April is a fantastic month for fishing west Central Florida coastal waters.  As April wears out and May arrives, things will get even better for snook fishing.  The "season" closes on snook May 1st but catch and release action for snook will be great in the months to come.  

 

John and his two sons-in-law, Sean and Jeff joined me for a day on the water.    I positioned them against a mangrove shoreline.   John hit redfish where I anchored him up.  He caught three redfish on the 12 Fathom 3 inch Mullet (clear gold) before Jeff or Sean hooked up a single time.    As I bounced around between where I had them all stationed, I saw splashing around Sean's boat and he had caught this fish:

 

Sean also caught his redfish on the clear gold mullet.   Poor Jeff was still fishless and John was up to four redfish.   As the tide flooded and started to outgoing, I moved all three of them to a specific location where the action was strong.  The redfish were hitting the soft plastic jigs (the SlamR, the Mullet and the Rootbeer silver glitter shadzilla).  Jeff had lost several decent redfish but then he hooked up to something that really doubled over his rod.   When I said redfish, Jeff told me "No, I think that's a trout."   He was correct.   And it was no small trout, measuring out to about 22 inches.  A second large trout was caught off this shallow oyster point.    All three of them caught redfish and speckled trout.    The trio caught about a dozen redfish and a lot of nice trout on their outing.  

 

Mike F called to book a trip and said "I just feel like I've lost my mojo."  Mike's done some fishing around the area but we got out there and I had him tossing the 12 Fathom lures at redfish.   I modified his technique and he started hooking up frequently.   The highlight of the day was when a guide in a power boat moved very close to us and started live chumming the spot.   The three anglers he had with him didn't hook a single fish while Mike hooked and caught multiple redfish from the same water.   It actually became comical with Mike hooked up to yet another red and the captain pulling up anchor to leave the area to take his clients elsewhere. 

 

In another big outing: Adam of Tarpon Springs booked a half day trip:  He got 9 redfish from 24 to 28 inches:  All on the 12 Fathom lures.  He got fish on the buzz tail shad, the Fat Sam 3" mullet and the Scarface Shrimp.   Moving about a half a mile from there, Adam got a 29 inch snook.   He finished the "Slam" with an 18 inch trout.   Congratulations on your first Artificial Slam Adam!

 

But fishing can be hit-or-miss even in the very best months.   Several times during the last week and a half, one day would have outstanding fishing and the next day with the same conditions things were kind of flat.   Such was the case when Carolyn booked a night snook fishing trip.   The conditions were perfect.   And scouting the night before, the fish were active under the residential lights.   Carolyn managed one small snook, a whole lot of speckled trout.    We even played the Waiting Game.   All the right baitfish were there.  But the snook never turned on to feed that night.   Carolyn also caught some gag grouper from under a residential canal.    But the bigger snook just never put on the feed bag.  

 

The first "monthly kayak fishing" seminar I did at Bill Jackson's was attended by 47 attendees.   The future seminars will be the "4th Thursday" of every month and the topics will be announced each month.