Little Sarasota Bay and Midnight Pass

A lagoon of about 2.9 square miles between south Siesta Key and the mainland, from Point Crisp Road and Caribbean Drive south to Blackburn Point Road, fed by Matheny Creek, Elligraw Bayou, Holiday Bayou, Clower Creek, Catfish Creek and North Creek. The water district says it has kept more of its coastal wetlands than the other basins. The Jim Neville Marine Preserve, a group of mangrove islands you can reach only by water, is here off south Siesta Key. Midnight Pass, between Siesta and Casey keys, closed in 1983 and was reopened by Helene and Milton in fall 2024, so Gulf water flows straight into Little Sarasota Bay again. Sarasota County measures the opening weekly when it can and posts the results on a dashboard, and local news reported on October 5, 2026 that commissioners had approved planning for signs and channel markers, more study of dredging, and permits to keep the inlet at its current size. No markers were in place.

How to fish it

Kayak or wade from Turtle Beach, Vamo Park or Wharf Road. Fish the mangrove islands and oyster edges around high tide for redfish and snook, and the grass beside the Intracoastal for trout. The new pass now has real tidal flow, so its channel edges are worth fishing carefully on moving water for snook and redfish, and the surf beside the mouth for pompano. Sarasota County's Turtle Beach Park ramp, about half a mile north of the old pass, is the closest launch.