April 4, 2016 Fishing Report

My focus this last week was targeting the spring run of sunshine bass and American shad on the St Johns River near Orlando Florida and we couldn’t have asked for better weather or fishing.  My week started out fishing with Bruce and Trish Reid from Orlando on a charter I donated to the Central Florida Offshore Anglers Association’s auction.  As a member of the CFOA I have always supported their efforts to improve angling in Central Florida and I always look forward to fishing with Bruce and Trish.

As mentioned in last week’s fishing forecast, it is time to start targeting schooling bass in the rivers and lakes in and around the Orlando/Central Florida area, and all of this week, both the sunshine and shad were concentrated in their traditional locations.  On my charter with Bruce and Trish, we were in our first location at first light and by 0830 we had boated over 25 sunshine bass from 3 to 7 pounds all caught on a 4-inch DOA Shad Tail fished very light on top water.  After the bite slowed down, we moved to another location and started targeting American Shad.  To finish the adventure we did a short tour of the the Econ Creek and then Trish and Bruce treated me to a fine lunch at the Jolly Gator Fish Camp in Geneva.  After landing a half dozen hefty sunshine bass, Trish wanted to take a break, when I demanded that she keep fishing.  Then I explained we were in the middle of a feeding frenzy, and she could take her break when the feeding slowed down.  In my experience as a fishing guide, I have learned to focus on those special occasions where the bite is on fire, because a bite like we have seen this week, doesn’t come around often.

Although I did not get a chance to fish it, the conditions are right to start targeting cobia off of the east coast beaches, and some cobia were caught in areas of 70-degree water temps.  The anglers I talked to stated they only spotted a few cobia and the one caught were mostly south off of Melbourne Beach in about 60-feet of water.

Currently, we are in the middle of the fishing season, so my next open days for charters are March 12 th, 18 th, 21 st and 22 nd, so if you are interested in booking a trip, please give me a call.

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn

407-416-1187