April is a great month for kingfish on the reefs of Fort Lauderdale. The kings have been almost non existent the past few months, few and hard to come by. This is when the kingfish return to the reefs and biting in good numbers again. Kingfish make up most of our catch this time of year and they are our main target. When they are biting and you can find a school of kingfish, you can load the boat. Swimming right along with the kingfish are blackfin tuna, bonito and wahoo. They all hunt the same prey.
a nice hogfish caught aboard the “Catch My Drift.”
April is also a good month for wandering cobia on the reefs. Cobia are a good sized game fish that inhabit the reefs and wrecks. They are curious fish, so don’t be surprised if you see a cobia swim right up to the boat to see what’s going on. Fastest angler with a pitch bait ready gets the bite! Always be ready as cobia, dolphin and sailfish will swim up on you when you least expect it, especially this month.
Night fishing is my favorite trip of the day because there is so much action. At night we anchor and chum the water to fish for snappers on the reef. Yellowtail snappers bite very good in April and they are starting to average much larger in size than the winter yellowtails. We’re back out to fishing a little deeper water as the Spring fish move out a little farther offshore. Mangrove and mutton snappers are biting somewhat, at least a few being caught every night. Ballyhoo plugs on the bottom work good for these larger snappers. Groupers are out there and biting good too, but the closed season is still in effect until May 1. Sometimes in April, schools of jacks, blue runners and bluefish come through the chum line. There’s always good action on the night trip.
Good luck to everyone fishing this month. I’ll sea ya on the water.
Capt. Paul Roydhouse
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