- Depth
- 2-15 ft
- Access
- By boat or from shore
- Best months
- March to November
- Species
- Snook, Tarpon, Spanish mackerel, Florida pompano, Sheepshead, Mangrove (gray) snapper, Redfish (red drum), Spotted seatrout, Flounder
The pass between Longboat Key (Quick Point) and Lido Key and City Island, about 2 miles north-northwest of Big Sarasota Pass. The Coast Pilot says a dredged channel runs from the Gulf through the pass and across the Intracoastal Waterway to a turning basin at Centennial Park; its buoys aren't charted because they're moved to mark the best water, the channel shoals, and local knowledge is advised. The flood runs northeast at about 1.6 knots and the ebb southwest at about 1 knot, and the bascule bridge has 23 feet of clearance closed. Seagrass covers the shoals beside the pass. The City of Sarasota's Ken Thompson Park on City Island has a five-lane ramp, a kayak beach and fishing piers, and Longboat Key's Overlook Park gives paddlers access to Quick Point Preserve.
How to fish it
Wade or paddle the shoals from Quick Point or City Island for trout, reds and flounder. For snook, fish the bridge pilings in the first hours of the outgoing tide and the edges of the lights on summer nights; tarpon use the bridge in summer too. Sheepshead hold on the fenders in late winter, and Spanish mackerel and pompano come through the pass and along the North Lido and Longboat beaches in spring and fall.