Out There: A Great Week for Anything That Doesn't Float

I read the marine forecast before coffee, and it reads like a dare. The weekend is sunny, dry and 82 to 84, and windy enough that the smart move is anything with a trailhead instead of a ramp.

First, the water

The NWS coastal waters forecast for Englewood to Tarpon Springs has a small craft advisory from 5 p.m. today through 8 p.m. Wednesday. Here's how it builds:

• Tonight: northeast 20 to 25 knots, seas 2 to 4 feet. Bays rough.
• Saturday: around 20 knots, turning north 20 to 25 in the afternoon, seas 3 to 5 feet, occasionally 6.
• Saturday night and Sunday: northeast 25 to 30 knots, seas 5 to 7 feet, occasionally 9. Bays very rough.
• Monday and Tuesday: still 20 to 25 knots, with 25 to 30 again Monday night.

The Tampa Bay forecast discussion adds that frequent gusts to gale force are possible late Saturday through Monday evening and that a gale watch may be issued. On land, the Sarasota forecast has Sunday gusts as high as 35 mph.

The wind is offshore, which does two things. The beach forecast has surf at a foot or less, with the rip current risk going from low today to moderate Saturday. And anything that floats, including a paddleboard, a kayak or a pool noodle you trusted, gets pushed toward Mexico. If you launch anyway, launch upwind and come home first.

The weekend pick: the Celery Fields gets bigger Saturday

Sarasota Audubon says the first phase of rewilding the Quad parcels next to the Celery Fields is finished and the Southeast Quad opens to the public Saturday, Oct. 24. The grand opening runs 9 a.m. to noon at 6799 Palmer Blvd., free, with tours of the 11-acre site every hour, per the event listing from Big Waters Land Trust and Audubon.

Big Waters' project page says the southeast quad was designed with high and low ground along a meandering stream, a wildflower meadow and a bird blind. It's the first of three parcels; the southwest one, with parking, restrooms and a natural play area, is next once the money is raised.

More than 240 bird species have been recorded at the Celery Fields. Not one of them was consulted on the wind forecast, and they will all be there anyway, because a stormwater park in a stiff breeze is just a big open field full of birds facing the same direction.

The Audubon Nature Center at 999 Center Road keeps its short fall hours one more weekend: Friday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to noon. Then the building is a polling site and closes Nov. 1 through 5, and it reopens daily, 9 to noon, on Nov. 6.

Up in Palmetto, Manatee Audubon has a guided bird walk at Emerson Point Preserve on Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m., led by Patty and Tony Ford, covering the mounds and the tower. The tower will be breezy. Hold onto the hat. Our lead image is what happens if you don't.

What's biting, and what's legal

Skyway Bait & Tackle in Palmetto put out its flats report Wednesday: redfish schooling along the mangrove shorelines, slot snook sitting tight in shallow sand potholes, and water so clear the fish spook at hull noise and a flash of leader. Their Tuesday nearshore report was already talking about northeast wind at 15 to 20 knots. Now it's 25. Fish the lee side of anything.

The FWC calendar this week:

• Gulf red snapper is open this Friday through Sunday, Oct. 23-25, then again Oct. 30 through Nov. 1, for private recreational boats in Gulf state and federal waters. 16 inches, 2 per person, and you need to be signed up for the State Reef Fish Survey. The season opened into a 9-foot Gulf. The snapper are fine with it.
• Flounder is closed to harvest Oct. 15 through Nov. 30, Gulf and Atlantic. Catch one, take a picture, put it back.
• Gray triggerfish in Gulf state waters is open through Dec. 31: 15 inches fork length, 1 per person.
• Gag grouper stays closed in the Gulf for the rest of the year, and greater amberjack closed after Oct. 13.
• Snook in the Sarasota Bay region stays open until the Dec. 1 closure: 28 to 33 inches, 1 per day, snook permit required.
• Redfish in the Sarasota Bay region: 18 to 27 inches, 1 per person, 2 per vessel. Trout: 15 to 19 inches, 3 per person.

Red tide: FWC's Oct. 16 report found only background concentrations in and offshore of Sarasota County. The next report is due this afternoon. The beach forecast has the water in the upper 70s, and the Port Manatee gauge read 75.7 degrees at 7 a.m.

Tides at Big Sarasota Pass

NOAA predictions for the Siesta Key, Big Sarasota Pass station, in feet above mean lower low water. Treat every low as a ceiling this week. The forecast discussion says the offshore wind will make tides run below their predicted levels.

