Sarasota winter residents, Ernie Gray, Bob Kerr and Ken Barwick, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Tuesday. They caught and released ladyfish and trout on Cotee jigs with rootbeer/gold flashtails at the Marina Jack flat. The bonus for the day was a pair of 2-pound plus pompano caught at the Middleground flat!

Wind was a problem on Wednesday and Thursday and made things difficult for fly anglers. George Guther, from Munich, Germany fished Sarasota Bay with me on Wednesday and caught and released trout and ladyfish on Clouser flies in north Sarasota Bay.

Fly tier, Enrico Puglisi from Long Island, NY and Sarasota Herald-Tribune outdoor writer, Steve Gibson, fished Little Sarasota Bay with me on Thursday. We battled 15-20 mph winds all day but were able to catch and release 5 snook, 7 or 8 trout and numerous ladyfish on Enrico's Peanut Butter, Red's Critter and Bronze Mullet flies. Enrico uses synthetic materials to duplicate local baitfish. His flies are durable, life-like and "match the hatch" very well.

Fly anglers, Larry Singmaster from Sarasota, FL, and Bill Chapman, from Longboat Key, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Friday. They had a great day! They each caught a redfish and several nice trout on rootbeer/white Clousers near Long Bar. The wind picked up substantially at the end of the day, so they switched to spinning tackle.  They finished the day by each landing a nice bluefish on Cotee jigs with rootbeer/gold flashtails at the Middleground flat.

On Saturday, our local fly fishing club, Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers, hosted the Tampa Bay Fly Fishing Club for an outing in Sarasota Bay. I had Leigh West, from Tampa, FL, and Capt. Frank Rhoades, from Lakeland, FL fishing with me. We had a good day with 3 reds and more than 30 trout caught and released on flies near Long Bar. Frank's redfish, his first sight-fished redfish, was the largest at about 6-pounds. Many of the trout were in the 2-pound class. The fish were caught on Enrico Puglisi's Red's Critter fly, Clousers and Leigh West's bendback/Clouser. A total of 10 anglers waded the flats in various parts of Sarasota Bay. Several other anglers in the group also had a good day. Denise Bruner, from Tampa, FL, caught her first redfish on a fly and Craig Smothers, from Sarasota, FL, had a slam with 2 snook, a nice redfish and numerous trout caught near Ringling.

Fall fishing is at its prime now. With water temperatures around 70 degrees, we should have great action on the flats and in the coastal gulf waters for the next several weeks.