As we were leaving the dock at Ken Thompson Park last week, the sun was just making its first impression on the eastern horizon, painting the silhouette of Sarasota’s expanding skyline in beautiful shades of pink and purple. Captain Rick Grassett and I were headed south towards Big Pass to scout the Gulf waters off Sarasota for false albacore and Spanish mackerel.

As we cleared New Pass and headed into the Gulf, the signs looked good as schools of bait were beginning to appear on the surface and a number of birds were in the air. We headed south towards Casey Key where there had been reports of false albacore and Spanish mackerel working schools of bait just off the beach. We were early but hoped to be in position when any action started.

After traveling as far as Grassy Point off Casey Key, we hadn’t seen any action so we waited off the beach as the sun rose and began to warm the scene. As can often happen, especially early in the season, the action never materialized. After about an hour, we decided to run some of the stone crab trap lines that had just recently be placed in the Gulf. We reasoned we could look for tripletail and still keep an eye out for our intended target.

The decision was a good one and changed the course of the day and our target of choice. After only running a few traps, we spotted a small tripletail on a crab trap marker. Grassett waited a minute and then returned near the float and dropped his trolling motor.

After closing in, I made several casts before getting the shrimp fly in a position where the fish attacked it. Unfortunately I didn’t hook up and after trying several more passes we decided to move on. That’s when we started seeing tripletail on what seemed like every third marker.

It was Grassett’s turn, and we found another fish four floats later. He hooked up after only a couple of casts, and we landed, photographed and released the fish. From then on, we alternated as we started seeing more and more fish, including floats that held multiple targets. After missing a few fish, we started hooking up. On one float we actually found four tripletail and caught three. For the most part, they were small, but we did find and catch several respectable fish.

We headed back to the dock just after noon where we compared notes on how different these fish are and the approach required to entice and hook them. The tripletail has a compressed body with a triangle-shaped head. Their eyes are small but they have a large mouth. The name tripletail is given because of the fish's three rounded fins: dorsal, caudal and anal.

They are ambush feeders and essentially lay on their side near a float looking more like weeds than fish. When an unsuspecting food source approaches, they make their move. When fly fishing for them the best approach is to actually pull the fly right at their mouths, completely counter to other species.

In the end, we were catching them by just pulling up near a float, cutting the motor and casting. What had started out as a day seeking false albacore and Spanish mackerel had turned into a banner day on tripletail. This is the time of the year to keep your options open. Make a plan but be flexible and be prepared make a change for the better.