Flats fishing in the inshore waters around CB’s Saltwater Outfitters in Sarasota, FL continues to provide good action for anglers fishing on charters with Quiet Waters Fishing. We connected with some large jack crevalle while throwing plugs on the flats on a recent trip. Jacks have been moving down the ICW and spilling out onto flats where they ravage mullet and other small forage fish. These fish are powerful and fast. The commotion they make while feeding is quite a sight. When they hang around for a bit, you have the opportunity for multiple hookups on light tackle.
Snook
Snook fishing has been best at night on dock lights and in the day up our brackish rivers. Dock lights continue to be a great place to catch snook right now. Anglers willing to go out after dark in search of these fish are being rewarded with snook of all sizes. This is the time of year when a fly rod can really out fish traditional tackle on dock lights. We’re still doing well with snook using gurglers in the back country. The few snook we encountered on the flats were caught on jigs with paddle tails.
Seatrout
We’re still catching seatrout on the Mirrolure Mirrodine XL, but paddle tails on jig heads produced higher numbers. The Mirrodine XL seems to work best on bigger fish, it does a great job of triggering larger seatrout to come off the bottom too eat. If you’re into numbers, then go with soft plastics and fish the deeper grass. We found areas of deep grass holding good numbers of class-size seatrout. If you’re working to find big seatrout, then go with an XL or a soft plastic profile that offers a larger meal. The pattern on larger seatrout changed during the warm up and they were more difficult to find. The fresh cold front, currently ripping through our area, should put larger seatrout into more predictable patterns.
Redfish
Redfish of all sizes continue to be plentiful in the waters around Sarasota, FL. We found them in a variety of locations over the last week. Broken edges of mangrove islands, sandbars, and potholes all held fish. Getting skinny in our brackish rivers is not a bad option either. Mirrolure lil johns and paddle tails on jig heads were better options than spoons over the last week. Redfish remained on dock lights and are best observed either vacuuming the bottom or charging through the lights. They are normally willing eaters on dock lights.
Looking Ahead
This cold front should send fish back into winter patterns. Delaying fishing departure times until later in the morning can make a significant difference. Waiting for the sun to get a bit higher in the sky gives the shallow water more time to warm up and for the fish to become more active. Deeper canals should provide some decent action on cold mornings. Shallow water with dark bottom will warm quickly on cold mornings and some areas will be holding fish. Redfish and seatrout will be less impacted by the cold than snook.
See you on the water soon!
