After a week of overcast days and light rain the trout bite has been very good for this time of year. Normally hot conditions make the fish move to deeper waters and creates an early morning or late evening bite. The places that I’ve been fishing and having good luck are in our large bays or near a deep water channel. The best depth is 3 to 5 foot. If you can find some rock grass it’s like trout gold! The best color soft plastics have been the MirrOlure Provoker in watermelon red flake with a 1/8th oz. red jig head and the D.O.A. CAL Shad in glow with a chartreuse 1/8 0z. jighead. For redfish the key to finding them is finding the mullet. I can’t say how many times I’ve been running toward a spot to look over at another key to see five or six mullet jumping at a time only to head over to the new location and catch fish there. If I’m fishing rocky bottom then I’ll use a cork and shrimp but if the bottom is grass or potholes I like to use cut bait this time of year. Mullet, ladyfish and lizard fish are some of my favorites.
On the nearshore rocks the action has been good using live shrimp. The most common catch is grunts and mangrove snapper but there are also spanish mackerel, sea bass, flounder and short gag grouper. For keeper gag grouper head out to 18 to 25 feet and use live pinfish, frozen threadfin or sardines on a knocker rig. This weekend look for incoming high tide in the afternoon.
- Nature Coast - March 23, 2024
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- Nature Coast - February 14, 2024
