Flats Fishing Sarasota
A page dedicated to flats fishing anglers that fish or are interested in fishing the shallow water flats in the Sarasota area. Capt. Brian is based out of Sarasota, FL, but he trailers his Maverick Mirage shallow water skiff as far north as Tampa Bay and as far south as Charlotte Harbor. If you’re an angler that enjoys using artificial baits on light tackle, then there is no reason that you can’t find success fishing the flats around Sarasota, FL.
The Flats Fishing Sarasota page is full of resources for anglers that enjoy fishing with artificial baits in shallow water. Informative flats fishing articles, helpful hints, a list of the best tackle shops in the area, and more can be found throughout this page. There is even a small section on must-have lures for fishing this area.
Some of the best light tackle anglers that I see on my skiff come from all over the country. The Midwest produces some of the finest flats anglers around. Anglers from upstate New York are generally highly skilled with lots of practice. Wherever you’re from, you will enjoy the shallow water fishing that the Sarasota area has to offer. This page will familiarize you with flats fishing on the west coast of Florida and provide resources that will shorten your learning curve.
Hope you find it helpful!
-Captain Brian Boehm
Quiet Waters Fishing
Where to Fish
South Shore of Tampa Bay
The south shore of Tampa Bay has some of the most beautiful shallow water that you will find in our area. One of the key features of this area is the countless shallow sand bars and troughs that line the shorelines of the south shore. The south shore of Tampa Bay is more than just shoreline flats though.
The area has an extensive amount of back country waters. These beautiful back country areas are a maze of mangrove islands, creek mouths, and oyster bars. As the south shore of Tampa Bay nears the Gulf, additional areas like Terra Ceia and the Manatee River offer even more shallow water fishing for light tackle anglers looking to chase species like redfish, snook, seatrout, tarpon, and more.
Anna Maria Island
Anna Maria Island is the first barrier island on the south side of the mouth of Tampa Bay where it meets the Gulf. On the Gulf side of the island, you will find excellent tarpon fishing (during migration) and snook will cruise the beach during our warmer months. Tides regularly flush a significant amount of water past the northern tip of Anna Maria Island. The regular flush from the Gulf promotes some excellent opportunities for flats anglers.
Anna Maria Island still maintains its Old Florida charm and has two fishing piers that are almost always peppered with anglers. City Pier and the Rod and Reel Pier are fixtures on the island and they carry a lot of history in their old bones. On the back side of Anna Maria Island, you’ll find good flats on either side of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). These flats have traditionally been good places to find snook, seatrout, and redfish.
Anna Maria Island has at least 3 public boat ramps. When I run flats fishing charters near Anna Maria Island, I generally pick up and one of the three boat ramps. Two of the ramps are on the south side of the island. This gives flats anglers access to Cortez and the northern portion of Sarasota Bay.
Palma Sola
Palma Sola is a small bay that is due east of Anna Maria Island on the east side of the ICW. There is an extensive amount of flats to fish in Palma Sola Bay. The bottom topography of Palma Sola is something you’ll want to familiarize yourself with if you plan on flats fishing from a skiff there. There is a channel cut for boats, but it’s still a place where boaters can easily run aground.
The water in Palma Sola is some of the clearest water you will find. Visibility can be incredible during our cooler months. Palma Sola is an ideal place to chase reds, but you will also find larger seatrout and snook spread throughout the flats of Palma Sola. You will occasionally find juvenile tarpon in Palma Sola as well.
Sarasota Bay
Sarasota Bay is a large and fairly shallow bay on the northern side of Sarasota with extensive flats on both the east and west shorelines. On the northern tip of the bay, it begins to narrow and Sister Key and Jewfish Key mark the end of Sarasota Bay.
Throughout Sarasota Bay, you can find lush beds of turtle grass lining the bottom. This deeper grass is a reliable place to find seatrout, ladyfish, occasional bluefish, and other species. The shallow flats in Sarasota Bay are known for their sandy potholes. Sandy potholes are places that fish like snook, redfish, and larger seatrout like to hang out to sabotage baitfish, shrimp, and other food sources.
Sarasota Bay is unique in that it has three passes to the Gulf of Mexico. This means there is always fresh salt water flushing into the Sarasota Bay and that generally leads to very good water clarity. The bay has its fair share of oyster bars, creek mouths, and mangrove islands spread around its shorelines. These are great features that enhance flats fishing in Sarasota Bay.
Longboat Key
Longboat Key is the long barrier island that runs north and south on the west side of Sarasota Bay. The bay side of Longboat Key has very reliable shallow water flats and a few notable mangrove islands. Bishops Harbor is a favorite amongst local flats anglers. Redfish, snook, larger seatrout, and other species are available when flats fishing here.
