The inshore bite is picking up! Water temperatures are already in the mid to upper 60’s. We have even seen few bonnet head and sharp nose sharks. Some seatrout already are laden with roe! My most accounts seatrout will spawn on the beachfronts from May through August. Seeing seatrout laden with roe is good sign! Also there are reports of fishermen catching lots of small seatrout. Seeing some seatrout action is a good sign and bodes well! We’ve catching some seatrout as many large as small.
Most of bite in the sounds is with the ubiquitous whiting. This small fishermen friendly fish that that will readily take a wide variety of cut baits. Most of the fish are still small ranging 9 to 11 1/2 inches. Its possible to catch mess! The whiting bite will likely heat up in the coming weeks! While fishing for whiting its possible to hook into a large red drum or some sharks. Best areas for the whiting are along sand bars leading in and out of the sounds and in the main rivers leading in from the sounds.
The redfish bite has been mercurial. Fishermen are finding few in all the familiar places. Are the fish finding more of they want or more of what they dislike? As one friend recently said for fish its all about survival. If fish aren’t showing in the logical places often it mean fish are still in the neighborhood, perhaps lots of fish! Most of the bellies of reds, we kept, in recent days have been empty. As temperatures raise their metabolism will spike. That can mean fish have been super reluctant fish will inhale a bait and lure with greed! Some of the reds were covered with sea lice, a sight more often associated with the winter. Likely these are fish coming up from the deep on the flats. There are reds on some of the flats and bite has been good at times! The water up river has been muddy resulting in poor conditions and a slow bite. As tides abate the bite will improve!
I hope this of interest and help! Keep what you what to eat and release the rest!
Fish On! Capt. Jack McGowan
