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Fishing
Reports
Fishing
Report December 5, 2002
After playing with the snook and redfish most
of the late summer and fall months, winters migration has
brought on a welcomed change. November we were still catching
keeper snook on the fly. The Spanish mackerel invasion was
sensational. Robert Singletary had a spectacular day doing
better than other boats hooking up large mackerel on the
fly. Brian Silver and his group scored big on pompano and
permit in New Pass. Little tunny and a few mackerel have
been busting up near the 3 MI reef. Lee Michael's and his
son Jason Managed to hook up trolling spoons just off the
reef. Inside bluefish and ladyfish are abundant. After chasing
the tougher fish around customers never seem to mind the
fast action from these school fish. Look for the weather
to remain temperate most of this month with continued great
action.
Capt.Jim [back
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Fishing
Report July 7
June as always is one of the
top months to fish. Reeldreams anglers experianced great
sport
fishing out on the reef. Catches primarily were a mixed bag
of Kingfish, Spanish mackeral, False Albacore, and Barracuda.
Inshore the Spanish mackeral turned on again. We ran quite
a few night snook charters on snook alley. When the bites
hot , those snook can make a new plug look like a worn out
relic in one evening. Baitfish is now prevelent in the bay,
thus trout fishing has really picked up. Inshore expect trout
to remain good, snook to be better on the stronger tides,
and redfish to begin schooling towards the end of the month.
Offshore I'm still hopeful of running into blacktip
sharks and permit. [back
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Fishing
Report May 19
Fishing trips this month have
varied from night snook with the fly rod to king fishing out
on the reef. Weather stayed unseasonable warm. The begining
of the month the kingfish were excellant. Then calm conditions
made the bite on again off again. Fishing with Art Earl of
Bradenton we caught the big smoker kings just right. The threadfin
were covering the reef. Pulling baits slow payed off big when
the first fish on turned out to be a 38lber.Not wanting to
kill the fish I tried several times to grab it's tail. On
one attemp I was so determined I extended my self to far out
over the water and ended up in the drink. That gave Art a
little more time to subdue the fish.
After re-gaining my composure
the big SOB still jumped from the boat back in the water twice.We
weighed him and released unharmed.Lesson learned when the
fish is almost as big as you are it's kinder to the fish to
release him in the water. Dave Fontaine of Conn.connected
with his first saltwater fish on the flyrod. He had a ball
perfecting his cast and fooling 10 snook down Snook alley.We
had our first Tarpon trip Thursday. We fished from Grassey
Pt. to the Venice pier. Lady luck was not on our side. the
fish did not show good for us. Dave Anderson and his party
did enjoy themselves though after we anchored up and caught
around 20 sharks and lost a big Jack Crevelle. With nothing
but improved action from tarpon, snook, permit and shark to
look forward to I can't wait to give you June's fishing report.If
your in Sarasota be sure to stop by Starbucks at Mid Town
Plaza and view Capt Jim's complete works of Gyotaku Fish Prints.
Take care and hope to see you on the next Reeldreams Adventure.
Capt. Jim Roberts [back
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Fishing
Report Apr 7
Whew, what a months it's been.
With so many charters and so many fish caught I really have
to stop and think about whats been happening.Back in March
as things began warming up we started working trout on the
flats. Sure there was still a mixed bag of sheepshead,pompano,
and ladyfish.The next 2 weeks we experianced an explosion
on the beach. While some guides were targeting cobia and doing
very well. Spanish mackerel had made their invasion and we
were trolling,livebaiting and flyfishing to are hearts content.
After a few 75 fish days the gulf became calm and quiet again.Pilchards
began showing on the beach which really helped turn on the
inside game.
Although redfish have been a
little hard to find last week because of high tides, Reeldreams
anglers have been doing well on snook and jacks. Richard Matula
landed a large Jack Crevelle (15lbs) at the New Pass bridge
and eleven year old Raymond Horn landed our first legal snook
of the season. Today we made it out for Kingfish despite blustery
conditions from a late season cold front. We had no trouble
trolling up our limit before deciding to head in because of
building seas. That should be the last of unfavorable conditions
although we really can't complain about the weather.Those
looking for some fast action the next few months should consider
the offshore trip. I'll keep you posted as I see things improving
in the shallows the few weeks. Take care and good fishing.
Capt. Jim Roberts [back
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Fishing
Report Mar 9
Sheepshead
have been the mainstay for most my charters the last few weeks.
