As the weather starts to heat up, so will the tournament season in South Florida! In my opinion, April is one of the top months to fish with jumbo blackfin tuna starting to show up. Wahoo will be snapping around the new and full moons and some monster kingfish will be swimming with them.
You will start to see reports from kayak anglers that are catching some jumbo blackfins around the deep wrecks by jigging. The size of the blackfins in the schools is increasing so the bigger butterballs will surely be more abundant after tax day. Anglers will catch more of the smaller blackfin when jigging. Try using a pink knife jig. To target the bigger fish, send out a few live pilchards. Put one way behind the yak with no lead and one closer to you with an ounce or two.
April has netted me quite a few wahoo in the past. Although they will be scattered, fishing on an outgoing tide around the inlets will be sure to help earn your stripes. I have also caught some smaller wahoo jigging the deeper wrecks from 250 to 300 feet of water. Look for color changes and slow troll along the clean side with a live gog. Be sure not to troll too fast or your bait will not look natural and your bites will be limited.
Kingfishing in April will be solid with some fish over 20 pounds caught in 150 to 200 feet of water while slow trolling a live gog around the third reef and deep wrecks. Many of my bites have been at mid depth, so make sure to use an egg weight to get your bait down in the water column. Around the deep wrecks straight out from the Pompano Beach pier there have even been reports of some smokers over 30 pounds.
The bottom fishing in April will produce some awesome black and gag groupers, but the season remains closed until May 1st. Mutton snapper will also be chewing. Using a glow in the dark or tiger striped colored jig over the deep wrecks can help in catching some great bottom fish.
Get ready for the Extreme Kayak Fishing Tournament Exotic Bass Roundup scheduled for April 18th. This tournament features peacock bass and clown knifefish. For more information on how to register or how to become a sponsor or vendor, go to www.extremekayakfihshing.com.
Joe Hector
954-895-4527
Extreme Kayak Fishing Inc.
www.extremekayakfishing.com
joe@extremekayakfishing.com