The spring bait run is fully underway on the coastal waters of Central Florida. I am ready to leave behind the windy April we just had and welcome the warm wind-free days of May. Redfish are still providing the most consistent bite; right now is a great time to catch that trophy size 20-40lb redfish. But we are still fishing plenty of large schools of smaller 3-10lb redfish too. Loads of speckled trout are scattered throughout the lagoon and we are catching some gators and and getting shots at trout upwards of 10-12lbs. Tarpon are a lot more active and the older juveniles (10-40lb) are kicking it into gear with the warmer water temps. Open dates for May are again limited, with approximately 10 dates left open. Read on for more details.
Redfish continue to provide the most consistent action. We are sight fishing trophy size redfish between 15-40lbs nearly every day. April yielded some gigantic redfish caught with a few fish topping the 30lb mark. One young angler set a new best aboard my boat for Mosquito Lagoon redfish with a huge bull red that weighed between 45-50lbs. Once we broke the fish free from the school, we got towed about 3/4 of a mile away! There is good action for these trophy size reds in both the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River. If sight casting a trophy redfish is on your list to do, now is the time to do it. We are also finding several schools of smaller 3-10lb redfish up on the super shallow flats. There are several schools of 200-300 redfish still sticking together. But most of the others have broken up into smaller pods of 10-25-50-75 fish. Most of the redfish have been picky over the past month when it comes to taking an artificial lure, but we're catching fish on soft plastic jerkbaits, swim baits, and suspending plugs. When they start refusing lures we break out the pinfish or mullet and they won't pass that up. Fly fishermen have fared much better lately when tricking them into eating. Seaducers, bendbacks, and ep baitfish patterns have been my top producers and we got some quality fish in April on fly.
We are seeing loads of Speckled Trout...everywhere! With the spring bait run fully underway these trout are gorging themselves in between spawn periods. You could catch 50+ trout a day by working the edges of flats, but most are all 10-20" trout with the occasional bigger fish. It takes a trout over 5lbs to get me excited. There are more than a few world class trout swimming around these parts, and we are getting a couple sight casting shots a day at trout over 10lbs. Without a doubt live mullet are producing some great blow-ups and catches. Suspending plugs and soft plastic jerkbaits are our choice when blind casting or sight casting.
My Tarpon fishing is getting better with each passing day. Older juveniles (10-40lb class) are up and moving around. Tides are a critical factor when tarpon fishing, more so during the early spring. I know all the best stretches around for any tide phase, and on the right tide set-ups I am finding decent early spring numbers. I jumped two 20lb fish last week on one of my favorite jigs. We are also getting some shots on fly. I have tarpon in several places now at different times of the day, so we are right on the cusp of all day, every day tarpon fishing. When the water warms a couple more degrees things will really start to take off for these bigger juvies. In about 2 months (July) the first migrating adult tarpon will start showing up inshore.
Not much to report on snook for my May report. They are definitely out and biting...but like every spring and summer, I end up skipping over them in favor of other preferred targets. Docks and deep shorelines along the way will be where the best action is.
I still have available dates in May coming off two fully booked months. Only about 10 dates remaining though so call soon to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.