Right now they are stacked because of their spawn. Anytime
custumers are catching fish one right after the other I feel
pretty good. Most trips have yielded a few snook and the pompano
are running. Last trip out Jerry of Michagan hooked and landed
the biggest pompano I've ever seen. It measured 22" overall
and I'd say it went 5lbs.Night snook are good on the fly.
Last trip we had to work for them hooking around 15 and landing
10. The coldest tempertures of the season should be behind
us now. That means that warmer days and milder nights should
usher in our fantastic spring fishing. I'm looking forward
to seeing all my familar spring clients and meeting those
new ones creating their Reeldreams adventure.
Capt. Jim Roberts [back
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Fishing
Report Jan 20
At the beginning of the month
Reeldreams anglers were duing well in the passes on bluefish,
jacks and sheepshead. Ladyfish were everywhere inside and
taking jigs and flies on every cast. During Christmas we had
quit a cooldown. Two nite snook trips yielded 10 snook a trip
on flies. Both fly anglers where impressed with the number
of fish and the good fight the snook puts up. Right after
the cold spell I fished with Jim Helgamo from Michagan. I
told him I'm sure we could find good action on Jacks up the
Bradon River. With hopes of maybe tying into some 10lbers.
We set out with fly tackle in my little gheenoe. Despite a
poor tide we managed numorous doubles and landed 10 in the
3-4lb class. Things are warming up as of lately. Reports have
been coming in of trout and redfish returning to the flats.
Look forward to seeing you on the next Reeldreams Adventure.
[back
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Fishing
Report Dec 5
Snook
fishing has been good at night even with periodic influxes
of redtide. I have been fiding good bites in the intracoastal
around Blackburn bridge. We have been using both shrimp and
flies.Ladyfish and Mackerel blitzes have been plentyful in
the gulf between New pass and Big Pass. Again flyfishers have
scored big on the bunched up fish. Usualy it's 12lb False
Albacore this time of year. We did find them one morning but
they were fussy with only two or three breaking at a time.
We did manage to troll some up.Sheepshead are beginning to
move in Bigtime.Our fly clubs outing an hour south yielded
a half of dozen Snook many more Redfish many of them small
and dozens of Trout. Hats off to Denise (my girlfriend) who
out fished me and landed her first redfish on fly.Everything
seems to be late this year because of the weather or lingering
tide. Look for dramatic improvement as winter closes in.
See You on the water
Capt Jim Roberts [back
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Fishing
Report Oct 29
Most
of last month was focused on getting Reeldreams II up and
running.We also spent a few days without power from Tropical
storm Gabrielle. Intermitant redtide rendered certain areas
of the bay unfishable. With all that behind us now our fishing
should begin to heat up with the first hints of cooler weather.
Days are noticeably shorter now. I did quite a few night snook
fly trips. The fish have been eating very well with upwards
of 30 fish caught an evening.Terry Blumenfield of N.Y.landed
her first snook a keeper taken on live shrimp. Pompano are
begining to run now. Large schools of jacks can be found marauding
bait in the inner bays. I fished 2 redfish tournaments this
month. In Sarasota I did well on the pre-fish days only to
mis-out on the quality fish the day of the tournament. The
Tampa tournament the wind howled rendering most areas unfishable.
A tough day to be on the water. Just a reminder. Reeldreams
II is a 20' SeaCraft capable of fishing the offshore reefs.
Anybody wishing to get in on the fall Kingfish run should
book your trip between now and December. [back
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Fishing
Report Sept 9
The past month
had Reeldreams anglers bringing a variety of fish to the boat.
Some notable catches were Bob Thorton's 19inch pompano taken
on whitebait. Bob had me print his fish and ordered a print
for himself plus a copy for each of his sons. Needless to
say Bob was proud of his catch and it can be viewed on my
Gyoytaku page. Lots of trout, ladyfish, jacks, spanish mackerel,
a few pompano, and snapper were caught on past trips. Mike
Ford of Okeechobee Fl, fished with me a couple of days one
of which we got heavy into redfish. Mike's wife landed the
first after losing a large fish to a snapped line do to the
inferior drag of her push button Zebco.
Hey if a customer says they want
to try their equipment I'm up for anything. We watched as
a couple of reds exploded on our topwaters only to keep missing
the baits. We poled around the island and anchored up. I had
seen a lot of surface activity. For the next 3 hours we doubled
up on reds three times and boated 14 redfish. Mike requested
a print of his fish which I know will spark countless memories
of that memorable day. To view Mike's fish log on http://www.fishsarasota.com/prints.html.
