Spring has sprung and surf fishing has been just about as good as it gets for us in the month of April!

TONS of Spanish mackerel are terrorizing the bait schools off the Space Coast’s beaches. Casting Clark Spoons rigged with #2 wire should help you from getting cut off as these fish do have sharp teeth! If you’re looking to target these fish from the beaches, the best time is the 2nd or 3rd day of consecutive offshore winds. It draws these mackerel closer to shore in better range of casting.

Pompano are still here!

We had a nice school come out of Sebastian Inlet this past week. All my customers got their six fish limit and one client got hooked up on a trophy permit! Pompano Riggs by Couture in pink/white floats and chart/white have been catching quality fish! Fishing an hour after high tide has been producing a strong bite. Sand fleas are a KEY bait for you catching these fish as well as fish bites in sand flea scent orange/white. If you’re looking for a larger selection of fish bites, Strike Zone on 192 in Melbourne is fully stocked on both Riggs, fish bites, and any other surf tackle!

You can’t go wrong with these products here.

Im starting to see a few migratory tarpon chase bait schools about 150 yards off the beaches in south Brevard. I look forward to these fish showing up thick in the coming weeks! Watching these silver kings roll and jump from the beach always catches your eye! Best way to target these trophy fish from the beach is by taking a kayak or a paddle board. Look for bait schools and having a sabiki ready — that is your tool! Wait till you see these tarpon roll before casting your bait. Cast 20ft in front of rolling fish and wait for the thump! If bait is hard for you to catch, or you wanna catch these kings on artificial, try switching to a Hogy Pro Tail 6.5″ Olive bone color in 3oz. This is a lure that tarpon just cant resist! I’ll be reporting back in the coming weeks on how to really target these fish and help land you a trophy!

Snook fishing on the beaches should be heating up in the coming weeks as well! Look for the croakers schooled up thick right in the first trough. You can use a Croaker Rigg by Couture to catch them with any surf tackle. Look for the shadows behind or in the schools of bait fish. These snook are usually right next to them! As the pompano start to move on, I’ll really start focusing on catching these line siders on surf tackle!

If you’re looking to book a surf fishing charter with me, you can call and schedule your appointment or book now on Facebook.

Winds are down and so were the seas this week. Now we are dealing with the rain which should improve the bite in the lagoon and nearshore waters when the bait gets pushed out into the lagoon and the ocean.

Bite has been good on the beach with Mackerel, Bluefish, Permit, Pompano, Bonito, Jacks, Kingfish and tarpon all in the mix. Crane Creek, Turkey Creek and the Sebastian River have been good for tarpon and snook action and jacks are in the mix as well. The coming week will be a good week as we should get a break from our spring winds and the rain helping the bait get moving. Look for big trout, snook and redfish on the flats and Snook, jacks and reds in and around Sebastian Inlet. Jacks, Sharks, Bonito and Mackerel will be along the beaches looking for a good meals so get out and have some fun as these Spring winds die down!

The red fishing has been outstanding this week with very low water which leads to tailing schools of fish. The cobia have been on the beach with the warmer water temps, chartreuse has been the best color for jigs. Red snapper and flounder are plentiful at the nearshore reefs.

Speckled trout and slot sized redfish are cruising the grass flats in the northern Mosquito Lagoon this week. Saltwater Assassin 3.5″ Dia Dapper or 4″ Sea Shad in the silver mullet or Houdini colors rigged on a weedless weighted worm hook and Rapala pinfish or mullet colored Sub Walk lures are great search baits. The other option is a live finger mullet cast to these fish. My customers are really enjoying these sight casting opportunities because water clarity is extremely good in this portion of the lagoon system right now.

Offshore was on fire this week! We only had three good days to get out but it didn’t disappoint! We didn’t have any issues finding bait on the beach. The kingfish were crushing it on both Pelican and 8A reefs. What also made it exciting is there were cobia and sailfish mixed in as well. The shark fishing along the beach picked back up and we had some real rod benders! I would expect more of the same this week. Get out there when the wind calms down and lock horns with something special!

We are seeing lots and lots of tarpon in both Goat Creek and the Sebastian River right now. The trout bite has slowed in our area a bit. At Sebastian Inlet, big snook, redfish and jacks are being caught. Live bait has worked best this week. Spanish mackerel seem to be everywhere on both the outgoing and incoming tides.

Offshore we have seen some really nice mangrove and lane snapper on the shallow reefs. The dolphin have showed up! Folks venturing to the Otherside crushed it but there were still really solid catches reported in the 100-200 ft. depths not fishing weed lines, just trolling rips.

Mike’s first red of the morning. Lots of reds and trout fell to Z-Man Jerk Shadz and Diezel Minnowz on this trip with Capt. Mark Wright

It was a frustrating week for us as the weather for the most part couldn’t make up its mind. Only one of this week’s three trips turned out as we hoped.

Monday morning I easily located lots of mullet pods as I headed south paralleling the west shoreline; the fact I was seeing a few fish moving tight to the bank gave me hope of a great morning of fishing. As we settled down off-plane I slowly idled toward the bank and readied the rods for my clients.

Having them perched upon the bow while I position myself on the poling platform I quickly realize my day will not be easy after all. Neither angler can cast a spinning rod more than a boat length or two… A little instruction proves futile as we attempt to blind cast lures to fish I know are there but the lures can’t reach until were so close they’d spook!

Switching to live shrimp and cut mullet gained us nothing as the predators were not really milling around much. They seem to be happy setting in ambush and waiting for the mullet to come to them. Changing locations several times and fishing an hour longer than necessary resulted in only one trout which I hooked and handed off. I seldom do this, but I simply had to know in MY mind the fish would eat if given a good presentation.

Tuesday the wind blew fairly strong from the west and the fish were happy. Mike caught lots of reds and slot trout using Z-man lures in a variety of colors.

Wednesday the weather was awesome though the fish didn’t appreciate that fact and had lock-jaw all morning. At least these clients could see the reds and trout moving about us and managed enough good casts to catch a couple. My hat’s off to Gary and Marty for never giving up. I hope our next trip we’re greeted with active fish!

Offshore out of Port Canaveral this past week there were solid catches of mangrove and lane snapper in 90′ with some really nice triggerfish mixed in. A couple grouper joined the party but you cannot keep one until May 1st. We did receive a report of snook in the surf. Even with the wind blowing there have been some decent whiting being caught in the surf as well. In the lagoon, it’s been pretty solid around the bridges and docks with snook, sheepshead, mangrove snapper and big sailcats. Live shrimp is the best bait for these guys.

We are catching big reds and black drum in Haulover Canal using blue crabs and live shrimp. In Mosquito Lagoon the trout bite has been great! The go to bait has been Berkley Gulp in the New Penny color and popping corks fished with live shrimp.

At Playalida Beach, we are seeing big bull whiting on small live shrimp fished on pompano rigs. There have also been some pompano caught using fish bites ez-flea sand flea flavor and squid. The monster bluefish are still tearing up the surf, use any cut bait like mullet and hang on!

Jack attack on the beach! We had a few calm days to get out a play this week. The nearshore bite was fantastic! We caught big jacks, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, snook, black drum, sheepshead and even a couple flounder made their way to the fish box.