Sarasota Bay

FlatsWrecked · March 7

Any folks fished Sarasota Bay recently ? My wife and I are decent trout fisherman , we fished out usual spots last Friday in Sarasota Bay and did not get the first bite , did not see any bait fish in the bay . Tide was rather static but it seems Sarasota Bay is still suffering from fish kills of red tide .

hope someone has better updates .

lukkyracer · March 7

I was there a week after Christmas. It was a dead zone. Even most of the grass was dead. I think it's going to take a while for it to recover.

JustKeepSwimming · March 7

There's fish around but It needs to warm up a bit more and needs some more bait fish to show up.

idlerick · March 7

I had the same experience a few weeks ago. Zero strikes in areas I usually catch 20-50 fish in a day. Not even a ladyfish or a mackerel. No cormorants, no pelicans, no dolphins (normally I'd celebrate that, but in this case they knew more than I did). Complete dearth of bait fish and crabs.
I did see a couple of dolphins off the Ringling wall on Monday, so maybe that's an encouraging sign. But I'm afraid it'll be a few years before we're back to normal on trout and other flats fish.

jbsrq · March 7

Not sure where you guys are looking but I ran out of New Pass Sunday last weekend and it was more stacked with bait than I have seen in a very long time. Along with dolphins, birds crushing bait etc.

RennieRae · March 7

jbsrq said:

Not sure where you guys are looking but I ran out of New Pass Sunday last weekend and it was more stacked with bait than I have seen in a very long time. Along with dolphins, birds crushing bait etc.

I think offshore vrs inshore is the difference here...

lukkyracer · March 7

RennieRae said:

jbsrq said:

Not sure where you guys are looking but I ran out of New Pass Sunday last weekend and it was more stacked with bait than I have seen in a very long time. Along with dolphins, birds crushing bait etc.

I think offshore vrs inshore is the difference here...

Do ya think?? Your exactly right.

lukkyracer · March 7

It's going to take a long time with dead Sea grass.

JustKeepSwimming · March 8

I fished the beach yesterday and remembered why I hate fishing with bait...catfish catfish catfish. Got spined good in my hand for good measure (forgot how uncomfortable it it). I know sheepshead have been around but they weren't around yesterday.

jbsrq · March 14

I'm not talking about offshore. Literally all around the New Pass bridge was completely stacked with bait/dolphins/birds etc. Hell the docks off New Pass Grill and Salty dog were holding tons of bait

FlatsWrecked · March 15

Thanks for feedback , I will try the flats and potholes near New Pass .

Sarasota Bay

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