Rotonda West Fishing Reports (May 2026)

Steven Herich
Sarasota, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

The Fall temperatures are coming down along with Gulf temps bringing in many species of gamefish within casting distance from the shore. Expect snook, flounder, Redfish, Black drum, Sheepshead and others congregating in shallow water beach 🏖️ structures that you can walk to and fish. The beach is a great...

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Steven Herich Sarasota, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

The Fall temperatures are coming down along with Gulf temps bringing in many species of gamefish within casting distance from the shore. Expect snook, flounder, Redfish, Black drum, Sheepshead and others congregating in shallow water beach 🏖️ structures that you can walk to and fish. The beach is a great place to learn how to saltwater fish if you're new to the sport or a seasoned pro looking for a different approach than your usual boat trip. Remember, seasickness is never a concern, so you can focus entirely on fishing and fun 🎣. Tight lines from the beach!

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Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Fishing ahead of a cold front is one of my absolute favorites. The barometric pressure gets to a perfect point before fronts come through and these fish feel it and get extremely active. Cold fronts can cause fish to go into a lethargic state where they have no energy or...

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Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Fishing ahead of a cold front is one of my absolute favorites. The barometric pressure gets to a perfect point before fronts come through and these fish feel it and get extremely active. Cold fronts can cause fish to go into a lethargic state where they have no energy or motivation to chase or eat baits. Imagine for a second you wake up and you feel bloated, nauseous even, your initial reaction is not to get out of bed and eat a big breakfast, instead you lay around for as long as it takes to feel well again. This feeling in that scenario is very similar to what fish feel after a low pressure system blows through, they have to work to keep a balance and have no problem sitting around until the pressure builds back and they feel comfortable again. They tend to eat like they’re going into hibernation for a few days because essentially that is the case. As for the day we had before our most recent front, the fish had no quit in them, it seemed like every bait for 3-5 hours was getting bit. We caught tons of redfish, snook and trout in just a matter of a few hours. The trout were huge, most over 20 inches, redfish ranged in size but many between 19 and 25 inches. We caught a lot of snook too, most in the mid 20’s and a couple over 30. I had my brother out and we were on a mission to get meat for a family fish fry. We did our job, we limited out on all three species and the family will have a fine fish fry in the coming days.

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Vasiliy Obukhov
Lakewood Ranch, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Right now catching cobia, Mangrove Snapper, lane Snapper, Hogfish, king mackerel, bonito. Water temperature is about 73-78 degrees. Fishing is good overall.

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Vasiliy Obukhov Lakewood Ranch, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Right now catching cobia, Mangrove Snapper, lane Snapper, Hogfish, king mackerel, bonito. Water temperature is about 73-78 degrees. Fishing is good overall.

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Brandon Douberly
Bartow, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Late fall is an epic time to fish our waters, the snook are fully back in the inshore waters and hungry after all the work they put in during their spawning season. You will frequently find long, skinny female snook looking to get their figure back after giving birth to...

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Brandon Douberly Bartow, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Late fall is an epic time to fish our waters, the snook are fully back in the inshore waters and hungry after all the work they put in during their spawning season. You will frequently find long, skinny female snook looking to get their figure back after giving birth to the next generation of snook. We have been catching our bigger snook on large greenbacks we refer to as turbos, these bigger baits are irresistible to those bigger slot and overslot snook. Beef up your leader because you will need it with some of these monsters, I typically step it up to 40 lb Fluorocarbon which is less susceptible to abrasion when those fish shoot under structure. Redfish are still schooling up towards the tail end of their spawn, mostly the mid to upper slot fish are what we have found around the mangrove islands, oyster beds and docks. Pinfish are hard to pass up but they will certainly eat greenbacks as well. Trout over grass flats and edges of bars and channels have been pretty good, just lacking in size at times. We have been targeting those trout with gulp shrimp under a popping cork. They absolutely love those baits but just about anything will work. At times when the wind is blowing it is best to use a bait you can slow retrieve like a shrimp immitation bait. We are starting to head into a change in season, cold fronts are pushing through and soon we will see a change in bait, tide heights and target species. As we begin seeing lower winter tides we will switch to shrimp and focus more on sheepshead as they make their way into our inshore waters to spawn.

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James Gibson
Sarasota, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Fall is her. Both inshore and nearshore fishing seems to be pretty dang good post hurricane. Fall is her. Both inshore and nearshore fishing seems to be pretty dang good post hurricane.

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James Gibson Sarasota, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Fall is her. Both inshore and nearshore fishing seems to be pretty dang good post hurricane.

Fall is her. Both inshore and nearshore fishing seems to be pretty dang good post hurricane.

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James Gibson
Sarasota, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Fall is her. Both inshore and nearshore fishing seems to be pretty dang good post hurricane.

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James Gibson Sarasota, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Fall is her. Both inshore and nearshore fishing seems to be pretty dang good post hurricane.

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Matt Fueyo with Reel Tight Fishing Charters
Sarasota, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

The inshore nearshore bite has been awesome. One spot shopping for snook redfish cobia tunas sharks. Everything!! Light tackle fishing at its finest. Book your adventure today!

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Matt Fueyo with Reel Tight Fishing Charters Sarasota, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

The inshore nearshore bite has been awesome. One spot shopping for snook redfish cobia tunas sharks. Everything!! Light tackle fishing at its finest. Book your adventure today!

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Jesse Calhoun
Fort Myers Beach, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Storms are gone, fish are here. Action all day every day

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Jesse Calhoun Fort Myers Beach, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Storms are gone, fish are here. Action all day every day

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