- Depth
- 0.3-19 ft
- Access
- By boat or from shore
- Best months
- April to November
- Species
- Snook, Tarpon, Redfish (red drum), Florida pompano, Spanish mackerel, Sheepshead, Flounder, Spotted seatrout, Jack crevalle
The wide pass between south Lido Key and north Siesta Key, leading to the south end of Sarasota Bay and into Roberts Bay, which gets its Gulf water through here. The Coast Pilot says it's marked by private daybeacons with a light at the approach, that the bar and the channel through the pass change continually, and that mariners should use extreme caution. The flood runs north at about 1.5 knots and the ebb south at about 1 knot. NOAA charts groins along South Lido, and Sarasota County's Ted Sperling Park at South Lido has a kayak launch into the South Lido mangrove tunnels. The Silvertooth reefs are about 1.8 nautical miles west-southwest.
How to fish it
Kayak anglers should stay inside and work the mangrove edges and grass by South Lido on moving water. From a boat, fish the channel edges and the shoal edges and beach corners outside: snook and tarpon in summer, pompano and Spanish mackerel in spring and fall. FWC says redfish spawn in passes and inlets from about August through December, so watch for schools in late summer and fall.