Flats fishing in the inshore waters around CB’s Saltwater Outfitters in Sarasota, FL continues to provide exciting action for anglers fishing on charters with Quiet Waters Fishing. We found good numbers of redfish and seatrout in all sizes over the last few weeks. Snook fishing remains steady with the best action still coming at night on dock lights.
Night fishing around dock lights is probably your best bet this time of year if you’re focused on catching snook.
Snook
Snook have been active in waters around Sarasota, FL and can be found in a variety of locations this time of year. Brackish rivers and creeks have been a great place to find them. Fly fishing anglers did well fishing gurglers the first few hours of the morning.
Focusing on points and keeping an eye out for obvious signs of feeding snook helps ensure that you’re in the right spot. We are still catching fish on the flats. Using Mirrolure Mirrodine XLs and paddle tails on jig heads around sandbars with good tidal flow. Fishing on flats with the presence of bait or mullet has been a good place to find them.
Fishing at night around dock lights is probably your best bet this time of year if you’re focused on catching snook.
Little Sarasota Bay and Blackburn Bay yielded a good number of redfish.
Redfish
Sarasota Bay has really perked up and we are seeing more and more redfish. Little Sarasota Bay and Blackburn Bay also yielded a good number of redfish. The best bait for redfish continues to be the Aqua Dream ADL series spoon and paddle tails on jig heads.
We are still seeing larger redfish in brackish rivers and creeks in very shallow water. A rising tide on a cold morning around mudflats is a great place to look for redfish on the flats and in brackish rivers like the Manatee and Myakka.
If you’re fly fishing, then adhering to the winter time motto ‘brown and down’ will put the odds in your favor. In clear water situations, reducing your leader to 15 pound test can really help with wary redfish.
We found good numbers of seatrout in all sizes.
Seatrout
Seatrout of all sizes have provided steady action in waters around Sarasota. We found good action on larger healthy sized seatrout using paddle tails and the Mirrolure Mirrodine XL. There are gator trout around and we moved a big one last week. Although we could not get a hook in the fish, it’s still a really positive sign for the fishery.
If you’re an angler that needs more regular action, then you can find that over deeper grass with class-size seatrout. Once you find a pocket of these fish, the action can be steady. A ¼ ounce jig and paddle tail will do the trick on these fish.
Seatrout are providing steady action in the waters surrounding Sarasota.
Looking Ahead
We’re heading towards an extended warm up and that will likely have fish on the move. Anglers fishing in Sarasota in the next few weeks may find it necessary to move around more to find fish. Other winter trends should continue to point anglers towards fish.
Negative low tides in the morning should still concentrate fish in holes, troughs, and deeper basins. River fishing should continue to provide good action for snook and redfish.
Dock light fishing can be outstanding this time of year. With smaller bait around dock lights, fly fishing anglers will have the advantage over their spin fishing brethren.
If you’re interested in a charter, you can contact me by phone, email, or through my website. Good luck out there. We’ll see you on the water soon!
Brian, owns and operates Quiet Waters Fishing LLC and runs his trips out of a 17’ Maverick Mirage. He covers water as far north as Tampa Bay and south to the Charlotte Harbor/Boca Grande area. His favorite trips to offer are: back country, shallow flats, night tarpon, & night dock light snook trips.
