Hello everyone, looks like another early spring. Although we had a cold snap last night it seems like the cold weather only sticks around for a day or so, not long enough to really push the fish off the flats into the deeper holes. I spent most of last week shallow water sight fishing for snook and man did we catch a lot of them, not large ones, most were 20 to 25 inches with a few just barely legal. The action made up for the size and we had some 50 snook days, most on live bait. We did a little fly fishing and took them on the fly as well. The nice thing is the trout have been mixed in with the snook and we took some real nice trout to 22 inches with a lot in the 16 to 20 inch range. Trout are great eating and it's nice to see that they are coming back strong this year. We have also been catching some nice redfish. Usually in the winter I catch smaller reds but this winter they have been larger. Lots of the reds are in the 24 to 30 inch class and a few pushing 32 to 34 inches, real nice ones on 10 pound tackle.
Well it looks like we have a nice spring in store, seems like the snook fishing remains strong. Reds seem to get better and better every year with the stocking program and trout are making a strong comeback. Trout are very fast growers so that is no surprise. If you are looking for an early spring charter, flats fishing will be the main objective. Late March thru April the offshore will peek and of course my favorite, sight fishing for large tarpon 70 to 200 pounds, May thru July is peek.
Well I hope you have enjoyed my report. Please feel free to email or call anytime if you have any questions about fishing or would like to book a charter. If you are heading out on the water on your own, good luck and always remember to enjoy our great outdoors.
Capt. Matt Ercoli
www.captainmatt.com or 800-521-2872