02-24-2001, 07:26 PM
February 24, 2001<br><br>Sarasota Fla. Fishing Report<br><br>By Capt. Bob Smith<br><br>It all broke loose this week with plenty of good action from the Bay to the deep Gulf. Spanish mackerel, pompano, bluefish and a few cobia were being caught in the passes on jigs and live shrimp. The grass flats were not as hot but you could find a few large trout. I found the best action along the beach fishing some rock piles in 18 feet of water. For the first two or three hours of fishing, the Spanish mackerel action could not of been any faster. Every live shrimp was immediately taken as it hit the water and the mackerel ran up to 4 pounds. After going through about 150 shrimp, I started to raise a blister on my hand from my fish release tool. As we moved on to the afternoon, the mackerel action slowed and we started to get a variety of fish. An occasional cobia or grouper would hit. Most of the cobia was just short but we got 25" gag grouper. Mangrove snapper, sheepshead and some spotted seatrout 16-18 inches long were also caught. With the mackerel, it made a nice mixed bag of fish.<br><br>Further offshore at the Cuda Hole in 45 to 50 feet of water, the action was very good. Fishing natural bottom with live shrimp you could find plenty of Large Mangrove snapper, hogfish, porgy and an occasional keeper size grouper. Larger grouper were better fished with larger baitfish. No kingfish run yet, but we are all looking for them. There have only been a few sightings so far. The deep offshore structures at 100 feet plus are holding plenty of Amberjacks.<br><br>Enjoy and Protect<br><br>www.sarasota-fla-fishing.com <br><br><br>