Winter fishing in Sarasota, Fl has arrived and we’re beginning to see traditional winter trends settling in. Cold air from semi-regular cold fronts has dropped water temperatures and fish have responded accordingly. Anglers fishing with Captain Brian Boehm on Quiet Waters fishing trips have covered a lot of water in the Sarasota, FL area. We’re using conventional spinning tackle as well as fly rods. We’ve run trips down as far south as the Nokomis area and as far north as lower Tampa Bay. We’ve focused a lot of our efforts in Sarasota Bay, Little Sarasota Bay, Palma Sola, and Cortez. Redfish, snook, and seatrout have been the main species targeted, but we have also had success on tripletail, bluefish, and other species
With the cooler temperatures, snook fishing has been best in the evening after water temperatures have had time to warm. Dock lights have been a great place to catch snook on both flies and small artificial baits. Most anglers know that the dock lights are the best place to consistently target snook. Snook have been most active when tidal currents have been strongest at night. Fly anglers have done well using extremely small flies that mimic freshly hatched fry. Larger offerings have been largely ignored by snook as they are keying in on smaller baits. Anglers using spinning tackle did best using extremely small shrimp imitation lures. Small 2” naturally colored shrimp lures seemed to be the most effective.
Seasonal negative tides have really concentrated fish in small areas in shallow water on early mornings. Shallow water flats have been a great place to be for sight fishing. Redfish have been cruising and even tailing during low water tides. We’ve found most of our redfish cruising over grass and sand. In clear water, anglers had to be on their game to present flies to these fish. We’ve used small crab patterns, baitfish patterns, classic bend-backs, and creature flies to fool our redfish this winter. Sarasota Bay, Cortez, and lower Tampa Bay have been the best locations for us when targeting redfish.
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Speckled Seatrout have been in a variety of places so far this winter. Larger seatrout have been on the shallow flats – often times together with larger groups of similar sized seatrout. These fish have been wary and will spook easily if not approached with stealth when sight fishing. EP baitfish patterns, especially those resembling pinfish, have worked will on these fish. Bunny flies with a little weight and an EP brush collar have also been effective on these larger seatrout in shallow water. In deeper water, we’re finding class-size seatrout in bunches. It may take a little time to find them, but once you do, the bite is pretty much automatic. We’re also finding bluefish and other fun species mixed in with the seatrout in these areas.
We’ve spent some time in the Gulf along the beach and have found some success there on days when sea conditions are suitable. We’ve found mainly pompano and seatrout along the beach with the occasional jack and ladyfish. Out a little bit farther, we have found just enough tripletail to keep things interesting.
Going forward, we will have more cool weather and cold front fishing to look forward to. Sight fishing for redfish will continue to be one of the best winter activities for both fly anglers and conventional tackle anglers. For snook, dock light trips in the evening will continue to be the best way to target this awesome sport fish throughout the winter.
Thanks for reading,
Capt. Brian Boehm
Quiet Waters Fishing
941-400-6218
Sarasota, FL
