One of the best fishing spots near Sarasota, FL is New Pass. The spot to be at is under the bridge that connects Longboat Key with City Island. To get there from Sarasota you take John Ringling Blvd through St. Armands Circle towards City Island. Just stay on Ringling and once you are over the bridge there is a place to park. Get out, walk under the bridge and enjoy some great fishing. To fish off the pier you need to have a Florida Saltwater fishing license, you can pick these up at about any bait store around town. You can even buy them online and print them out yourself.
The best tackle that I have used is a bottom weighted jig. This is set up by having a large weight at the end of the leader, about 1-3oz of weight will be good. Then about 6 inches up from that you have a hook with some colored beads on it and another one 6 inches up from that hook with beads. This is then attached to the line with a nice swivel. This is different then the traditional jigs that are set up around here. They are set up with the hook at the bottom and a “split shot” weight attached on the line. You can buy them already set up, they will be more expensive then the traditional set up, or you can make them for yourself.
The reason this gear works so well is that it is different from the gear that the other fishermen are using and the extra color makes it more appealing to the fish. They see something different and they want to come and investigate it, but before they know it you are pulling it out of the water.
For bait the best and cheapest is live shrimp. You can get these right across the bridge from where you are fishing at the New Pass Gill and Bait shop. It is a real small shop, but they can steer you in the right direction when it comes to bait. You will need a bucket to hold the shrimp in, and a “bubbler” to keep them alive if you are going to be fishing for a long time.
Just attach a shrimp to each hook and keep an eye on it or you will just be feeding the fishes. They react very fast and can take your shrimp before you can blink an eye. So with two hooks you get a second chance to set your hook before you have to reel in, rebait and recast.
My father and I went out to New Pass a few days ago and we had a blast. On my first cast I caught a huge Sheepshead. We were only out there for about two hours, but we caught a fish on almost every cast. Everyone around was amazed by the amount and the variety of fish we were catching. We caught 11 different fish and 7 different species. So if you are near Sarasota, FL and want to have a good time fishing go to the New Pass bridge. It is close to Sarasota, easy to get to and best of all its free.
