Sight Fishing for Redfish in Sarasota Bay, FL

Sight fishing for redfish in Sarasota Bay peaks when the water leaves. From December through February — usefully October into March — hard negative low tides drain the flats and force fish to show: tails waving over the Palma Sola grass, coppery backs crawling the Bulkhead near Cortez off Bradenton, and winter schools of 50 to 200 fish pushing nervous water across Long Bar and Buttonwood Harbor. Read the negative lows on the tides-and-currents guide and see January's pattern.

This is hunting first, casting second. Read the chart for a low incoming that floods the grass mid-morning, approach from down-sun and downwind, and shut the outboard 300+ yards out — prop wash and hull slap flush winter schools. Polarized copper or amber lenses are mandatory; the skill is looking through the water for pushes, wakes, and tails.

Tackle is light: a 7-foot to 7'6" medium-fast spinning rod, 3000 reel, 10 lb braid, and 24-30 inches of 20-25 lb fluorocarbon. The classic Sarasota winter lure is a weedless gold spoon slow-rolled past the school; a 3-4 inch paddletail on a 1/16-1/8 oz jighead covers the rest, and a live shrimp free-lined on a 1/0 circle hook is the cheat code.

Lead the fish 3-6 feet on its travel line, land the cast soft, and work the edge of a school, never the middle. One bad cast moves 100 fish.

Redfish eat off the bottom, so let the bait sit — a lure ripped past a tailer gets ignored; the fly game runs the same rules. Regulations: 18-27 inch slot, one per person, two per vessel, open year-round — verify on the FWC red drum page. Many guides release every red; the schools are the show.