Anglers fishing on charters with Quiet Waters Fishing in Sarasota, FL found good fishing inshore for seatrout, snook and redfish in recent weeks. Strong winds often had more impact on fishing than the tides. Adjusting our approach was the key to success on the windiest days. Five separate anglers caught their first snook on charters with Quiet Waters in the last few weeks with three of those being fly fishing anglers.
Snook
On cold mornings, we found snook in deeper wind protected areas where we were able to target them by working 4” plastic shrimp down to them slowly. This approach is highly effective if you know where snook like to be during cooler weather patterns. Night fishing for snook on dock lights is still providing the best action. Fly anglers are seeing better results than anglers using spinning tackle. The ability for fly anglers to present very small glass minnow or shrimp patterns is what makes the difference. Fly anglers relied heavily on small and sparsely tied fly patterns.
Seatrout
The Mirrolure Mirrodine XL fished with long pauses over potholes in 3 – 5’ of water produced our largest seatrout and allowed us to cover flats quickly. Paddle tails on jig heads fished over deeper grass produced numbers for those anglers who cared more about action than quality fish. A 3/16th ounce jighead is likely the most versatile jighead for the waters around Sarasota, FL. It can be used effectively by most anglers in a variety of water depths.
Redfish
Redfish have been active in the waters around Sarasota, Fl. Success with redfish depended on where we found them and what type of mood they were in. A few days they were so gullible that their classification as a gamefish could have been called into question. We did best finding rogue redfish mixed in with snook on dock lights at night. On the flats redfish were still eating Aqua Dream ADL series spoons.
Looking Ahead
More consistent warm weather is on the horizon. Last year, March was a good month to find the occasional cobia roaming the shallow flats. Redfish and trout will continue to provide good action in potholes and larger trout should still be near or in shallow water on cooler mornings. Snook fishing on the flats was excellent in March of 2019. Let’s hope that trend holds true in 2020. Fishing in our brackish rivers and creeks remains a good option in early March. Fly anglers should have some great sight fishing opportunities throughout the month. Dock lights should continue to provide good action and the potential for quality snook.
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.
