Spring is in the air, and it’s certainly starting to feel like it on the water. Everything is warming up quickly, and the fishing has been wide open. Offshore, nearshore or inshore, there are plenty of options this time of year for local anglers. The weekend forecast ahead looks nice; a light wind and small swell mean you should be able to do just about anything you would like on the water.
Inshore, the sheepshead and drum bite continue to be steady near the inlets; this will wind down as the water warms up some more, so take advantage while you can. The redfish are no longer in their big winter schools, but the fish in the creeks are aggressive and starting to key in on the mullet that are showing back up. With low tides in the creeks, look for fish crawling banks, and working pockets around oysters, higher tides, the grass edges have been holding fish now that the mullet are pushing up in the Spartina flats.
For trout, April through early May is always the best shot at catching a trophy; as the fish stage for spawning, they are inhaling everything that’s unfortunate enough to fit their snaggletoothed mouths. The old adage "big baits, big fish" 100 percent comes to play when targeting big trout. These fish will try to eat anything they can; pick a bait you think is comically too big for the typical 15 to 18” trout and stick with it for a few hours and see if a big girl takes your offering. Live croaker, mullet, ladyfish or big artificial plugs will all work.
Off shore the wahoo bite is tapering off as the water warms up. Still, plenty of blacken around 140 to 200 feet to target while trolling, and the bottom fishing is consistent. The magi run will start any day; it usually peaks in May for us, but some fish always show in April, and they’re starting to trickle in. The yellowfin tuna bite out of Canaveral/Ponce has been great this year, and one of our local charter boats, the Reel Dream out of St. Augustine, made a deepwater trip for them this week and had an insane day bringing in 30 magi and 14 yellowfin.
Overall it’s one of my favorite times of the year to fish on the First Coast; we may get burned by the wind, but whenever the windows open up to get out, the fishing is fantastic.