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Home › Waters › Florida › Dona Bay
Estuary · Sarasota County, a small shallow bay at Nokomis fed by Cow Pen Slough and opening south toward Venice and the Gulf · Florida

Dona Bay Fishing Guides

A small Sarasota County bay at Nokomis with water temperature and salinity on the gauge, both of which move the snook and redfish around.

Sun setting over a broad coastal marsh cut by tidal creeks
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Dona Bay

Dona Bay sits behind the barrier islands at Nokomis, just north of Venice, and connects south through Roberts Bay to the Intracoastal Waterway and out to the Gulf at Venice Inlet. It is a small, shallow, sheltered system, and it functions as a nursery and a cold-weather refuge as much as it does a fishery in its own right. The gauge at the Highway 41 bridge sits at the top of the bay, where freshwater from the Cow Pen Slough canal enters.

That freshwater input is the thing that makes the gauge worth reading. Dona Bay receives a substantial and highly variable flow of fresh water from a drainage canal system, and the salinity in the upper bay swings a long way between wet and dry season as a result. The gauge reports water temperature and specific conductance alongside stage, and the two together explain a great deal: where the snook are holding, whether the redfish have pushed up into the top of the bay, and how far the trout have moved out toward the deeper Intracoastal water.

Snook are the headline species and use the bay heavily, particularly in cooler months when the shallow, sheltered water holds warmth better than the open Gulf. Redfish work the mangrove edges and the oyster bars. Spotted seatrout hold over the grass and in the deeper channels. Sheepshead gather on any hard structure, and the bridges are the obvious place to look for them. This is small-boat, kayak and wading water rather than a place for anything with draft, and the shallow flats and bars demand a careful approach. Snook and redfish regulations in Florida are season-dependent and have changed repeatedly in this region, so they should be checked immediately before a trip rather than remembered from last year.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Dona Bay.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Nokomis - the community at the bay, with the gauge bridge, bait, launch access and local services.
Venice Inlet - the pass south of the bay connecting to the Gulf, holding snook, tarpon and moving bait.
Roberts Bay - the connected bay immediately south, extending the fishable water considerably.
Intracoastal Waterway - the deeper channel linking the system, used as a route and a cold-weather holding area.
Venice - the town just south, with tackle shops, lodging, restaurants and additional ramps.
Casey Key - the barrier island forming the bay's western edge, with beach and pass access.
Myakka River - the larger river system a short drive east, offering a freshwater alternative.

Seasons

Spring: excellent, with snook moving out toward the passes and redfish and trout spread across the flats.
Summer: hot, with snook staged around the inlet, tarpon present offshore, and fishing best at dawn and dusk.
Fall: the mullet run brings sustained action for snook, redfish and jacks through the bay and the pass.
Winter: cold fronts push snook and redfish into the sheltered upper bay, which fishes well on warming afternoons.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Dona Bay?

Anglers target Black Drum, Common Snook, Crevalle Jack, Gafftopsail Catfish, Ladyfish, Mangrove Snapper, Red Drum, Sheepshead, Southern Flounder, Spotted Seatrout, Striped Mullet, Tarpon on the Dona Bay in Florida.

Where can you access the Dona Bay?

Nokomis - the community at the bay, with the gauge bridge, bait, launch access and local services. Venice Inlet - the pass south of the bay connecting to the Gulf, holding snook, tarpon and moving bait. Roberts Bay - the connected bay immediately south, extending the fishable water considerably. Intracoastal Waterway - the deeper channel linking the system, used as a route and a cold-weather holding area. Venice - the town just south, with tackle shops, lodging, restaurants and additional ramps. Casey Key - the barrier island forming the bay's western edge, with beach and pass access. Myakka R...

When is the best time to fish the Dona Bay?

Spring: excellent, with snook moving out toward the passes and redfish and trout spread across the flats. Summer: hot, with snook staged around the inlet, tarpon present offshore, and fishing best at dawn and dusk. Fall: the mullet run brings sustained action for snook, redfish and jacks through the bay and the pass. Winter: cold fronts push snook and redfish into the sheltered upper bay, which fishes well on warming afternoons.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Dona Bay?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Florida agency site: https://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/