Longboat Key Fishing

Longboat Key is twelve miles of barrier island with a fishable pass at each end — Longboat Pass on the north, New Pass on the south — and quiet grass flats the whole way down the inside. No crowds, no pier, no bait-shop strip: just passes, beach troughs, and flats that get a fraction of the pressure Sarasota Bay’s better-known spots absorb.

New Pass

New Pass rocks hold snook year-round and big sheepshead in winter.

Where are the best fishing spots on Longboat Key?

Spot	Type	What it produces
Longboat Pass + SR 789 bridge	Pass / bridge	Snook, mackerel, sheepshead on pilings; fishing permitted from the bridge
Greer Island (“Beer Can Island”)	Beach point	Sight-fished snook along the pass shoreline
Whitney Beach	Gulf beach	Pompano, whiting, spring/fall mackerel
Buttonwood Harbour	Bay flats	Trout, redfish on grass
Sister Keys	Bay islands	Mangrove shorelines, reds and snook
New Pass rocks	Pass structure	Year-round snook, big winter sheepshead

Greer Island — everyone calls it Beer Can Island — is the walkable peninsula at the north tip, reached from the Whitney Beach access. Walk north until the beach bends into Longboat Pass and you’re standing on one of the best sight-fishing banks on this coast: snook slide along the pass shoreline in singles and pairs from spring through fall, close enough to reach with a jig or a free-lined whitebait. The driftwood graveyard at the point is the landmark.

The Longboat Pass bridge (the SR 789 bascule span) allows fishing from the catwalk sections — crowded on weekends, productive on night tides for snook and mangrove snapper.

When do Spanish mackerel run the Longboat beach?

Twice a year, and it’s the island’s signature bite: April–May on the way north, October–November on the way back south. Glass minnow schools push right down the beach trough and both passes, and Spanish mackerel blitz them on the surface — diving birds mark the schools from a mile away. A silver spoon or small white jig on 30-lb fluorocarbon covers it from boat or beach. The same bait schools drag in bluefish, ladyfish, and the occasional king mackerel just outside the bars. In cooler months, pompano ride the same troughs — small pink or yellow jigs bounced on sand.

Longboat Pass

Longboat Pass closes the north end — and you can fish the SR 789 bridge.

How do you launch a boat for Longboat Key?

There is no true public ramp on the island itself. You bracket it:

Access	Ramp	Distance
North end / Longboat Pass	Coquina Bayside ramps, Bradenton Beach	~1 mile over the Longboat Pass bridge
South end / New Pass	Ken Thompson Park, City Island	Just across New Pass

Coquina Bayside (Manatee County — details on the county ramp finder) puts you into the ICW a few minutes from Longboat Pass. Ken Thompson Park is the six-lane City of Sarasota facility on City Island with direct New Pass access — check the current launch fee before you go. Either way you’re on Longboat water inside ten minutes.

Kayakers use the same two ends, and the Sister Keys on the bay side are a short, protected paddle from the mid-key bayfront. The Sarasota Bay boating guide maps the seagrass and speed zones along the whole island.

What does the inside of Longboat Key fish like?

Quieter and better than most people expect. Buttonwood Harbour’s grass flats hold spotted seatrout year-round — drift the 3–6 ft grass with a popping cork and shrimp, or work soft plastics along the potholes. Redfish patrol the Sister Keys mangroves and the bars behind Greer Island, best on the last half of incoming tide. In late spring, keep a rod rigged and eyes open: cobia and big jacks wander these flats, and a traveling cobia will eat almost anything you throw fast enough.

The Back Side

Buttonwood Harbour's grass flats hold trout year-round in three to six feet.

Where can you fish from shore on Longboat Key?

Realistic options, north to south:

• Longboat Pass bridge — pilings, current, and a legal catwalk. Sheepshead in winter, snook at night.
• Greer Island / Whitney Beach — park at the Whitney Beach access (small free lots on the Manatee County north end) and walk the point.
• Beach accesses mid-key — limited; most of mid-island is private. The accesses that exist put you on pompano/whiting troughs.
• New Pass, Ken Thompson side — technically City Island, but it’s the working shore access for the island’s south-end pass structure.

Bait on the island itself is thin — Cannon’s Marina on Gulf of Mexico Drive carries live and frozen shrimp, otherwise stock up in Cortez to the north or at the New Pass shops to the south before you cross. Regulations for everything above live at FWC — verify current rules before you fish.

What’s the winter program on Longboat Key?

Don’t write the island off from December to March — the fishery just moves to structure and sand.

Winter target	Where	Method
Sheepshead	Longboat Pass bridge, New Pass rocks	Shrimp or fiddler crab tight to structure
Spotted seatrout	Buttonwood Harbour, deeper grass edges	Slow soft plastics, live shrimp under a cork
Pompano	Beach troughs, pass bar edges	Small jigs bounced on sand
Redfish	Sister Keys shorelines, warm afternoons	Gold spoons, cut bait on the bars

The sheepshead stack on both passes’ structure gets serious in February and March ahead of the spawn — fish 20–30 ft of leader-to-rock contact and expect to lose rigs. Cold-morning trout slide off the shallow grass into the 5–8 ft edges and eat a slowly worked jig; by afternoon on sunny days they’re back on the flat. And the quietest bite of all: winter pompano in the same beach troughs the tourists walk past, best two hours either side of high tide.

Where do you tie up to eat and refuel on Longboat Key?

Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub on the north end has its own dock (about 14 slips) and an Old-Florida patio right on the bay. Dry Dock Waterfront Grill is the boat-up mainstay for Sarasota Bay views and a grouper sandwich, and New Pass Grill & Bait Shop at the south tip is the quick burger-and-bait stop on New Pass. Fuel and slips at Cannons Marina and the Longboat Key Club moorings.

Twelve Miles

Longboat runs twelve miles of beach between two working passes.

FAQ

Can you fish from the Longboat Pass bridge? Yes — fishing is permitted from the bridge walkways. It gets crowded on weekend mornings; night tides fish better and quieter.

How do you get to Beer Can Island? On foot from the Whitney Beach access at the island’s north end, or by boat — the pass-side shoreline is a popular anchor-up. Its real name is Greer Island.

Is there a boat ramp on Longboat Key? No public ramp on the island. Use Coquina Bayside (north, Bradenton Beach) or Ken Thompson Park (south, City Island).

Where do you buy bait near Longboat Key? Cannon’s Marina on Gulf of Mexico Drive for live and frozen shrimp on the island; otherwise Cortez village to the north or the New Pass shops to the south — both are five minutes past the bridges.

What’s the best month to fish Longboat Key? April — mackerel on the beach, snook waking up in the passes, trout still thick on the inside grass. October is its mirror image.

Related

Longboat sits between two areas worth reading next: Anna Maria Island across Longboat Pass to the north, and Lido Key across New Pass to the south, with Sarasota bay water along the whole inside. For the fish this island does best, start with snook, Spanish mackerel, and pompano.