Ryan Tickles, of Riverview, joined me for a full day of light spin tackle fishing in Northern Sarasota Bay. We started the day working Mirr-O-Lure topwater plugs (Mirror-Mullet and She Pup) for trout. Trout were caught up to 19 inches after some explosive strikes on the plugs. Redfish and snook were taking swipes at them but would not connect. We then switched over to DOA jerkbaits (Golden Bream, Stark Naked, and Greenback) and live hand picked shrimp and worked some oyster bars for redfish and snook. One spot near Longboat Pass had non-stop action on redfish and ladyfish. Besides jerkbaits and shrimp, the fish were also hitting 1/4 oz. Crocodile Silver spoons. Every cast was producing fish. The biggest red was 17 inches, but after switching to ultra light tackle, the every cast action more than made up for the size of the fish that were caught. We sight casted some redfish and snook upward to 30 inches on live shrimp, but could not get them to eat. It was a very enjoyable day on the water.

Ryan enjoying the redfish action


I even decided to get in on the action