[back
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Fishing
Report Aug 1
Snook fishing remained good through
most of the month. Good outgoing tides through the day produced
lot of bites from snook and a few redfish. Craig Masse of
Glenellyn, Il bested a 10 lber in the middle of the day! Lots
of rain dirtied the water for about a week while I was getting
some trailer work accomplished. Things are back to normal
again with tempertures a little more mild than normal . Action
remains good offshore on Spinner shark and Blacktips to 50lbs.
We managed Little tunny and Spanish
mackerel on flies live chumming over the reef. Nick Masse
bested a 20lb barracuda on light tackle and lost a 300lb jewfish.
Large schools of Jack crevelle up to 30lbs are also roaming
the reefs. I have also found redfish in the bay schooled up.
These are good size fish averaging 8-10lbs and are creaming
mirolure top dog jrs. If your looking for some great top water
action book a trip in the next few weeks.
Good Fishin Capt. Jim [back
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Fishing
Report July 11
Reeldreams
anglers caught a wide variety of fish this month. Top billing
has to be snook in the passes. This has been all catch and
release fishing. Along with snook there is still spanish mackerel
around and plenty of mangrove snapper. Two tarpon trips this
month resulted in an eighty pounder to the boat and a couple
of missed hook sets.Eleven year old Heather Chapman managed
a couple of black drum off the docks and there have been some
big redfish or snook we haven't been able to pull out. Offshore
Barracuda have taken center stage along with little tunny.
There"s still some small amberjack hanging around and
we bagged some nice Kings last trip.Look for good action on
redfish towards the end of this month as they begin to school
up on the flats.
Good fishin Capt. Jim [back
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Fishing
Report June 6
Kingfish,
kingfish, kingfish. All trips have been out to the reef. The
seas have been calm and the bait it thick from the beaches
on out. This is the time of year for big fish. Reeldreams
anglers have been slamming the kingfish all month. It's a
sure bet when live baiting with large baitfish such as sardines
and cigar minnows.Nick Self hooked into a 200lb jewfish that
he had on for a while before the hook straightened .Barracuda
action has picked up along with little tunny. The tarpon are
here although I haven't been working them.We've had some great
fly trips at night for snook. Outgoing seems to be the best
with shrimp still flowing out to the gulf. Look for increased
action from blacktip sharks and permit out on the reef.
Capt. Jim [back
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Fishing
Report April 23
Where
are the reds and snook?Aside from sticking a couple of large
reds and 2 inshore slams Reeldream's anglers have seen little
action from these great gamesters. Most action has been on
Seatrout, Jack crevelle, Sheepshead, and Ladyfish. Chuck Van
horn of Indiana fought and landed a 15ib Jack at the Ringling
flats.Richard Garland a Madison River guide managed a slam
on flies at night on Snook Alley.Three keeper Trout and 2
Spanish mackeral yielded Jack and Sharon Snader a fine shore
lunch. Baitfish seem to be slow entering the bay and showing
in the shallow flats. Fishing deeper has proved productive
with such winter species as Spanish Mackeral, Bluefish, and
Pompano taking up the slack. Tarpon are beginning to show
at the New pass bridge. Now's the Time! to book a Tarpon trip
for late May or June. Flats fishing is bound to improve in
the up coming months.
Capt. Jim [back
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Fishing
Report March 5
Warm water temps and mild evenings
have brought some great bites on the Westcoast. Night snook
fishing with fly tackle has been phenomenal. Alister Pfeifer
of Ireland enjoyed a fantastic holiday boating approx. 20
snook and 2 jacks. It seems luck must follow him every where
he goes. He shared with me some great bonefishing experiances
he had on the southern islands off Cuba. Alister went on to
catch 20 seatrout 2 ladyfish and a flounder also on fly. Another
day he tried Lake Myakka and landed bass,crappie,bluegill
and a gar on poppers.
Chuck Skoog of N.J.had a good
catch of Spanish mackerel on light tackle and sheepshead.
