Alan Sugar with a trout caught and released on a fly while fishing Sarasota Bay with Capt. Rick Grassett recently. Anglers fishing with me recently, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had decent action with reds and trout in Charlotte Harbor and trout in Sarasota Bay. Dave Reinhart, from MA, fished a couple of trips in Gasparilla Sound near Boca Grande with me, catching and releasing several reds and trout on CAL jigs with shad tails and grubs. Mike Perez, from Sarasota and Dennis Kinley, from IN, also fished that area with me and caught and released numerous trout on Clouser ..read more

Joey Grassett, from Seaford, DE, with a trout caught on a CAL jig with a shad tail while fishing Sarasota Bay with Capt. Rick Grassett in a previous April. This is a great month for snook on shallow flats. Reds and trout will also be more active as the water warms and baitfish become more plentiful. You might find Spanish mackerel, blues and pompano in passes or on deep grass flats. You should also find Spanish mackerel along with false albacore (little tunny), cobia and tripletail, in the coastal gulf this month. Tarpon should also make an appearance in bay or back country areas or along ..read more

Mark and his sons Justin and Brandon. Great day on the water! Mark, from northern Illinois, and his sons Justin and Brandon, all contributed to catch the family inshore slam. The inshore slam is catching redfish, snook, and trout all in a single fishing trip and the boys did their part by catching and releasing numerous trout and snook. Their bait of choice was a live shrimp under a popping cork. Mark did his part by catching several trout and this hefty redfish. The young boys were anxious to get out fishing on their Easter break vacation and said they enjoyed the outing very much. We are ..read more

Mark Borsari enjoyed a good day fishing Sarasota Bay. Sarasota was blessed with beautiful weather last week and the coming week looks just as good. Mark Borsari, from MA, enjoyed a perfect day for fly fishing with a light breeze and clean water. Mark brought his new Orvis Helios rod with him. He discovered casting the saltwater rod was a little bit different from his favorite trout rod. The new rod felt different but the casting science was the same. In short order he was sending the Clouser deep minnow out 60-70 feet with ease, and caught numerous trout, ladyfish and a very nice pompano o ..read more

Pat Beckwith, from Sarasota, with a Spanish Mackerel. Spin fishing anglers fishing with me recently, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had decent action with reds, snook and trout in Charlotte Harbor and fly anglers had action with trout and Spanish mackerel in Sarasota Bay. Tom Keir, from IN, and Alan Sugar, from MI and Farlow Blakeslee, from SC, had some action catching and releasing trout on Clouser flies on a couple of trips in Sarasota Bay with me recently. Pat Beckwith, from Sarasota, fished Little Sarasota Bay with me on another trip and caught and released trout and S ..read more

Jenny Goodell, and 13 year old Brooke, two fine anglers. Pictured holding this Sarasota Bay trout are Jenny Goodell, and 13 year old Brooke. Two very fine anglers, both of these anglers are involved and belong to the International Women’s Fishing Association. In fact, Brooke is the IWFA reigning top junior freshwater angler from last year. On our recent trip, they kept me quite busy as they caught and released over twenty trout in four hours. Using a popping corn with a DOA shrimp was quite an effective bait. Besides catching the trout, Jenny landed a beautiful snook using that same bait c ..read more

Carrie, from Hayward WI, with a nice looking Red. I had the pleasure to take out fishing Steve and his wife Carrie. They are from the musky capital of the world Hayward, Wisconsin. The early part of the trip was slow however as the tide came in things started to pick up. Both are excellent fisherman, and managed to catch and release, pompano, trout and some beautiful silver colored redfish. All of the fish were caught using a quarter ounce jig head with gulp or mirror lure little John tails. Capt. Chuck Cress Fishing has been a lifetime passion for me. Depending on the skill level of my cl ..read more

You can just see the pure joy in this young mans face. Last week the water temps have started to rise above 68 degrees and the fishing has started to improve. The snook bite especially has been improving lately and they’re hungry after this winter. Anglers fishing with me caught and released an average of 6 snook per trip as well as plenty of ladyfish, jacks, sheepshead, and Spanish mackerel. We’ve had a good run of pompano as well on the right tides which is really an exciting fish to catch because of how they fight. I’ve been really stressing catch and release as we need seed for the fut ..read more

Dave Reinhart, from MA, had good action in Sarasota Bay with reds on CAL jigs with grubs while fishing with Capt. Rick Grassett on a couple of trips in a previous March. There should be good action with reds, trout and snook in skinny water in March as baitfish become more plentiful. Look for Spanish and king mackerel, cobia, tripletail and false albacore (little tunny) in the coastal gulf. Night snook fishing in the ICW should also be a good option this month. Spotted Seatrout regulations have changed in southwest Florida to a 3 fish per person, bag limit and a 6 fish boat limit. Trout mu ..read more

Stephen Liska, from Naples, with a red caught on CAL jigs with shad tails while fishing Gasparilla Sound with Capt. Rick Grassett recently. Spin fishing anglers fishing with me, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, had some action with reds and trout in Charlotte Harbor and Sarasota Bay recently. Fly anglers had some action with trout, pompano and snook at night. Keith McClintock, from IL, fished a couple of days in Gasparilla Sound near Boca Grande with me, catching and releasing reds and several nice trout on CAL jigs with shad tails. Stephen Liska, from Naples, joined him on ..read more