March 21, 2007

Here?s hoping we?re done with cold fronts ...
Fishing was great prior to the latest cold front. Spanish mackerel, pompano, spotted seatrout, bluefish, ladyfish and even permit were cooperating.
Best action took place in the passes, just off the beaches and throughout Sarasota Bay, Little Sarasota Bay and Roberts Bay.
On we trip, we caught and released 30 spotted seatrout -- none of which was undersized. They ranged from 17 to 19 1/2 inches. In addition, we caught pompano and permit. This was in Roberts Bay.
We primarily used 3-inch Gulf Shrimp on 1/8-ounce jig heads.
Spanish mackerel went for Clouser Deep Minnows and jigs. We used an 8-weight fly rod, 250-grain sinktip line and 10-pound leader. We also used Cotee Jigs on medium-light spinning tackle and 15-pound PowerPro braided line.
Mark Nichols of D.O.A. Lures joined us for an outing on March 16. He was in Sarasota for the Florida Sportsman Show. We fished Little Sarasota Bay -- mainly because of the wind. It was blowing 15 to 20 out of the south and that location gave us the most relief.
Action was fair. We caught spotted seatrout to 18 inches, ladyfish and a pompano that was just shy of 4 pounds. We used D.O.A. Shrimp and CAL Jigs with shad tails.
On March 19, Bob Nutting of Wheeling, W.Va., an avid fly fisher, joined us for an all-day trip to Cockroach Bay. The weather report called for 10-12 mph wind out of the SSE. When we arrived it was blowing 15 to 20 out of the NNE. There was little water.
We paddled back into Cockroach, but spent just 30 minutes there before deciding to head elsewhere. We tried the outside sand bars. That?s where Bob made a perfect cast to a hefty snook. The fish charged the fly, but turned off at the last second. He also go to cast at a redfish.
We paddled through the mangroves and he had shots at redfish and snook without success.
After lunch, we headed back outside and fished the mangroves. We found 12 to 15 redfish and a couple of snook.
No luck.
I talked with a number of anglers during the day and none had caught a fish. A white-baiter told me that he?d cast live baits to a number of reds and didn?t get a hit.
It?s a shame that the fish had lockjaw -- especially when I had a world-class fly fisher in my company.
We?ve got several treks to The Everglades on schedule. In fact, we?re planning on trying to set a fly rod world record. According to the latest report from the International Game Fish Association, if we can land oscars of 2 pounds or more, we can do well in the 6-pound tippet class, 8-pound class, 12-pound, 16-pound and 20-pound.
If you?d like to get in on this new and exciting action, now?s the time to schedule an outing. On our last trip, we caught and released 17 oscars, most of which I think went better than 2 pounds.
An all-day trip to The ?Glades is $300 and includes lunch, drinks and transportation.
If you?ve never tangled with an oscars, you?ve been missing out. They?re mean, nasty and fight like crazy.