Her third permit on the shallow flats
Quiet Waters fishing trips run out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters in Sarasota, FL enjoyed good fishing for snook, redfish, and seatrout. We found permit in shallow water on the flats and good early morning fishing for larger seatrout. Night fishing around dock lights, both with flies and artificials baits, provided some of the best action. Multiple anglers had night trips where more than thirty fish were caught on artificial lures or on flies. Trips run on father’s day were popular this year. Quiet Waters ran three separate Father’s Day trips!
Snook
Dock light fishing for snook has been electric. The warm day time water temperatures around Sarasota seemed to push snook to eat more aggressively at night when things had cooled down a bit. Fly fishing almost always outperforms any other method on dock lights – including live bait. Recently, fishing with artificials on spinning tackle has been nearly as effective as tossing flies at dock light snook.
First snook ever & first snook on fly.
We used a combination of smaller shallow diving plugs and extremely small artificial shrimp. The small artificial shrimp were highly effective on outgoing tides. Anglers did best on dock lights with good current where snook were more eager to feed.
There are still plenty of snook in the gulf right off of the beach. These are very accessible fish for any angler willing to walk the beach. Fishing for snook on the beach provides some of the best sight fishing around.
Redfish
Finding cooler water has been an important factor for finding redfish. Soft plastic jerkbaits are a great way to target redfish this time of year. The lil john by mirrolure is more buoyant than most soft jerk baits which allows for a more natural retrieve when working the bait slowly. The side to side action of the lil john can be too much for redfish to ignore.
Solid redfish at sundown
Redfish have been active at night on dock lights. They reacted well to flies, especially the action of a clouser minnow. They have been squaring up hard baits over docks as well. Smaller plugs in the 2-3” range have done well with redfish in dock lights.
Redfish do not possess the excellent vision that snook enjoy at night. What they lack in vision, they make up for with pure effort and determination. It may take a number of casts to get redfish to notice your bait, but when a redfish finally locks onto a bait in dock lights, it’s pretty much a done deal.
Seatrout
The early bite has been good for seatrout. The first 2-3 hours of light have been the best. Deeper grass has provided the most dependable bite. We found a few larger fish in deep grass, but our best seatrout came around areas that had water funneling off shallow flats or bars into deeper grass.
A great seatrout caught in Sarasota, FL
The mirrodine XL continues to be a magnet for larger seatrout. Artificial shrimp under popping corks worked well situationally. The constant clacking of the popping cork makes seatrout in the area extremely curious. Swimming soft plastic paddletails over seagrass is one of the surest ways to find a consistent bite.
Looking Ahead
Warm water temperatures should continue to make dock light fishing one of the best bets for the immediate future. Fishing the first few hours of light should be the most productive. If you have to fish during the heat of the day, focus on areas near passes and pay attention to the major and minor feed times.
If you’re interested in a charter, you can contact Captain Brian Boehm by phone (941-400-6218), email (brian@quietwatersfishing.com), or through the website quietwatersfishing.com.
See you on the flats!
Captain Brian Boehm
Quiet Waters Fishing
941-400-6218
Guide at CB’s Saltwater Outfitters
Sarasota, Florida