On the Gulf side of Longboat Key, you will find some of the most beautiful beaches on the west coast of Florida. You will also find beach snook during our warmer months and tarpon during tarpon season. The back of Longboat Key also has small nooks and bayous that can produce some excellent flats fishing opportunities.
New Pass
New Pass is on the southern tip of Longboat Key. New Pass almost always has water moving and it has smaller flats and shoals that make it a place that a shallow water flats angler find worth exploring. We often find a fair number of snook and seatrout here. There are also times during the year when flats anglers will have shots at tarpon both juvenile and adult.
Lido Key
Lido Key is on the southwest corner of Sarasota Bay. Lido is south of longboat and north of Siesta Key. It’s a smaller barrier island and much of the bayside has seawalls which are not ideal shorelines for flats anglers. With that said, flats anglers can still find a few places on the back side of Lido to fish and the Gulf side does have beach snook during warmer months and obviously tarpon during tarpon season.
Lower Sarasota Bay
Lower Sarasota Bay is an area that is south of the Ringling Bridge and the twin bridges. Bird Key is in lower Sarasota Bay and the North bridge to Siesta Key is its southern border. This is an area that receives a significant amount of tidal movement due to its proximity to Big Pass. On the east side, there are good flats that start near Marina Jacks and run south towards Selby Gardens.
The west side of Bird Key also has areas where you can consistently target seatrout. Big Pass has sandy flats on the shorelines where redfish and snook can be targeted. Big Pass is a great place to find fish throughout the year in Sarasota.
Siesta Key
Siesta Key is renowned for its white sand beaches, but Siesta Key has some very good flats fishing on the ICW side. Where Midnight Pass used to cut through the island is a series of mangrove islands and winding cuts that will hold snook and redfish throughout the year. On the beach, snook are a favorite target of many flats anglers during warmer months. Tarpon are available along the beach and sand bars off of Siesta Key during tarpon season
Little Sarasota Bay & Blackburn Bay
Little Sarasota Bay and Blackburn Bay are two small bays that are just south of the south bridge to Siesta Key. Both bays are peppered with mangrove islands, sandbars, and oyster bars. Midnight Pass, which used to be open, used to flush fresh water into these bays. However, now these bays are more of a brackish water ecosystem. These little bays are a favorite for many local flats anglers in the winter.
Little Sarasota Bay and Blackburn Bay both have a good population of snook and larger seatrout. There are plenty of redfish in this area as well, but they can be a little difficult to consistently target. The water in these bays is a little tannin stained and regular boat traffic can stir it up and reduce water clarity quickly.
Finding little pockets away from the ICW is the key for flats anglers on windy days or days with heavy boat traffic. Many flats anglers use kayaks in these bays to target snook, reds, seatrout, and the occasional juvenile tarpon in late summer.
Placida
Placida is a town about 40 minutes south of Sarasota. The boat ramp in Placida will take you out into Gasparilla Sound. Gasparilla Sound is known for its immense back country and excellent flats fishing. Bull Bay, Turtle Bay, Catfish Creek, Whidden Creek, and more are all back country areas that are interlinked on the east side of Gasparilla Sound.
For flats anglers, the extensive back country just south of Placida is the perfect place to get lost for the day. Flats anglers entering the back country are treated to premiere snook and redfish habitat and fisheries. You will also find healthy sized seatrout here and juvenile tarpon during certain times of the year.
Inshore Slam Species
Snook
Snook are a premiere saltwater gamefish and they are an excellent species to target when flats fishing on the flats around the Sarasota area. They will be in different zones throughout the year. In the winter, you can find them regularly in brackish rivers. In the summer, many of these same fish will be cruising along the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. Practicing catch and release fishing helps to ensure that are snook fishery continues to thrive.
Redfish
Redfish love cruising the shallow flats looking for food. Reds enjoy eating shrimp, crabs, baitfish, marine worms and more. Redfish don’t mind actively hunting for their food compared to other species that are content to wait and sabotage their meals. In short, redfish like to force the action. Redfish can be found as far out as the Gulf of Mexico and as far in as the shallowest reaches of brackish rivers. In the Sarasota area, you can find redfish on the flats from fall through spring. Redfish are ideal targets for artificial baits and lures on light tackle.
