Captain's Weekly Fishing Report

September 13, 2010 Fishing Report - Capt. Bruce Burkhart

Last week Tom Kelly, wife Val and son Ryan from Tampa fished with me in Sarasota Bay. We started off fishing Marina Jacks flats and caught little grass grouper, trout and Jack Crevalle on gold DOA shrimp under popping corks. Our next stop was the Middleground flats where we fished with silver and gold CAL jigs with a 1/4 ounce red jig head in five to seven feet of water. There, we caught trout, Jack Crevalle, ladyfish and mackerel. We then went back to Marina Jacks flats and the tide was coming in pretty good. The bluefish and some nice trout were blowing bait out of the water and the action was fast. At times, all three of them had fish on. On our way back to CB's Saltwater Outfitters we stopped at a few docks with live shrimp where we caught mangrove snapper and snook. Ryan ended up the trip with the catch of the day, a twenty-six inch snook. Nice job Ryan!

Sunday, Matthew Scott with the 82nd Airborne Division from Ft. Bragg, N.C. and his girlfriend, Kaitlin Burkhart from Clearwater, joined my wife and I Kathleen for a morning on the water. Matthew has recently returned from a thirteen month tour in Iraq and was happy to be out on the bay for some R&R. Matthew's first fish was a nice mackerel. We fished the Marina Jack's flat and Middlegrounds with Gold N Glow DOA"s with chartreuse jig heads. We missed the tide so the fishing wasn't that great but managed to get mackerel, grouper and trout. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Matthew and the men and women of our armed services for their extremely hard work and dedication to their country.

Mark, you asked about where the oyster bars were I spoke of in an earlier report. They are located in Little Sarasota Bay, just north of Blackburn Bridge up to Spanish Pointe on the east and west side of the bay.

September 12, 2010 Fishing Report - Capt. Rick Grassett

Anglers fishing with me on my flats skiff the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, caught and released trout, blues and redfish in Sarasota Bay on jigs and flies during the past week. Scott Miller, from Wheeling, WV, fished a pre dawn snook/flats trip in Sarasota Bay with me on Tuesday. He caught and released numerous trout, including a 4-1/2-pound, 25” fish caught and released near Long Bar on a DOA Deadly Combo. He also caught and released trout and a couple of small reds on CAL jigs around lighted docks on Siesta Key. Everette and Sherry Howell, from Nashville, TN, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Friday. They caught and released numerous trout and a bluefish on CAL jigs with shad tails and Clouser flies at Stephens and Bishop Points in Sarasota Bay.

The best action should continue to be before dawn with snook around lighted docks in the ICW, on deep grass flats with trout, blues and Spanish mackerel or in skinny water with redfish. Tarpon in upper Charlotte Harbor may also be a good option when it is calm.

September 12 , 2010 Fishing Report - Capt. Jeffri Durrance

A trip just off the beaches with my neighbor Jim Long produced mackerel to 4 pounds and barracuda to 25 pounds. We used sabiki rigs to catch bait around the inshore reefs then used the greenbacks and bluerunners to catch the mackerel and cudas. The mackerel came from the inshore reefs and the cudas came from M-1. Catching the bait is as much fun as catching the cudas and mackerel as we were using very light tackle for all. We had to add wire leader to keep from being cut off as we were not having much luck with the flurocarbon and long shanked hooks we tried at first. Made for a fun morning!

Saturday an offshore trip produced amberjack, barracuda and a nice 25 pound kingfish around the wrecks and artificial reefs off Sarasota. The fish were all caught on live baits that included threadfins, pinfish and bluerunners.

As the water begins to cool later this month we will be looking for king mackerel to show up along the beaches and mid-range reefs providing some drag screaming action. If you are interested in tournament fishing there are two kingfish tournaments coming up in October. Tournament details can be found at fishska.com under schedules and are in Division 6. Let me know if you have any questions.

"CB's Outfitters
1249 Stickney Point Road on Siesta Key
(at Stickney Point Bridge )
Sarasota , Florida 34242
941-349-4400
http://www.cbsoutfitters.com"