Sarasota snook bite builds as tarpon fade toward fall

What's biting

What's next

Grassett's outlook points snook toward docks, bridges, and shallow flats along the ICW as they stage for their move away from passes toward wintertime holding areas — live shrimp or pilchards around structure, or smaller DOA lures and flies, should keep producing through that shift over the coming weeks.

Tarpon fishing figures to keep sliding as the remaining fish push off the beaches into deeper grass flats and bridge shadows; DOA Baitbuster, Shrimp, or TerrorEyz worked slow around those areas fits the pattern Grassett describes.

With water still holding at 83°F, there's no sign yet of the cooling trend that would speed the transition, so this week's pattern should carry into the weekend.

Context

This is a normal seasonal turn for Tampa Bay and Sarasota: snook coming off their closure into an active fall bite, and tarpon beginning their annual push out of the coastal Gulf toward inside waters ahead of winter, both track the typical late-September pattern for this stretch of coast.

Anglers working the area should also note Florida Sea Grant's recent detection of a rare rust tide alga in nearby Charlotte Harbor, a different organism than red tide but worth checking current state water-quality advisories before fishing waters south of Sarasota.