Sarasota report12/14

[captjim]

It is the time of year when I start concentrating my efforts "down south". By that I mean the area from CBs Saltwater Outfitters at Stickney Pt Rd down to Marker 15 in Nokomis. This part of the bay is smaller and more protected than the more open waters up north. Also, it is pretty far from the passes, so as the weekly fronts come through and the water gets dirty, that area is usually not effected. We caught trout to 18" and plenty of ladyfish on the flats on the east side just north of Midnight Pass. Cotee jigs in olive and root beer worked well, as did live shrimp. Just south of Blackburn Pt bridge, the ladyfish were thick along the channel edges, we caught larges ones on every cast with a gold Cotee jig, along with a couple of bluefish. I went up into Phillippi Creek looking to see if the sheepshead had started showing up. Not yet, but we took a few jack crevelle in the 3 lb range on live shrimp. There were also a bunch of ladyfish out in front of the creek mouth.