By Joe Sheaffer
Spring is here and the beaches are a great place to spend a day or a few hours fishing in the Southwest Florida area. I prefer to walk along the surf looking for areas that may cause fish to hangout and I like to find areas where the sandbars are squeezing closer to the beach. Usually, those areas will have a little more current and slightly deep hole on either side of the bar. I prefer to have the surf churning, causing the waves to break on the bar stirring up the water along the beach. That type of action can cause fish like snook to hang around looking for a confused bait fish to make an easy meal of. Another advantage with sandbars being close to the beach is when a wave breaks many times it causes the water to foam up on the break and many times snook and other fish like bluefish, trout, Spanish mackerel will come in after the break to feed on the confused bait. I like to cast after the break using a swimbait, spoon or other moving baits. The bait will be very confused, and the predators can be very aggressive. With the churned-up water the fish really don’t get a good look at your lure, and this can be a great opportunity to use artificial lures in the surf. Once again, the key is to cast just after wave breaks and the churning water causes the foam to the surface. Hopefully, you have a chance to fish our beautiful beaches, good luck and keep casting.