Pompano and bluefish have been rated good in the passes. Last
weekend in Titusville I fished the Mercury /Ranger redfish
tour. Not finding fish till 1:00pm left us with not much time
to play catch up.We were fishing jerkbaits with a new weedless
rigged jig head and had missed a few precious bites. After
landing a few shorts we finally boated our first slot fish.The
last 15 minutes we fished vigorously hoping to locate our
second fish to no avail. Anyway I learned alot about the area,
fished a new bait, and enjoyed time with Denise. Look for
more fish to begin prowling the flats this month.
Capt. Jim Roberts [back
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Fishing
Report Febuary 4
Winter has finally
loosen it's grip on Florida for a little while . The begining
of January had brought an onslought of continued cold weather
for 2 1/2 weeks with no reprieve. Only getting out a few times
we managed sheepshead and redfish on shrimp and ladyfish and
trout on flies and jigs. I'm happy to say we are in the second
week of near 80 degree temperture and the fish are loving
it. After the cold wave we started fishing the headwaters
to the Bradon River and were catching 8lb Jack Crevelle on
7 weights using deep clouser minnows. About the same time
the trout really turned on in the intracoastal. Last week
the water had warmed 6 degress and as I suspected the snook
began feeding again also.Penny Gentle of Camden Maine had
a stellar evening of mild temps and some hot fly action. Day
action continues to be good on trout, sheepshead,and ladyfish.Night
snook should remain good as long as tempertures don't plumett
to far. [back
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Fishing
Report December 4
Novembers cooler
tempertures brought on hot action with many different species.
Large jacks were taking topwater lures, flies and jigs at
the green bridge on the manatee river. The middle of month
spanish mackeral were running hard on the artificial reefs
in the gulf.They were taking live baits and jigs. Recently
false albacore have been blasting glass minnows off the beaches.
Anything would work. We were casting clouser minnows and jigs.Last
week pompano and permit were running good in the passes.Night
snook charters have been very sucessful with minnow pattern
flies.Look for good fishing between cold periods. [back
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Fishing
Report October 3
Sept.brought cooler mornings with continued good action with
redfish on topwater lures.Mirrolure top dog jrs have been
my plug of choice.The fish don't seem to be schooled quite
as thick as of lately.A recent trip in Sarasota bay yield
some good action on trout.Sam Smart and wife Laura landed
enough keeper trout for a nice fish fry.That morning we had
a real surprise when what we thought was a jack turned out
to be a 20" pompano that took a top dog jr.Pompano seem
to be on the increase along with Spanish mackerel.Jacks are
starting to school around the bay and they're not hard to
spot pushing big wakes. These fish always take anything moving
thats presented in front of them and are great sport on fly
tackle.Evening snook has been good on both whitebait and flies.Look
for flats action to increase with the beginning of small cool
waves.
Capt.
Jim [back
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Fishing
Report September 7
Summer hasn't loosened it's grip on our waters yet. I have
been finding redfish schooled up in the morning. These fish
will eat anything when they are anxious and unsuspecting.
Most fish have been taken on mirror lure Top Dogs and flies.
It has been tantalizing watching those big reds blowing up
on the plugs, sometimes taking four cast to connect. Bob Padgett
connected with a 7lber along the mangroves. It was a real
battle with the fish disappearing every few seconds under
the mangrove limbs, as Bob tried to pull his fish out. Afterward
Bob said that was the biggest and strongest fish he'd ever
caught. anxious
and unsuspecting. Most fish have been taken on mirror lure
Top Dogs and flies.
It
has been tantalizing watching those big reds blowing up on
the plugs, sometimes taking four cast to connect. Bob Padgett
connected with a 7lber along the mangroves. It was a real
battle with the fish disappearing every few seconds under
the mangrove limbs, as Bob tried to pull his fish out. Afterward
Bob said that was the biggest and strongest fish he'd ever
caught. Whitebait
is thick around the inlets and making for a lot of catching.
We've been getting numerous trout but have taken few of legal
size. On an offshore trip last week we ran into a school of
large jacks. Pitching out handfuls of greenies kept the fish
interested and rewarded us with doubles.Snook are rated good
on the beaches. Look for more fish beginning to return to
the flats this month as temperatures begin to moderate
Capt.
Jim [back
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Fishing
Report April 2000
Last
month brought a good bite from many species as gulf temperatures
warmed. Evening temperatures have been mild along with longer
days will bring on summers migration of fish. Tarpon usually
arrive the 2nd week in May. Many fly anglers last month enjoyed
great night snook action. On most trips close to 20 snook
were caught on 7&8 weights with the largest fish measuring
25 inches. Day trips yielded a mixed bag of pompano, trout,
sheepshead, snapper, redfish, and mackeral.Tackle breaking
Jacks have been hanging around the New pass bridge. Whitebait
has shown up in the bay and catches of the big three (trout,snook,and
redfish) will be improving. Look for a flats report soon.
