Surf fishing during the month of May has offered some much needed family fun experiences with the opening of beach accesses across Florida. Getting to the beach has been one of the top things to do outside on the Space Coast. Incredible weather and social distancing measures are a few factors that make beach fishing Central East Coast of Florida a top choice for individuals and family looking for some outside recreation.

Rain… We need rain to start filling up our lakes. As the summer moves into where we start every afternoon to get the rains the waters should fill our lakes. This will make a great time to target spawning bluegill and bass, which are protecting their fry, even better.

Speckled trout continue to be our most reliable targets in the lagoons. Captain Justin and I have been catching them in a variety of ways on our charters this week. Live fingerling mullet free-lined near mangroves and spoil islands are accounting for the largest trout on most of our trips.

Grouper and amberjack are firing out of the Port and are chewing hard on live croakers, whiting, and big pins. Deep drops also turned on this week, producing some nice catches of golden tilefish and snowy grouper. If you like pressing a button, come on out! LOL. Meanwhile, kings have been a day-to-day thing on the reeds, and sharks are continuing to feast nearshore.

In the lagoon, north of Pineda, anglers are catching a lot of redfish and tarpon. The canals around Satellite are holding nice sheepshead, mangrove snapper and black drum, as well. The beach anglers when fishing are catching some nice snook, margate, whiting and still a few pompano. We’ve even seen a permit or two mixed in a little further south around Melbourne Beach.
In the lagoon, north of Pineda, anglers are catching a lot of redfish and tarpon. The canals around Satellite are holding nice sheepshead, mangrove snapper and black drum, as well. The beach anglers when fishing are catching some nice snook, margate, whiting and still a few pompano. We’ve even seen a permit or two mixed in a little further south around Melbourne Beach.

This week, the canals around Satellite were hopping with big snook and juvenile tarpon eager for live bait. I caught two tarpon and had a lower slot snook come out of nowhere and eat my mullet while an overslot snook was licking its lips for my bait. Early in the morning, before sunrise, I attempted fishing at a marina. With many snook hitting, one after another, I only got one mid-twenties to the boat. Another one which got off on structure felt a bit bigger. Later in the day I moved on to the flats and did good there too. My dad got a solid trout and another mid-twenty inch snook ate my white bait and almost got me stuck in the mangroves.

Hit the island houses early this morning around 4:30am. Lined up on the east side of the island and worked the dock with a top dog. Almost every cast got exploded on. Set a PB on trout with a solid 27.5ish. Hit a slam within an hour. Bait was getting crashed everywhere. Landed several slot to over slot snook, a few jacks, trout, and some nice keeper size reds. Top water, gold DOA shrimp with the rattle and tipped with shrimp fish bites landed the reds, snook on top, doa shrimp, and DOA white paddle tails.

I fished several days in the past week. My first few trips were in search of springtime bluefish in the Manasquan River. The first day I caught 3 (1 on a bone SP Minnow and 2 on a Hopkins shorty) in addition I caught a small striped bass that fell for a ghost white SP Minnow. Returned the next day with my son, once again I caught 3 bluefish and he caught 2-al on a bone SP Minnow. All the blues were in the #2-3 class-which is unfortunate is not close to the size of the bluefish the last 3 springs during the first part of May when they were in the #10-15 class. Switched gears the next two days and did some summer flounder (fluke) fishing in Shark River. Since the season for them doesn’t open until 5?22-it as all catch & release. Caught several each day by bouncing a bucktail with a teaser hook above-both tipped with GULP.

In the canals and river around Satellite and Indian Harbour Beach, anglers are doing well fishing for trout, redfish, sheepshead and mangrove snapper. When conditions have allowed on the beach, the surf fishermen are getting bluefish and big numbers of whiting; the snook have also started to show up for their annual summer spawn. Meanwhile, pompano have slowed a little bit, but the residential fish are out there, and anglers are still putting them in the cooler.

Fishing has continued to be pretty good inshore and in the surf. We are starting to get pigfish as well as croakers as bait, which is producing really well for snook, redfish and trout. Black drum and mangrove snapper have been biting on jig-heads tipped with shrimp. With the mullet run in full swing, tarpon are starting to show up in the river and the beaches, too.

What a week of wind. We got to fish the beach a few days before these winds got up and had a few great days with plenty of big jacks, Sharks and some mackerel. Theres still plenty of Lane Snapper on the nearshore reefs as well. Big trout and snook inshore and plenty of jack crevalle around the islands and ,mangrove shorelines. This week the winds should lay down and we should have some good action inshore and offshore.

Rough weather and high seas this past week kept us off the ocean. Once the seas subside, Captain Justin and I will be taking our clients out to chase schooling king mackerel on the 70 to 90-foot reefs. A variety of artificial lures will work for these fish but we will look for live baits to increase our odds at a successful day out there. If bait fish are present in the nearshore waters, we will be targeting kings in the 20 to 40-foot depths. May is also a great time to catch giant jacks, big tarpon, shark, and bonito in our nearshore waters.