If there was ever a month to leave the dock prepared for anything, this is it. Depending on where you fish, water temperatures will be somewhere in the upper 70s or low 80s. Ideal for just about every species of fish that call our Gulf waters home. Massive bait schools seem to be everywhere. As a captain, I have one eye looking straight ahead while the other tries to assess if altering our course to explore what may be lurking below is a prudent use of time. The struggle to stay committed to that first waypoint you punched into your MFD is real! 
The big Spanish and kingfish run may be over, but there will still be stragglers all month that make a welcome addition to any fish box. We tend to have more cobia and blackfin tuna show up behind the boat in May than at any other time of year. It’s a little early for Mahi, but in my experience, the ones that do show up now are normally gaffers. All are fish that can absolutely make or break a trip in the blink of an eye. Sometimes they will hang behind the boat for a few minutes. Other times, you have 30 seconds, and they are gone. Being prepared for whatever may show up in your chum slick is key to taking advantage of every opportunity.
We teach our crews to spend the drive time out to the first spot preparing for anything we may encounter that day, not just the target species. I like to have 4 medium-heavy-duty spinning outfits rigged and ready to go in the rocket launchers. And not just randomly in the rocket launchers, always the outside 2 on each side. The easiest to grab and throw. One will be a Yo-Zuri popper with about 5 feet of leader. Another will be either a Yo-Zuri crystal minnow or a medium-sized Yo-Zuri lipped plug. I have had more luck catching a variety of pelagics and cobia on these than anything else over the years. My last 2 combos will both be free line setups. I’ll attach a ¼ oz split shot weight to one of them just to give me the ability to toss a bait out as far away from the boat as I can before free-lining it out. One will have a lighter 20-40lb leader, while the other will be a bit heavier at 60lb. Most likely, you will not have time to re-rig if what you initially toss doesn’t work.
Those of you who have already had the good fortune to experience this know how chaotic it can get in a short time. Those of you who have not fished long enough, your time will come. Over the years, I have been on both ends of the pendulum. I have witnessed more than 1 argument break out between crew when the moment passed them by. I have also taken advantage of that extremely rare Gulf billfish visit, which, 20 years later, still lives on in the story every time Fred Dean fishes with us. Be prepared for every moment, and in 20 years, you may have a story to relive.