By Stephen Decoulos
The time we’ve all been waiting for. Less windy days, more time on the water and tons of fish! April also brings bait to Broward and West Palm Beach as well.
This is definitely the month to target cobia. You can find them on the beaches, reefs and wrecks. Keep your eyes open for turtles and rays. Cobia like to follow them because the turtles and rays will stir up crabs, shrimp and other prey. So watch for them and have a 20# spinning rod ready to cast a cobia jig at them. If you are anchored up and chumming over the wrecks and reefs, they will come to you.
All your offshore species will be in full swing this month. Dolphin, kingfish, wahoo, tuna and sailfish will be plentiful. To target dolphin, I like to cover ground by trolling till you find them. The baits I like are rigged ballyhoo, squid and strips with skirts or lures on top of them. The kingfish will be on the reefs, inside 120 Feet. Slow troll gog’s or runners. Another good way is to troll bonita strips on a planer. This is also the best time to fly your kites. Kite fishing in 80-130 Ft. of water can produce all of the species in one morning. If you put your time in, meaning the more trips you can do, you’ll increase your chances of one of these banner days.
Inshore fishing will continue to produce pompano, Spanish macks, cero mackerel and snapper. Juno, Lake Worth, Pompano, Anglins’ and Dania Piers should all have really good days of keeper Pompano. The snook should start to show up more and more toward the end of the month. They are still plentiful around the inlets and bridges. Shrimp and troll rites or just hand-picked shrimp free lines will be the choice bait for them this month.
There are plenty of things to catch this month; so for more info come to the shops and we’ll show you what you need. Till next time, fish where the fish are.
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Stephen Decoulos Atlantic Bait & Tackle in Pompano Beach, FL @ (954) 946-1040 Florida Native Bait & Tackle in Boynton Beach, FL @ (561) 738-2246