to fishing so we mostly worked on technique and catching some trout on shrimp. Later Stephens 8 year old son thought it would be a good idea to land a very nice cobia on a swimbait over the grass. Great job by these guys and I hope to see you again.

So my client (who caught that 37” snook a few weeks ago) told me after the charter: “Chris, I’m going to book with you every few weeks if that’s okay.” My response—absolutely, it would be a pleasure. Well… like the tide, he came right back. This time he had a new challenge: “Chris, I’ve never caught a redfish. I want a trophy… and maybe one for dinner.” Challenge accepted. First fish of the day—31” red (pinched tail) ? 26” red harvested 26” red revived and released 4 snook from 24”–26” 7 keeper trout, all revived and released Keeper flounder released Done by 11am. Book it. I’ll do my best for you.

As the water temperature is rising above 70 degrees, we’ve been get more bites. Lane and Mangrove snappers are starting to bite. Spanish Mackerel and kingfish are insane. The Groupers are bitting but they’ve been short.

Man, days like this are exactly why we do it. Absolute lights-out fishing from start to finish. In just 4 hours we put together a killer mixed bag—multiple big snook, a solid redfish, a flounder, and a handful of trout to top it off. The bite stayed consistent the whole trip, and when you can stay tight on quality fish like that, you know everything lined up right. On top of it all, the weather couldn’t have been any better. Clean conditions, beautiful skies, and fish that were ready to eat—it doesn’t get much better. These are the kind of trips that remind you how special our fishery really is. Tight lines.

Tim and jessie came from ft myers to battle big fish! We sure made it happen!

We’ve been fishing shallow for redfish in Sarasota Bay and have been having good success with spinning tackle and with flies! The snook bite has been solid and the seatrout bite has been consistent. Tripletails have provided fun sight fishing opportunities!