In-shore - Here it is May 1st and if any of you have ever asked me - what’s my favorite time of the year to fish? You know I’ve told you it was May and June. Late April has been awesome this year. We had the normal amounts of rain fall in February and March and when this happens the Speckled Trout fishing is awesome. Just in the past ten days I’ve had two Specks that weighed in at eight pounds and six fish in the five pound class with lots of specks in the two and three pound class. Here’s the secret; the shrimp hatch, April into May is peak season for brown shrimp to hatch and the Specks are getting fat on them right now. I’m using live shrimp for the most part to match the hatch although just in the last couple of days I’ve started catching fish on artificial baits. One of the best lures to hit the market in quite a while is SPRO’s new four inch swim bait the BBZ-1 Shad, check it out on their web site and if you want a true testimony just give me a call, one of the eight pound Specks was caught on this bait.
Out on the beach is just a mad house (when we can get out there to fish it), Lots of Pompano are showing up, schools of Bull Red Fish are still out there, Slot sized Red Fish are out there eating up the sand fleas. Big schools of Jack Cravelle are cruising down the beach and talk about some MAD top water action, this is it! The Spanish mackerel and Blue fish have made their presence, so be prepared to up your leader size; I use Stren’s Coral Mist 30 pound test fluorocarbon for the toothy critters it seems to hold up very well. Just off the beach, King Mackerel are showing up, along with the migrating Cobia. This Cobia season has been very good to excellent, lots of forty to fifty pound fish being caught with several fish tipping the scales at eighty pounds.
Offshore - The Grouper have started to eat very well, mostly in 100 foot and deeper water. Lots of Mingo Snapper and Trigger fish, also. Be careful of the Red Snapper bite, the season doesn’t open until June 1st, you’ll have to release the Snapper and do so WITH CARE, without harming the fish!-- be sure you have a venting tool and use it and if flipper shows up – well, just move to another spot or he will eat every one you release.
The Secret of successful angling depends on learning the kind of water the fish prefer, and then concentrating on it.
Professional Fishing Guide
Capt. Eddie Woodall
Full Net Fishing Charters L.L.C.
850-936-8203
www.fullnetcharters.com
A special thanks to my sponsors:
Blazer Bay Boats, Yamaha Outboards, SPRO Fishing Tackle, Gamakatsu Hooks, Big Bite Baits Inc.
Pure Fishing Select Anglers Program, Berkley Gulp, ABU Garcia, Shakespeare Fishing, All-Star Rods,
Penn Reels, X-Tools, Seven Strand, Johnson, Fenwick, Stren, Berkley, Spider and Pflueger.
Lee Fisher Bait Buster Cast Nets.