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Sarasota Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Sarasota Bay's grass-flat classroom: trout and snook behind the keys, tarpon off Longboat and a big-city fishery wearing resort clothes.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 11:19 PM
Air / High
81 / 81 F
Wind
NE 10 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8726083, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Sarasota lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 10 mph, steady pressure near 1016 hPa and a high of 81. Tides: high 11:28 AM and 11:19 PM, low 5:53 AM and 6:04 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 78 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:06 AM-12:06 PM and 10:32 PM-12:32 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Redfish (red drum)Excellent

Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled troutExcellent

Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

Tomorrow: Similar at 82 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Florida requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $17.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a Florida licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing redfish (red drum) here? Check the size and bag limits with FWC before you keep anything. The season dates for Florida, read off the agency, are on the Florida seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8726083 (Sarasota Bay). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
LOW5:53 AM0.7 ft
HIGH11:28 AM2.0 ft
LOW6:04 PM0.9 ft
HIGH11:19 PM2.1 ft
Sat
LOW6:35 AM0.4 ft
HIGH12:20 PM1.9 ft
LOW6:28 PM1.1 ft
HIGH11:34 PM2.3 ft

Sarasota tide chart: the week and the month β†’

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp81 F
High / Low81 / 57 F
WindNE 10-13 mph
Pressure1015.9 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:34 / 18:53
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~78 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Sarasota this week

The best day on Sarasota this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:06 AM-12:06 PM and 10:32 PM-12:32 AM
Minor period
4:27 AM-5:27 AM
Sun
07:34 to 18:53
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 11 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Sarasota: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Redfish (red drum) illustration

Redfish (red drum)

Best: late-summer and fall bull run; inshore all year

Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), called redfish across the South, is a bronze inshore drum with a black spot near the tail, fished on grass flats, oyster bars, marsh creeks and beaches from the Chesapeake around Florida to Texas. Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled trout illustration

Speckled trout

Shallow bays spring and summer; deeper water in winter

Speckled trout is the anglers' name for the spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), a spotted member of the drum family that lives in shallow bays and estuaries from the Chesapeake to Texas. Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

When to come: the Sarasota calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Redfish (red drum)
Speckled trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 78 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~78 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Sarasota today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 81 F, wind to 11 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 82 F, wind to 10 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 82 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Florida requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Florida license. Snook seasonal + permit; trout slot rules: check FWC southwest zone.

Access

Centennial Park, Turtle Beach ramps; South Lido kayak launches; bridge and beach access.

About this water

The bay city of the keys, Sarasota County, FL. Grass flats behind the postcard.

Fishing Sarasota: the full guide

The bay behind the beaches

Sarasota Bay spreads ten sheltered miles behind the barrier keys: grass flats, mangrove edges and residential canals holding trout, snook, reds and the summer's Spanish-and-jack traffic. The resort skyline hides a legitimate fishery: guides pole the same flats the sunset cruises motor past.

Flats and passes

The bay's grass (Stephens Point, the Ringling flats, Buttonwood's edges) fishes classic west-coast: popping corks over potholes, topwater at dawn: while Big Pass and New Pass funnel the tide: snook in the swash channels, pompano bouncing the sand, and the beach troughs' snook walk in summer (sight-casting from the sand at first light: the region's most underrated hunt).

Tarpon off the keys

May-July, the tarpon lane passes Longboat and Siesta: staked boats and DOA-crab drifts in 15-30 ft: the Sarasota stretch fishes calmer than Boca Grande's circus. Fall flips to mackerel and false albacore off the passes when the bait runs: light-tackle sport within paddle distance.

City-water logistics

Ramps at Centennial Park and Turtle Beach cover the bay's ends: kayak launches thread the mangrove parks (South Lido's lagoon a favorite): and the bridges' night lights run snook school year-round. Summer thunderheads and weekend traffic set the schedule: dawn, as everywhere on this coast, is the honest window.

Common questions

Where do snook hold in Sarasota?

Summer: the beach troughs at dawn and the passes' swash channels: winter: canals and the bay's warm corners. The night dock lights fish twelve months.

When is tarpon season off Siesta Key?

May-July as the migration passes the keys: staked-out crab drifts at dawn. Calmer water and thinner fleets than the famous passes south.

Is fishing good at Sarasota right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Venice17 miTampa Bay30 miBoca Grande46 miClearwater48 miLake Istokpoga80 miLake Kissimmee87 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8726083 β€” Sarasota Bay
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 12 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 27.3300, -82.5500 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.