The Sarasota tarpon run is peaking, with strings of fish moving along the beaches from Lido down to Venice. Sight-casters are intercepting them with pass crabs and threadfins on the calm mornings, while boats working the deeper edges off the beaches are hooking up on live bait soaks. The first few hours of daylight have been the most productive.
Snook are stacked along the beaches and around Big Pass and New Pass, providing fast catch-and-release action — the Gulf snook season remains closed through the end of August. Whitebait, small jigs, and topwater plugs at first light all draw strikes from fish holding in the trough.
Inside the bay, redfish are working the mangrove shorelines and oyster bars on the flood tides, and spotted seatrout are holding on the deeper grass with the better fish coming early before the heat sets in. Mangrove snapper have moved onto the docks and nearshore structure in numbers.
Nearshore reefs are giving up Spanish mackerel, the occasional kingfish, and respectable mangrove and lane snapper on the bottom. The water has been clean, which has helped the sight-fishing along the beaches.
Early starts are essential with the summer heat and afternoon storms in the forecast. The beach tarpon migration should continue through June — calm mornings are the ones to target for shots at rolling fish in the trough.