Seatrout
Speckled Seatrout are prevalent throughout the shallow waters of the Sarasota area. The majority of the seatrout are class-size fish in the 12-18” range. However, we have plenty of larger seatrout around Sarasota. Fish over 20” are not uncommon and seatrout over 25” are caught throughout the year. Seatrout are a beautiful fish with a natural camouflage that makes them lethal predators on grass flats. Seatrout are known for laying motionless in sand holes or on edges and then erupting into action to sabotage any baitfish or shrimp that passes through their sabotage point. The large ones are truly spectacular fish and we are lucky to have them
More Flats Fishing Resources
Best Tackle Shops in Sarasota
Best Artificial Lures for the Sarasota Flats
There is a large array of artificial lures that can be used when flats fishing in the Sarasota area. Breaking them down into two categories (soft plastics & hard baits) is a way to simplify the way you look at these baits.
Soft Plastics
In general, most flats anglers work their soft plastics slowly. Most soft plastics are best used in situations when you suspect fish to be holding in an area, or you clearly see fish holding in an area. The one exception to the ‘soft plastics slow’ slow rule is paddletails. Paddeltails are versatile baits that can be worked at different speeds. Swimming a paddletail quickly is one of the best ways to cover water and find fish.
On the flats, a 3-4 “ soft plastic paddle tail on a jig head can be deadly. DOA lures makes paddletails and they are available almost everywhere and in a wide range of colors. Zman paddletails are made from a different type of plastic. They’re extremely stretchy which makes them very fishy baits. You can’t go wrong with either and you’ll want to pair them with jig heads from 1/8 ounce, all the way up to 1/4oz jig heads. The shallower the water, the lighter the jig head is a general rule of thumb on the flats.
Soft plastic twitch/jerk baits are another lure you will want to have in your box. MirrOlure’s Lil Johns are a fantastic soft plastic bait. When rigged correctly, they walk the dog under the water. Most anglers that fish artificial baits are familiar with the classic Zoom flukes. Flukes are a versatile bait that can be worked in a variety of ways. Snook and redfish are extremely susceptible to these baits. DOA also makes a serviceable fluke style bait. Pair these baits with the proper size and weighted hooks.
Artificial Shrimp are a must for fishing the flats around Sarasota. DOA has one of the oldest and finest artificial shrimp lures out there. They work great for snook, redfish, and seatrout. If you know there are fish in an area and you need to work that area slowly, then a DOA shrimp may be what you need. Many flats anglers use the DOA shrimp as sight fishing baits for redfish.
Egret Baits makes the Vudu Shrimp. The little 2” sixteenth ounce Vudu Shrimp in natural colors is probably one of my favorite lures to use for sight fishing. It’s light, so you won’t be getting long casts out of it, but it does land rather softly for an artificial bait. One of my favorite places to use this bait is on the beach for snook in the summer.
Plugs/Hard Baits
Fishing with plugs and hard baits is an extremely fun way to fish the flats. Working suspending lipless plugs around points, sandy potholes, and over grass is one of the better ways to trigger a strike from larger fish. Snook and larger seatrout are especially susceptible to suspending plugs, but flats anglers will catch their fair share of redfish on them as well.
Fishing the flats of Sarasota with topwater plugs is one of the most exciting ways to fish in shallow water. Surface explosions from snook, redfish, and larger seatrout will have any angler addicted to fishing topwater plugs very quickly. Topwater plugs are unbelievably effective at working mangrove island points and are one of my favorite baits to use in the back country.
MirrOlure is a company that has been in business in this area for a long time. They have a full line of suspending plugs. If you’re fishing shallow, there are two plugs in particular that you should consider using.
The MirrOdine XL and the Catch 2000. Both of these hard lipless suspending baits work well on snook and seatrout. You will also catch redfish on them. These baits are excellent at triggering reaction strikes from larger fish. One of the keys to working these baits is integrating regular pauses into your retrieve.
The majority of topwater plugs used on the flats are walk-the-dog style baits. They’re designed to be worked very slowly. They often fish better when you implement pauses into your retireve. Keeping a few different sizes and shapes in your box is a prudent decision. You will have most scenarios covered with a Heddon Super Spook, Heddon Spook Jr, and a MirrOlure Top Pup.
Spoons are really in a category of their own, but have been placed under hard baits to keep things simple. Spoons are one of the best ways to cover vast swaths of flats very quickly. Fishing with spoons is a great way to target redfish. However, snook and larger seatrout will regularly chase down spoons.
Many of the old-timers still fish the classic gold Johnson spoon but the Aquadream ADL series spoons are probably better suited for shallow water fishing. Whichever spoon you decide to use, make sure to use at the very least a ball bearing swivel which greatly reduces line twist.
Additional Resources
- An entertaining fishing blog to keep up on is this one
- We have two fly shops in Sarasota. CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key. The other is the Compound Boardshop on South Osprey Avenue near the north Siesta bridge.