[back
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Fishing
Report May 3rd, 2000
Redfishing
really picked up in Sarasota Bay the last 3 weeks. We've been
taking them on topwater lures early and shrimp and DOA lures
later in the morning. Most reds have been taken wading out
from the boat. Steve Kutz of Murphys,Calif.managed 3 on spinning
and 2 on flies. The largest has been a 101/2 lber caught by
Ron Zemmer of Michagan. He and his brother had a phenomenal
day hooking 10 fish. The first fish tore one hook off the
plug and straighten the other. Brother John didn't fare as
well losing a bagley jumping mullet. We've also been getting
a few large trout. Weather conditions will begin to stabilize
and fishing will begin to move out to the beaches. A few tarpon
have already been spotted and reports from down south have
been good. Look for flats fishing to continue improving and
a tarpon to report in a few weeks. I still have quite a few
openings but it is best to book in advance.
Capt.Jim
[back
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Fishing
Report June 9th, 2000
It's Tarpon time in the Gulf of Mexico. Things started to
heat up this week with weather patterns getting back to normal.
Vern McAthy of Siesta Key came tight to his first tarpon which
he fought for an hour and fifteen minutes. I had my glove
on three times and felt sure we were going to boat this fish.
Vern is 80 years old an an ex-president of Bassmasteres. His
smooth angling style really warmed my heart to see such exemplary
skill and patience in an old master angler. We Jump two other
fish that day. I've had some offshore trips that have been
spectacular also. With all the thredfin herring off the beaches
a short run out to the reefs has produced some really hot
action. It was kingfish last week and large spanish mackerel
this week. Along with the mackerel we're catching false albacore,
barracuda, and some large sharks. Inshore has been producing
snook,redfish and a lot of nice trout. Fishing should hold
good thru July.
Capt.Jim
[back
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Fishing
Report July 17, 2000
Tarpon
season winded down last week.Corrine and Mattie of New Jersey
had a pleasant surprize.After returning from catching barracuda
on the reef and Corrine's cousin getting her stomach back
, we found a nice school working along the beach. After repeated
attemps and one missed bite I was losing patience. As usual
I said lines in when I could see Corrine's line tighting.
I quickly shouted reel-reel. Corrine was estatic while Mattie
chimed Corrine I don't mind telling you I'm green with envie.
Corrine did great fighting her fish. We backed him up several
times and at one time thought we'd take him. He made another
bid for the deep water when the leader broke. Offshore we
've had a good month. The highlights have been some beautiful
permit caught.
These
fish have been pretty far out on the reef. Calm conditions
necessary to target these fish. Roger Patterson of Nebraska
was rewarded with a 30lb barracuda ,and lost numerous blacktip
sharks. Inshore with tempertures warming , I switched to night
fishing. Snook are feeding well at night and readily taking
flies. Jim Burns of Arizona had been trying to fool snook
for 2 weeks along the beaches. We fished snook alley and had
an unbelievable night. Besides the weather being gorgous the
fish were working really good. Jim was a really good caster
and I enjoyed talking with him about trout fishing and sharing
his enthusiam for saltwater flyfishing. Jim landed just under
20 fish and was probably bit 30 times! Day trips have yielded
mangrove snapper, snook, small trout, ladyfish, and jacks.
Look for the reds to begin schooling on the flats next month.
Capt.Jim
[back
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Fishing
Report December 5, 2002
After playing with the snook and redfish most of the late summer and fall
months, winters migration has brought on a welcomed change. November we were
still catching keeper snook on the fly. The Spanish mackerel invasion was
sensational. Robert Singletary had a spectacular day doing better than other
boats hooking up large mackerel on the fly. Brian Silver and his group scored
big on pompano and permit in New Pass. Little tunny and a few mackerel have
been busting up near the 3 MI reef. Lee Michael's and his son Jason Managed
to hook up trolling spoons just off the reef. Inside bluefish and ladyfish
are abundant. After chasing the tougher fish around customers never seem to
mind the fast action from these school fish. Look for the weather to remain
temperate most of this month with continued great action.
Capt.Jim
[back
to top]
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