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My daughter is buying a home on a canal leading to Riviera Bay in St. Pete. I am in Jax but will be visiting regularly. This looks like a great area for kayak fishing. Hoping I am right. Can anybody confirm? Is it mostly reds and trout? Other species that can be targeted? Do snook ever get up there?

Thanks.

Just past the bay there is the Weedon Island preserve. Wedon island is a great mix of mangroves, oryster beds, and flats fishing. It holds trouts, reds, snook, flounder,and most anyhting else you could expect. When ever your down let me know, I fish there often.

That appears to be very close. They will be just west of the bridge on the western side of Riviera Bay. Aware of any bait stores near there?

Thanks for the info!

I have looked at fishing the Weedon Island Preserve area, and I was wondering if you know of any good launch sites with easy access to the Bay side of the Preserve. The north and south trail launch sites seem to involve a fair amount of paddling to get to the Bay side.

Jag wrote:That appears to be very close. They will be just west of the bridge on the western side of Riviera Bay. Aware of any bait stores near there?

Thanks for the info!

There is a bait shop on 4th street not to far from there.

greg.hoog wrote:I have looked at fishing the Weedon Island Preserve area, and I was wondering if you know of any good launch sites with easy access to the Bay side of the Preserve. The north and south trail launch sites seem to involve a fair amount of paddling to get to the Bay side.

To fish the bay side your best bet is launching from gandy beach and paddling, its not a bad trip, I did it a week or two ago.
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Jag wrote: This looks like a great area for kayak fishing. Hoping I am right.

You are right and , yes, there are snook in there.

The snook back there are mostly located under docks, not as many as there used to be due to the past cold winters. You won't find much back there in the warmer months but when it gets cold they move back there.

There is a bait shop at 4th st and 43rd ave on the east side or across the Gandy bridge, there are two of them on the north side of the road, very hard to miss.

If you are going to fish the front (bay) side of Gandy best to launch from the beach along the causeway. You can also put in inside the park and paddle the trail all the way through to the front. Be careful at low tides as you will be walking in mud. The trail can be hard to find, bring a gps.

There is a boat ramp in your daughters neighborhodo called Sunlit Cove boat ramp. It is located at 2nd St and Sunlit Cove Dr Ne. If you cannot launch off her seawall that is a better option to paddle the area where she lives.

I live not too far away. If you have any other questions pls let me know.

Thanks for all the replies. She might be seeing me more than she wants.

Todd, she is not far from that ramp, head east down that canal and I am guessing she will be less than a quarter mile away.

Hope to get there before the warm months so the snook might still be around and we can just fish off her dock some. I assume reds, trout and other species can be found around the docks as well? My wife won't kayak, I don't have a boat and she loves to fish so hope to put her on the fish right in the backyard as well.

You might find a red off the dock back there, trout would be doubtful but you never know.

Worth a shot though as you never know what happens when you throw a bait out.

I live in the area also and have been in the canals a few times. Everything the other guys say is spot on - I have caught snook (though not lately), redfish, sheepshead, mango snapper. I cannot recall catching a trout. And let's not forget the trophy fish - ladyfish, pinfish, catfish, etc.
There also is a bait shop at 4th Street & 89th Avenue north.

Thanks for all the information! Home closes in 2-3 weeks and I hope to be fishing there the first weekend of April with a little luck. Might just be from the dock at first but I don't mind fishing and not catching better than not fishing at all.

By the way, that idiot Bradecca must be directionally challenged.
The bait shop is just west of the intersection of 4th Street and 83rd Avenue North!
And if you go east on 83rd, that will take you right to the entrance of Weedon Island Park.

There is also a new tackle shop a little further south on 4th st, and you also have a shop on Gandy on both sides of the bridge. The shop on the Tampa side of Gandy is the one place that normally has shrimp & crabs too. Open later & earlier than most shops as well. Weedon is the place to be though. You will love the area once you get to know it. Snook are coming back in a big way & the reds were everywhere this year. My friend & I caught 10 reds each in less than 3 hours there one day this past year. One of the best days I've ever had on the water.

I was just there and loved the area. I was helping finalize the move so not much time spent on the water. Daughter has a dock on the canal so I got to wet a line a little. Caught trash including catfish and ladyfish and had something small stealing bait. My daughter did catch a mangrove snapper but a little undersized. Saw a sheepshead near a piling but could not entice him to eat a shrimp. Needed some fiddlers.

Can't wait to get down there when I have time to explore. Great area.

Thanks for all the advice. Bait shops are plentiful which is nice.

Son in law's first red off the dock: