Water temperatures are ticking up in Sarasota Bay and the very shallow flats are a fun place to be right now. There is a healthy presence of large seatrout in skinny water. They’ve been either loosely grouped together staking out ambush points near potholes on sandy mangrove lined shores, or schooled together in a tight group moving along shoreline edges. Yesterday, I saw a tightly schooled group swimming at a crawl down a mangrove lined shoreline. A few of the seatrout looked to be pushing 10 pounds. I pulled one of the smaller fish away from the school with a shrimp pattern (pictured below).
These fish are willingly taking flies even when schooled tightly. One of the awesome things about these larger seatrout is that they will follow and pick a fly off the sand just like a redfish will. When I find these fish, they are usually with sheepshead, or sheepshead aren’t too far away.
If you are out and manage to find and hook into some of these larger trout, treat them well and return them to the water quickly. These large seatrout are rare and they didn’t get this size overnight. Returning them to the flats helps to ensure the future of a natural and viable fishery.
Tags: Seatrout Sarasota Flats fishing Saltwater Fly Fishing Fly fishing Sarasota
