It's back to fishing with live bait and the fishing is hot! I can't remember the last time I went and caught bait this early in the year and caught so many fish on it. The shiners this past week have been a little tough to find but well worth the work. It is hard to imagine but the water temp got back up to 69, and in some of the little coves and bays where we caught most of our fish 74 degrees is the warmest I found. The fishing should stay just as good or just keep getting better over the next few weeks. Spring is just around the corner.
Managed to get out and do something a little different this past week. A little near shore fishing but it was a little rough. We managed to catch a few nice fish but it was a lot of work. The fish finder showed all kinds of fish they just didn't want to bite. Caught a bunch of small fish but the big ones didn't want to eat very good. We did manage to bring home some dinner, a few Grouper and a Snapper. It was a lot of fun but every time I go out near shore I remember why I like fishing back in the bay so much! Moving spot to spot, fish not biting after driving for 1 hr to get to the fishing hole, and many other reasons. Had a lot of fun and would do it again tomorrow if somebody wanted to.
Let's talk a little Snook fishing these fish are back in some of the bays and feeding good on the shiners. I think this year out on the flats and around the beaches I have seen more fish then ever for the time of the year it is. Most of the time all of the snoook are way up in the rivers this time of the year. Not saying that they aren't because we have managed to catch a bunch up there on some of the different lures. These fish that are out in these areas are hard to catch at times till that water temp gets up to about 65 then they start feeding again. In a lot of the shallow bay waters temp can make this change in less then a few hours. Managed to catch a good number of Snook this past week with the time of the year these numbers will keep getting higher.
Redfish bite has stayed hot with the different water temps we have had to change the bait and the way we fish for them. Red fishing has stayed good through the season. Every trip out we have managed to get on a great redfish bite before the day is up. That is if we didn't just start the day off with the bending of the fishing rod on some great fish. When it's been a little colder we've been fishing with shrimp or lures. Then when it warms up a little back to the shiners. It seems like if the water temp is over 65 like the snook the redfish eat the shiners better. We have had some great redfish on both the last time I fished with live bait most of the fish where over size as you can see in the picture.Come visit www.castawaychartersinc.com for pictures.