Sarasota Bay Gag Grouper, Last day Loosers!
Captain_Tim
Posts: 55 Deckhand
Today being the last day for gags I decided I wanted to get some more fillets in the freezer before our government puts a permanent ban on them all together. So I call up one of the other captains I work with and tell him to meet me at the dock around 1pm to do some fishing. I load up a few pounds of sardines and some heavy gear because these gags in the bay are tough!!! I mean really, really tough, the gag on the far right in the picture below is 31 inches and he almost pulled me in the water. We are using penn senator 6/0 with 60lb mono, 100lb fluorocarbon leader, 10/0 Circle hooks and locked down drags (this is more like combat than fishing).
So we get out to my "super secret" spot in sarasota bay, I start chumming to get the grouper out of their holes and to the back of the boat. With in 40 min we had out limit of gags ranging from 24-31inches, a few break-offs from what had to be some monsters and 2 nice flounder. On a quick side note there have been more flounder in the bay than I have seen in the entire time I have fished sarasota, two weeks ago 2 ladys on my boat got 17 flounder in 2 hours and I have been getting between 3-10 keepers on almost every trip! Just thought I would let you guys know (go flounder fishing).
Here are some before and after photos from today
Before
After (beer battered grouper)
So we get out to my "super secret" spot in sarasota bay, I start chumming to get the grouper out of their holes and to the back of the boat. With in 40 min we had out limit of gags ranging from 24-31inches, a few break-offs from what had to be some monsters and 2 nice flounder. On a quick side note there have been more flounder in the bay than I have seen in the entire time I have fished sarasota, two weeks ago 2 ladys on my boat got 17 flounder in 2 hours and I have been getting between 3-10 keepers on almost every trip! Just thought I would let you guys know (go flounder fishing).
Here are some before and after photos from today
Before
After (beer battered grouper)
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Replies
Ryan just call me next time your down and I will tell you where they are if the weather forces you to stay close. But flounder like to hang on the outside of structure, that could be a bridge, reef or even grass, just remember fish the transitions of the structure and the flounder will be there. As far as depth they have been from 1ft deep to 45ft deep on the offshore reefs, shrimp on a jig head is a easy way to target them but a live finger mullet is probably the best flounder bait around.
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WWW.FLYINGFISHFLEET.COM
^THIS^ Great advice tim, sounds like you are one of the good ones. Ryan, listen to him! Flounder can always be found on transitions, better fishing on the tide changes as they are normally sunk into the ground awaiting passing prey. They seem to find anything that is different from temp changes to lights at night. Do not be discouraged by Tony's 2 incher caught in 150ft hahahaha, that was priceless. Anything on a jighead that has movement will catch them.... even stinky artificial especially if they are flashy. Tim is that your own recipe? If so it looks great and would love it. Great job and great advice, helping people with new ideas and/or skills is always a kind gesture. It is how this site should be used more often. Maybe one day a whole bunch of us will find a good public grilling/hangout spot that we can meet up and bullshiz while drinking some beers. I will bring some cobia!
Thanks for the report
larrywitt
Fishing, Photography, Life