Wednesday, August 19
Fishing Regulations for the Charlotte Harbor Coast
Four species, four completely different rulebooks, all in the same twenty miles of water. Here is every number in one place, with a link to FWC on each one and a link to the full guide behind it.
This is a reference, not a substitute for checking. Every number below traces to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission page as of August 2026, and every section links straight to that page. If a rule has moved since, FWC is right and this page is wrong — that is true of any fishing article, including the deep guides this page links out to.
The one line that decides more than people think
FWC splits this coast at 27 degrees 04.727 minutes North, near Venice Municipal Airport. North of it is the Sarasota Bay management region. South of it — Englewood, Lemon Bay, Stump Pass, Placida, Gasparilla Sound and Boca Grande — is Charlotte Harbor. The two regions are reviewed separately and can drift apart at any annual review, and for snook they already have: Sarasota Bay reopens to harvest September 1, Charlotte Harbor waits until October 1. Know which side of that line you launched from.
Snook
- Charlotte Harbor open March 1 to April 30, and October 1 to November 30. Closed December 1 to end of February, and May 1 to September 30.
- Slot 28 to 33 inches total length. One fish per person per day.
- Snook permit required in addition to a saltwater license — for taking or attempting to take, which covers catch-and-release fishing during the closed season too. $10 a year for a resident, $50 for five years.
- Hook and line only. Must remain whole until landed ashore.
Redfish
- There is no single statewide redfish limit anymore — FWC moved to nine regional zones in 2022, reviewed separately each year.
- Charlotte Harbor: slot 18 to 27 inches total length, one fish per person, two fish per vessel. Open year-round.
- Multiple hooks with live or dead natural bait are prohibited for redfish — one single hook only. Trebles are fine on artificial lures.
Tarpon
- Catch-and-release only, statewide, hook and line only.
- A tarpon over 40 inches must stay in the water — no exceptions except a record attempt with a tag.
- Tarpon tag: $51.50 a year, tax collector offices only, bought before you fish. This is a record-attempt permit, not a general harvest permit, and almost nobody needs one.
- Boca Grande Pass specifically: year-round, no weight may hang below the hook. April through June, no more than three lines per vessel and no breakaway gear.
Red snapper and reef fish
- Season is announced annually and is not a fixed date — private recreational boats and federally permitted charters can legally be on different calendars.
- Gulf state waters: 16 inches total length, 2 per person inside the 10-fish snapper aggregate.
- State Reef Fish Angler designation required to target or possess reef fish from a private vessel. Free, renews annually.
- Non-stainless, non-offset circle hooks required with natural bait. Dehooking device required aboard.
- Descending device or venting tool, rigged and ready, required in Florida state waters — including catch and release. The federal DESCEND Act requirement lapsed in January 2026 with a replacement rulemaking in progress, so carry one regardless of which water you are in.
These rules move — check every season, not just once
FWC reviews the redfish zones annually and can change any of them. Red snapper season dates are set fresh every year. And rules change hard after a shock: the Gulf snook fishery closed by executive order after the January 2010 freeze and did not reopen until September 1, 2013 — nearly four years — and FWC used temporary catch-and-release-only rules on snook and redfish in southwest Florida after the 2017 to 2019 red tide. The February 2026 freeze produced snook kills statewide, and as of this writing no emergency order has been issued in response — check FWC's executive orders index before every trip, not once a season.