Venice inshore help

[ccm]

We have booked an inshore charter with Capt Hoop for this fall and I will also be bringing my bay boat along so my partner and I can fish a couple of days after our charter. I have spent untold hours reading posts on this and several other forums to find some areas that we can fish on the days we will not be guided. I have looked at my Standard Mapping maps and Google Earth until my eyes are beginning to cross.

Let me tell you what we are looking for. We want to target trout and keeper reds. Not interested in chasing bull reds. We also want to stay within a 10 or 15 mile run from Venice.

It seems that our best odds would be to fish drains and run offs that are coming into the river or passes. Looking at my maps I can see that there are an unbelievable number of places that fit that description.

I need some help narrowing down my search. I am not looking for someones favorite spots I am only trying to determine what type of areas we should be concentrating in.

If drains and run offs is what we should be looking for, I would like to know:
Should we concentrate North or South of Venice?

Would the river or the passes be our best bet?

If the passes would be best, how far off of the river should we search?

We will only have two days to fish, unguided, so we want to make our search the most efficient possible.

I really appreciate anyone who can offer us some direction.

Charlie