New to the area and wanted to know where is a good spot to kayak fish around the Sarasota/Bradenton area? What might I catch and what bait to use? I’m looking to keep my catch so anyone with tips on good fish in the area would be great. Thanks.
New to the area and wanted to know where is a good spot to kayak fish around the Sarasota/Bradenton area? What might I catch and what bait to use? I’m looking to keep my catch so anyone with tips on good fish in the area would be great. Thanks.
I’m a ways south of you, but know Sarasota Bay and the Manatee River aren’t too far from you. Near the mouth of the river and in the bay, you’ll get trout, snapper, snook, sheepshead(in winter) whiting, pompano and so on. Buy Vic Dunaway’s book, Sport Fish of Florida, it will help you with ID and give you a good bit of fishing tips, If you have the time, check out the Peace and Myaka rivers, south of you, that empty into Charlotte harbor.Maybe the best for kayak/canoe in the state. Beautiful sights and fishing too. Hope you hear from someone up your way for better help.
For bait, live shrimp. Everything eats ’em.
You pretty much can’t go wrong. Put in somewhere and paddle around the coast, up rivers and canals, along beach and seawalls and open grass flats. My best advice for bait would be shrimp or some type of cutbait until you figure out what you want to catch or do. It’s possible to catch almost anything like
Redfish
trout
snook
tarpon
ladyfish
catfish
mang. snapper
puffers
sharks
bluefish
pompano
jack crevalle
spanish macs
cero macs
black drum
sheepshead
ect
The area around the south side of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (Joe’s Bay, Miguel Bay) are a great location to fish from a kayak. You can put in at the rest area on the joe’s Bay side. Check out the forums on captmel.com or floridasportsman.com and you’ll find all of the information you need.