Ken Thompson / City Island

This is the busy public launch out at the end of City Island, past Mote Marine, where Ken Thompson Parkway dead-ends on Sarasota Bay. You slide a board in beside the six-lane ramp, which is the catch and the draw in one: it is the primary boat ramp for the whole city, so on a nice morning the trailers and powerboats are constant, but it also puts you straight onto open bay with New Pass right there and the downtown skyline across the water. The water close in is sheltered and shallow, shallow enough that the grass flats just north of the kayak launch leave you walking your fins out at a hard low tide, while New Pass itself runs a real current on a moving tide, so treat the pass with respect and time any crossing for slack. The smart play is to keep to the bay side and the mangrove shoreline where the wading birds and dolphins work, rather than fighting boat wakes in the channel. If you are after the Lido mangrove tunnels you can reach them from here, but know it is a longer open-water paddle south across the bay, not a quick duck around the corner; most people launch for those at Ted Sperling on South Lido instead. The park is free with plenty of parking, clean restrooms by the ramp, a washdown to rinse your gear, shaded pavilions, and one of the best downtown sunset views in the county.

Where do I park, and is it free?

Cost

Free

Parking

Ample

Restrooms

yes

Free City Island park with a kayak launch into the mangroves. The tour operator on site is a rental.

How clear is the water?

Mangrove lagoon calm; New Pass moves.

What will I see?

• Dolphins work New Pass and the bay channels year-round, often close to the launch
• Manatees move through the warmer bay shallows in the cooler months
• Ospreys, herons, pelicans, and cormorants along the mangroves, rays and mullet over the flats; the Save Our Seabirds sanctuary sits right here on City Island

What's the fishing like?

Sarasota Bay and New Pass: snook and redfish along the mangroves, trout on the flats, snapper around the pass.

What about the current?

Current readings come from New Pass (NOAA, about 0.6 mi away). The station sits just outside the launch, so treat it as a nearby reading.

How do I share the water here?

The bottom you launch over is Sarasota Bay seagrass, the turtle grass that feeds the manatees and shelters the fish, and the park itself protects restored tidal marsh and a mangrove boardwalk the city built specifically to keep boots off the roots. Stay off the grass at low tide instead of dragging across it, give the mangrove fringe and any bird-nesting island a wide quiet berth, and hold to the manatee idle-speed zones in New Pass. Save Our Seabirds and Mote Marine both rehab injured wildlife right here, so pack out every scrap of line and hook: this is exactly the kind of launch where careless tackle puts a bird back in their care.