Learn more about the deep sea fishing in the Sarasota, FL area.
Fishing for Pelagic Fish
What are Pelagic Fish?
Pelagic fish get their name from the area that they inhabit called the pelagic zone. The pelagic zone is the largest habitat on earth with a volume of 330 million cubic miles. Different species of pelagic fish are found throughout this zone. Numbers and distributions vary regionally and vertically, depending on availability of light, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity, and pressure.
In this part of Florida, it is a very far boat ride out to target the pelagic species of fish, so most anglers will not target sailfish, marlin, tuna, mahi mahi or wahoo in this area. For the ones that do, they may be running 70 to 100 miles out from shore. However, during the summer months, mahi mahi are known for coming in closer to shore, so it is possible to get into some mahi mahi without going as far out, but it’s still going to be a good distance out from shore.
Bottom Fishing
Reefs & Wrecks
In this part of Florida, the reefs and wrecks are what most of the offshore anglers will be fishing. It is pretty shallow in this part of Florida, so you still may be going out for a long boat ride to find some deeper water and some of the better bottom fishing spots.
Some of the types of fish you may be targeting around the reefs and wrecks are snapper, grouper, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, amberjack, cobia, sharks, hogfish, tripletail, jack crevalle, barracuda and more.
Artificial Reef Locations
Visit the reef locations on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website.