Day	Lows	Highs
Fri., Oct. 23	4:18 a.m. (0.7), 4:10 p.m. (0.9)	10:32 a.m. (1.8), 10:23 p.m. (2.1)
Sat., Oct. 24	4:59 a.m. (0.4), 4:32 p.m. (1.0)	11:28 a.m. (1.8), 10:40 p.m. (2.3)
Sun., Oct. 25	5:41 a.m. (0.1), 4:55 p.m. (1.2)	12:23 p.m. (1.8), 11:02 p.m. (2.5)
Mon., Oct. 26	6:26 a.m. (-0.1), 5:19 p.m. (1.3)	1:20 p.m. (1.7), 11:30 p.m. (2.6)
Tue., Oct. 27	7:15 a.m. (-0.3), 5:44 p.m. (1.4)	2:20 p.m. (1.6)
Wed., Oct. 28	8:08 a.m. (-0.4), 6:09 p.m. (1.4)	12:04 a.m. (2.7), 3:27 p.m. (1.5)
Thu., Oct. 29	9:07 a.m. (-0.3)	12:44 a.m. (2.8)
Fri., Oct. 30	10:12 a.m. (-0.2)	1:31 a.m. (2.7)

Monday through Friday the morning lows go below zero before the wind even gets a vote, and Wednesday's 8:08 a.m. low lands after sunrise. That's a week of exposed grass flats, wading birds working the edges, and boats sitting on sand that was a channel on Sunday. If you know the bay, this is the week to learn it again. If you don't, idle.

Sunrise and sunset

From the U.S. Naval Observatory for Sarasota:

• Saturday: sunrise 7:35 a.m., sunset 6:53 p.m.
• Sunday: 7:36 a.m., 6:52 p.m.
• Next Friday, Oct. 30: 7:39 a.m., 6:48 p.m.

First light starts around 7:12 this weekend. Sandy has the Hunter's Moon rising over all of this Sunday and Monday, and she has thoughts on which way to face.

Wildlife

Sea turtle nesting season ends Oct. 31. Mote's weekly count for Oct. 11 to 17 logged zero new nests from Longboat Key to Venice, so the season's preliminary total sits at 4,929 nests: 4,733 loggerheads and 196 greens. Casey Key alone has 2,272. Mote also counted 7,650 false crawls, which is a turtle walking up the beach, looking around, and leaving. I respect it.

The low water is the wildlife story this week. Expect herons, egrets, ibis and the occasional spoonbill spread out on flats that are usually underwater. Give them room, don't walk straight at them, and keep the dog on the leash. If you're boating the shallows, the manatees are still out there too, and at a negative tide there's less water between you and them. Go slow.

Park and trail notes

• Myakka River State Park: 8 a.m. to sunset, $6 per vehicle, North Gate open weekends 8 to 5. Drinking water is still unavailable, so bring your own; the ranger station hands out bottled water free. The river crested at 7.22 feet at the NWS gauge on Oct. 14 and sat at or above the 7-foot minor flood mark for most of a week. It slipped under the 6.5-foot action stage Wednesday morning and read 6.21 feet at 6 a.m. today. Still plenty of river. The Upper Myakka Lake is wide and open, and this is not its weekend for a canoe.
• Oscar Scherer State Park in Osprey: 8 a.m. to sunset, $5 per vehicle, 1843 S. Tamiami Trail. Fifteen miles of trails, and Florida scrub-jays, the only bird found nowhere but Florida. A good place to spend a windy Saturday on foot.
• Myakka Headwaters butterfly count, Thursday, Oct. 29, 9:30 a.m.: Big Waters Land Trust's fall count at its Myakka Headwaters Preserve in Myakka City, which is only open to the public for events like this. About 3 miles, including wading through a pop ash swamp up to mid-thigh. No restrooms. $5 suggested donation, register first, and they'd like you to know the common Florida butterflies already. It's the only event on this list where getting wet is the point.
• Midnight Pass full moon paddle, Monday, Oct. 26, 6 p.m.: Big Waters and the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program's sunset paddle leaves Bay Preserve at Osprey for Midnight Pass. It's listed as intermediate, 16 and up, with loaner kayaks available. Monday's bay forecast is rough. Read the page and check with them before you go.

One fun find: Fishing Eric at Skyway Bait & Tackle

Skyway Bait & Tackle at 4808 U.S. 19 in Palmetto calls itself Palmetto's oldest bait shop, a "little blue bait shop" that's been there since the 1940s. They say they keep more live bait than anyone around (shrimp, pinfish, greenbacks) and nearly three times the frozen bait variety of other shops, which is the kind of claim only a bait shop would brag about and the only kind I care about.

They also post video fishing reports from Fishing Eric, split into flats, nearshore and Skyway editions. Here's Wednesday's flats report.

Palmetto Bait | Flats Fishing Report October 21

— Skyway Bait (@SkywayBait) Watch on X

It's a man in front of a Fishing Eric banner telling you where the redfish are, which is more than most people at the ramp will do. Follow @SkywayBait, then stop in for shrimp.

Planning the rest of the week? Sandy has the meetups and Coming This Week, and the Halloween Finder has the costumes covered.

Wear real shoes this weekend. The advisory ends Wednesday night, and the bay comes back when it feels like it.

— Brooke