Collecting at Fort Desoto

nawilson89

nawilson89

New member
Hey all!
Going collecting at Fort Desoto for the first time!
I am extremely excited about it, but i wanted to inquiry on what kind of fish i could collect there?

I know that ill be looking for Cerith Snails but other than that I dont know what occurs in these waters.

I have a recreational license so i wont be getting much.

All help appreciated! :jester:
 
I have a hand net I was using to catch bait fish last saturday down in Ruskin, but I was looking into getting one of those circular nets (forget what they're called, at work so my brain isnt working!)
 
nawilson89 said:
I have a hand net I was using to catch bait fish last saturday down in Ruskin, but I was looking into getting one of those circular nets (forget what they're called, at work so my brain isnt working!)
Click to expand...


Cast net :)

Not sure what you'll catch that will fit in the tank :)

This weekend I was at the beach in Venice and was catching baby Filefish as the swam amount the floating seaweed.
 
Thanks GPDNO!
I pray i happen upon a cool goby. I love Gobies. Though... I dont have any room for more...
anyone want two Zebra Dartfish? lol!
 
I've always used a long dip net, I need to renew my fishing license. We went out there just over a year ago and there was a ton of snails, white leg hermits, file fish, some star fish, a dull looking Blenny.
 
Would white legged hermits work well in a small tank? I have a 30g tank.

Ill elaborate. Im wondering how big white legged hermits that occur in that area get. My tank is 30g and i have two extremely small GreenBanded goby. Above all else I worry about their safety.
 
Last edited:
Egkid said:
I usually get small 1-2" pipefish while catching bait out there.
Click to expand...

I saw some pipefish in Ruskin about that size; I later saw them around 6 inches long. Probably two big for my tank xD.

Anyone ever catch a Basslet? Thats my second favorite class of fish. If I run into a basslet I would probably die of happiness!
 
I've never been down to Ft. Desoto to collect but I've been all over the pinellas area.

If you're on the grass flats and you drag your net along the surface of the mud a little you an catch some nice little gobies. Got a really nice one once with a large orange dorsal fin.

Along docks/pilings in the seaweed that grows you can catch two different kinds of blennies, one which looks super similar to a lawnmower and one that's a lot weirder looking. I find the best way to catch these is to just run your net along the seaweed that grows on the posts.

You can catch filefish, pipefish, and even dwarf/regular seahorses in the passing floating seaweed clumps. There's also a lot of baby puffers you can get who have amazing color, these guys are usually scooting around the surface in and out of passing seaweed.

You can catch juvenile atlantic spadefish which are pretty neat looking, kind of reminds me of a batfish.

My favorite place to go and collect is Sand Key under the bridge which runs over to clearwater. You can also go out there with a small hook on a fishing rod and cast out under the bridge with some frozen squid and catch some pretty cool looking wrasse.

Lots of cool little inverts out there too, catch plenty of pistol shrimp, porcelain crabs, snails, hermits, slugs, all kinds of neat stuff.

If you have any questions feel free to ask! I've been catching stuff locally for about 15 years now....
 
nawilson89 said:
I saw some pipefish in Ruskin about that size; I later saw them around 6 inches long. Probably two big for my tank xD.

Anyone ever catch a Basslet? Thats my second favorite class of fish. If I run into a basslet I would probably die of happiness!
Click to expand...

About two years ago me and my friend happened across a small basslet, was SUPER neat. Can't remember what it was called, I'll do some looking around and see if i can figure it out.
 
kakalakasha said:
I've never been down to Ft. Desoto to collect but I've been all over the pinellas area.

If you're on the grass flats and you drag your net along the surface of the mud a little you an catch some nice little gobies. Got a really nice one once with a large orange dorsal fin.

Along docks/pilings in the seaweed that grows you can catch two different kinds of blennies, one which looks super similar to a lawnmower and one that's a lot weirder looking. I find the best way to catch these is to just run your net along the seaweed that grows on the posts.

You can catch filefish, pipefish, and even dwarf/regular seahorses in the passing floating seaweed clumps. There's also a lot of baby puffers you can get who have amazing color, these guys are usually scooting around the surface in and out of passing seaweed.

You can catch juvenile atlantic spadefish which are pretty neat looking, kind of reminds me of a batfish.

My favorite place to go and collect is Sand Key under the bridge which runs over to clearwater. You can also go out there with a small hook on a fishing rod and cast out under the bridge with some frozen squid and catch some pretty cool looking wrasse.

Lots of cool little inverts out there too, catch plenty of pistol shrimp, porcelain crabs, snails, hermits, slugs, all kinds of neat stuff.

If you have any questions feel free to ask! I've been catching stuff locally for about 15 years now....
Click to expand...

Now i want to visit Sand Key also! Maybe ill make that my first trip and Fort Desoto my second! Thanks so much!

I'll probably be bombarding you with questions at some point!
 
nawilson89 said:
Now i want to visit Sand Key also! Maybe ill make that my first trip and Fort Desoto my second! Thanks so much!

I'll probably be bombarding you with questions at some point!
Click to expand...

Yeah the best thing about Sand Key is the variety of stuff you can catch there. Its also nice because you can get from the intracoastal side to the beach side in a matter of minutes. Some fish are easier to find on the beach side and some can only be found on the intracoastal side in the grasses.

Forgot to mention it but there are LOADS of sea urchins right at Sand Key. Sand key has collection spots for pretty much anything you could be looking for. I can give ya specifics if you ever plan on heading that way.

Used to go out there with some buddies with some left over chicken guts and stuff and we would just pull blue crabs out all day while collecting/hanging out at the beach and by the end of the day we'd have anywhere from a dozen to two dozen blue crabs to cook up later that evenin
 
kakalakasha said:
About two years ago me and my friend happened across a small basslet, was SUPER neat. Can't remember what it was called, I'll do some looking around and see if i can figure it out.
Click to expand...

After looking around a bit I want to say it may have been a dark morph of a Lantern Bass. was a pretty sweet fish, had an amazing personality!!
 
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