- Access
- By boat or from shore
- Best months
- March to June, September to November
- Species
- Snook, Redfish (red drum), Spotted seatrout, Sheepshead, Black drum, Flounder, Tarpon
On the east shore south of the Little Manatee River mouth: a 4,871-acre aquatic preserve (designated 1976) reaching 2,000 feet into the bay, with open sand, seagrass, oyster reefs, hard-bottom outcrops, mangrove shorelines and islands, and tidal creeks. FDEP says snook and redfish are plentiful around the mangroves. Cockroach Bay Preserve State Park protects 617 acres of islands, about 500 of them mangrove swamp, reachable only by water and with two paddling trails. Hillsborough County's Cockroach Bay Road ramp gives direct access, and the E.G. Simmons and Domino ramps also serve it.
How to fish it
FDEP says paddlecraft reach the best of it, because much of it is too shallow for boats. Paddle or pole the island edges, the cuts between the keys and the holes in the grass when the water is up and moving for snook and redfish, and fish the outer grass for trout. Sheepshead and black drum use the oyster bars and hard bottom in late winter and early spring.