Me and a friend are in Sarasota Florida for the week and we can't find any body's that we can fish and the ones we find are all shallow and have know fish. Does anyone know of any small lakes or ponds in the area that are decent for fishing 

I can only suggest stopping at a local Bait & Tackle shop to get answers to that question.  

I usually do that to:

- help support local businesses

- get some local advice

- get an opportunity to buy more tackle!

 

As jbw stated, stop in every tackle shop and marina you find, they're generally happy to assist.

When I first moved to Florida I did a great deal of bank fishing. We fished municipal retention ponds

and private ponds after obtaining permission. Finding ponds is the easy part, for example,

east of Sarasota in the direction of Myakka City you'll find a bounty of ponds and small lakes.

 

Roger
 

 

 

Sorry bud but if you can't find fish in FL there's something really wrong! Seriously though, Google maps and earth have found me some awesome untouched places recently. 

16 hours ago, WestMichiganBass said:

Me and a friend are in Sarasota Florida for the week and we can't find any body's that we can fish and the ones we find are all shallow and have know fish. Does anyone know of any small lakes or ponds in the area that are decent for fishing 

4

Don't be afraid to fish a shallow body of water. Here in Florida you'll come across mostly shallow water. Some will have a deeper section towards the middle but your main focus should be finding cover. Be it grass or pads or whatever other vegetation you can find. If you find 2 or 3 types of vegetation together make that your first option. 

 

If you can reach deeper water with your casts then work the ledge. That transition from shallow to deep. Fish will hang out on that ledge a lot of times. 

 

May I ask what baits you are using? What techniques you've tried?

Spent a weekend in Sarasota, so dug through here, and hit a local bait shop.  Check out the Celery Fields, Lakewood Ranch and then drive down Bahia Vista.  There are good ponds along that road, but don't know the name.  My wife was in a class, and we shared the car which meant I was only fishing 9:30am to 4:30pm during late July.  Not the best times, but still caught a bunch all 3 days.  

 

Fish shallow water, I was hauling 3-5 pounders out of less than 5'.  The standard pond baits all work: flukes, senkos, wacky rigs, texas rigs.  I had great luck with a short Carolina rig (18") and also inline spinners over grass beds or on the edge of lily pads.  You'd be amazed at how big of a fish will come out of the pads to kill a little inline spinner, and fighting Florida bass on ultralight gear is a hoot.

I spent a few days in Sarasota for a long weekend and caught some bass in a small run off pond along a local road.  Go on Google earth and check any water bodies in the area your staying.  In Florida a go to bait during tough times is the 4" senko in watermelon red, Texas rigged with a 1/32 bullet weight.  Fish it slow, with small jerks and long pauses.  This works all over the south east, and will catch bass of all sizes.  Good luck, can't help you any more then that.