Casey Key & Nokomis Fishing

Casey Key is the quiet eight-mile barrier between Siesta Key and Venice — mostly private, mostly undeveloped, which means cleaner water and less fishing pressure than anything north of it. Its two headliners sit at opposite ends: Dryman Bay’s protected trout and redfish flats behind the key, and the North Jetty at Venice Inlet, the best-equipped shore-fishing structure between Sarasota and Boca Grande.

North Jetty

Fish the seams where the current wraps the rock tips.

Why is the North Jetty the crown spot?

Because it puts rock, current, and Gulf access in one free, walkable package. North Jetty Park (1000 N Casey Key Rd, Nokomis) sits at the south tip of Casey Key where Venice Inlet cuts to the Gulf — free parking, restrooms, and fish-cleaning stations, with the jetty rocks running out into the pass.

North Jetty target	Season	Approach
Snook	May–Sept peak, rising tide	Live whitebait or jigs along the rocks
Redfish	Fall best	Cut bait and jigs in the trough
Sheepshead	Dec–Mar	Shrimp or fiddlers tight to the rocks
Spanish mackerel	Apr–May, Oct–Nov	Spoons when bait flushes through
Tarpon	May–Jul	Staging off the inlet on outgoing tide

The snook bite is the marquee: May through September, rising tide, first and last light. Fish the seams where the current wraps the rock tips. Right at the jetty, North Jetty Fish Camp (1000 S Casey Key Rd) covers bait, tackle, rentals, and a cleaning station — an old-school operation profiled at Sea Magazine’s fish camp listing. Park details are on Visit Sarasota’s North Jetty Beach page. The south side of the same inlet is Venice’s South Jetty — that half of the story is on our Venice page.

Dock lines

ICW dock lights hold snook after dark; the same pilings hold sheepshead all winter.

Where do you find trout and redfish behind Casey Key?

Dryman Bay — the pocket of Little Sarasota Bay’s south end behind the key’s north half — plus Blackburn Bay running south toward the Albee Rd bridge. This is classic protected-flats water: turtle grass in 2–6 ft, mangrove edges, and enough dock structure to hold fish through weather swings.

Water	What it holds	Best window
Dryman Bay	Fat spotted seatrout, slot redfish	Year-round; best Oct–Apr on grass
Blackburn Bay	Trout, reds, snook on mangrove edges	Moving tide, early
Dock lines (ICW)	Snook, sheepshead, mangrove snapper	Night lights; winter for sheepshead

Drift the grass with a popping cork and shrimp for spotted seatrout, or work the potholes with soft plastics — the technique rundown is in our live-bait guide. Redfish ride the mangrove shorelines on higher water. Winter concentrates sheepshead on every bridge and dock piling in the ICW corridor.

One naming correction worth making: there is no “Albee Road Pass.” Albee Rd crosses the ICW at Nokomis on a drawbridge; the water it spans is Blackburn Bay. The historic crossing a mile north is the real landmark.

What is the Blackburn Point swing bridge?

A 1925 one-lane steel swing bridge — one of the last of its kind in Florida, still hand-operated and still carrying cars to the key one direction at a time. For anglers it’s more than postcard material: the old trusses and fender pilings create a reliable structure spot in Blackburn Bay, best for sheepshead and mangrove snapper in the cooler months and snook on the night tides. Fish it from a boat or kayak on the fender lines; respect the channel traffic through the draw.

Does Nokomis Beach produce fish?

Quietly, yes. Nokomis Beach — the public beach on the key’s south end — gets an early-summer snook run in the trough, right at first light before the beach crowd builds: walk north from the main lot, sight-fish the first bar with a white jig or fly. Winter flips it to pompano and whiting in the same troughs, and Spanish mackerel pass within casting range whenever spring and fall bait schools hug the beach.

Where do you launch for Casey Key and Nokomis?

Facility	Address	Notes
Nokomis Beach Public Ramp	901 Casey Key Rd, Nokomis	2 lanes, courtesy docks, 25–30 trailer spots, picnic shelters; direct shot to Venice Inlet

That’s the public option, and it’s a good one — inside the ICW with Venice Inlet minutes away, Blackburn Bay a short run north. (The launch at the North Jetty itself belongs to the private fish camp, not the county.) Current facility info is on Sarasota County’s boating pages, with the county-wide list at Visit Sarasota’s ramp roundup.

Kayakers have it easy here: Blackburn Bay is narrow, protected, and lined with fishable edges — launch at the ramp or hand-carry, and the swing bridge, dock lines, and grass flats are all inside a lazy hour’s paddle.

How do the seasons rotate at Casey Key?

Months	Program
Dec–Mar	Sheepshead on the jetty rocks and swing-bridge pilings; trout bunched in Dryman Bay’s deeper grass; pompano in the beach troughs
Apr–May	Whitebait arrives; jetty snook build daily; mackerel through the inlet on bait days
Jun–Sept	Prime jetty snook on rising tides at dawn and dusk; trout early over the flats; tarpon off the inlet
Oct–Nov	Redfish at their best on the mangrove edges; second mackerel push; trout returning shallow

The quiet-water advantage is real here: because most of Casey Key is private and undeveloped, boat traffic on Blackburn and Dryman bays is a fraction of Sarasota Bay’s, and the fish behave accordingly — trout hold shallower longer, reds tail in the open more often, and a trolling-motor drift covers everything. It’s the closest thing the region has to a low-pressure backcountry inside a twenty-minute run of a public ramp, and it’s why we point light-tackle and fly anglers here when the north bays get busy.

Last light

Jetty snook run May through September — rising tide, first and last light.

Where do you tie up to eat and refuel near Casey Key?

Casey Key Fish House is the laid-back boat-up spot — tie off and eat over the water. Pop’s Sunset Grill at marker 10 has been a fish camp or tiki restaurant on this water since the 1940s, and Pelican Alley and Nokomo’s (on quiet Shakett Creek) round out the Nokomis boat-up circuit. Fuel, bait, and slips are a short run up to the Venice-inlet marinas.

FAQ

Is the North Jetty free to fish? Yes — North Jetty Park has free parking, restrooms, and cleaning stations. You need a Florida saltwater license (shore-fishing registration for residents); check current rules at FWC.

When is the best snook fishing at the North Jetty? May through September, on a rising tide, at first or last light. Verify the current snook season status at FWC before keeping a fish — harvest closes seasonally on this coast.

Can you still drive over the Blackburn Point swing bridge? Yes — one lane, alternating directions, as it has since 1925. It opens on demand for boat traffic.

Where’s the closest bait? North Jetty Fish Camp at the jetty itself (1000 S Casey Key Rd) for bait, tackle, and rentals — plus beer, boat rentals, and a cleaning station. CB’s on Siesta Key and Economy Tackle in Sarasota are the backup stops heading north.

Related

Casey Key hands off north to Siesta Key — where the reopened Midnight Pass is rewriting Little Sarasota Bay — and south across the inlet to Venice and its jetties and pier, with the Sarasota home water a 12-mile run up the ICW. Species to read next: spotted seatrout for the Dryman Bay flats and snook for the jetty.