Snook hit prime time in Boca Grande and Sarasota Bay

What's Biting

What's Next

With water temps holding in the upper 70s — warmth that keeps inshore species active and feeding aggressively — the next several days look favorable for continued Snook and Redfish action across the Tampa Bay and Sarasota corridors.

**Snook** should remain the marquee target through the weekend. CB's Saltwater Outfitters notes that May is peak season in Boca Grande Pass, where fish have migrated from wintering grounds onto deeper pass structure and adjacent habitat. Live bait presentations around pass edges have been producing — the 34-lb, 4-oz boat record from May 9 signals that oversized pre-spawn females are actively in the mix. With a waning crescent moon reducing nocturnal light this week, daytime tides and dawn windows are your best timing bets; lighter moonlight typically concentrates feeding during first light and just before sunset rather than through the night. Snook is typically closed to harvest during summer spawn months — check current state regulations before keeping anything.

**Jack Crevalle** are in full swing in Sarasota Bay, per Capt. Brandon Naeve at CB's Saltwater Outfitters. These fish are schooling near the surface and keying on baitfish around oyster bars, seawalls, and inlets. Fast-retrieved topwater lures, poppers, and jigs at dawn have been the most productive approach — and on light tackle or fly gear, they rank among the hardest-fighting targets in the bay right now. Expect this pattern to hold or strengthen as water temps push toward 80°F in the weeks ahead.

**Redfish** on Sarasota-area flats look steady. Capt. Chuck Cress (CB's Saltwater Outfitters) recently put anglers on multiple upper-slot fish running 20–25 inches, with several caught and released. As tides allow access to skinny water, a quarter-ounce gold spoon or soft-plastic over oyster bars and mangrove edges during mid-tide should keep bites coming.

**Spotted Seatrout** remain a reliable secondary option on the same flats holding Redfish. CB's reports have them showing up consistently alongside the Reds — a solid sign for the late-spring transition and worth rigging a second rod for while working the flats.

For anglers seeking table fare, Saltwater Sportsman spotlights Tampa Bay's growing hogfish fishery as a legitimate rod-and-reel option over hard bottom structure in the Gulf — one of the sweetest-eating fish available in this region and an underutilized option while inshore Snook fishing stays catch-and-release.

Context

Mid-May is traditionally one of the strongest inshore windows of the year for Tampa Bay and Sarasota, and 2026 appears to be tracking right on schedule. The water temperatures logged by NOAA buoys 42036 and 42013 — 77°F and 79°F respectively — sit squarely in the typical mid-May range for the Gulf's nearshore zone: warm enough to trigger the Snook migration toward passes and nearshore structure, but not yet into the 80s-plus heat that can push fish deeper, shift feeding windows toward dawn and dusk only, or scatter bait off the flats.

Boca Grande Pass carries a well-established reputation as one of the Gulf Coast's premier Snook fisheries, and May is widely regarded as the peak staging month as fish position themselves ahead of the June–July spawn on the nearshore reefs. The 34-pound-plus boat-record fish recorded by CB's Saltwater Outfitters on May 9 is consistent with the caliber of pre-spawn females typically encountered during this window — large, aggressive, and concentrated in predictable pass structure. That class of fish is not a surprise in May at Boca Grande; it is the expectation.

Jack Crevalle arriving in Sarasota Bay during April and May is also a normal seasonal occurrence. Their surface-feeding presence in the bay, described by CB's Saltwater Outfitters as a reliable spring fixture, reflects warming nearshore water pushing baitfish schools into shallower estuarine areas where Jacks can corner them — a dynamic that repeats annually as Gulf temps climb through the 70s.

The Snook Nook's May 2026 report from Stuart on Florida's Treasure Coast — roughly 100 miles to the southeast — corroborates the statewide picture: late-spring Snook fishing is heating up across Florida's inshore fisheries as fish prepare for the summer spawn, suggesting 2026 conditions are broadly consistent with seasonal expectations on both coasts.

No year-over-year buoy comparison data is available in this cycle, so a precise quantitative benchmark is not possible — but the angler-reported activity levels and temperature profile are firmly within the normal range for the second week of May in this region.