Don’t put your trolling gear away just yet. Dolphin fish should still be trickling up the coast. Looks for rips, edges, color changes, flying fish, and large floating de- bris. Try to troll with the current. You’ll cover much more ground that way.
With May 1st brings the opening of grouper season! Get the big guns out. We use 130# test on all of our bottom fishing equipment. Anything less than that and you’re asking to be broken off. Talk to Robbie and Nick at Fish and Dive for all your bottom fish- ing needs.
Use appropriate weight for the depth and current you’re fishing in. The grouper bite has been pretty solid the past few weeks. Hopefully that stays the same for a bit. Bottom fishing should be in its prime right now. Use large baits for grouper and amberjacks and to also help weed out the red snappers…and cut squid on a chicken rig to catch smaller stringer fish like triggerfish and snappers. If you keep feeding your fish to sharks, move away. I promise you, they will not stop eating everything.
Nearshore reef fishing will be pretty slow, but you can expect the usual suspects swimming along the 80-100’ reefs. Kingfish, sailfish, stray mahi, cobia, bonita, barracudas, and sharks tend to be the best bet. Have live bait. Bunker is your best bet this time of year with the amount of bait that’s on the reefs. If you can’t get live bait slow troll a cigar min- now with a pink king buster on your normal kingfish rigs. Let’s cross our fingers that this wind stops blowing finally and we can get back to fishing like normal!
This report has been brought to you by Captain Chris Cameron and Captain Tyler Vollmer of Fired Up Fishing Charters, your premier fishing guide charter of shark fishing Cocoa Beach, off- shore fishing Port Canaveral, nearshore fishing Cape Canaveral, and Orlando charter fishing.
