dolphin offshore fishing

MARCH RECAP

Wow! What a great month from purely a fishing POV. Hands down the best March we have seen in a decade. I just hate that so many people had to miss it! The sea conditions were fantastic and the fishing was phenomenal. I can’t even hardly highlight anything because from top to bottom, close to far everything was on fire.

Port Canaveral monthly fishing forecast

NEARSHORE

I am not really expecting good things near shore this month. Cobia have already passed, surf fishing has seemed to die off and the bait has disappeared along with the sharks. We have a giant swell that is going to be moving a lot of water and it will take a few days after it is gone for things to get right again. Honestly if near shore is your only option this month, I would just put away the fishing gear and grab the surfboard. The diehards might find a decent snook bite but the key to successful snook fishing will be to grind out catching live croakers in order to have a bait that gets a lot of attention. We have some funky water being held in or brought in from this swell. I do not know where it came from or why it’s here but it is dirty and nasty. It is bluefish water and that is the only thing you catch in it. That being said a big blue fish makes for a fun fight.

OFFSHORE

The first part of this month is not going to leave us many options. The options we do have will be phenomenal, but will require some commitment. The dirty water from this upcoming swell will push hard against the Gulf Stream creating well defined edges. This big of a swell after a month of flat calm seas literally creates a wall that stops all bait fish and pelagic species on this line. When this happens in April good things come to those who dedicate a entire day. Mahi, sail fish, wahoo, and tuna fishing will be epic. If you are thinking about a charter or taking your own boat you absolutely have to commit to a full day. It will increase your odds even more if you do a mahi specific trip so we are not limited by range and time or book a yellowfin tuna trip where we fish the back side of the Gulf Stream for tuna, marlin and where the bigger mahi like to stay. Deep drop fishing for golden tile fish and yellow edge grouper won’t be affected by the swell at all, in fact it might just be what gets them moving around a bit down in the deep. In a few weeks after the swell has settled out and given some time we will once again have great live bait trolling options and good bottom fishing but until then the deep will be the place to be.