On the St Johns River, largemouth and striped bass action will be heating up. Look for schooling bass at first light feeding on shad from the Osteen Bridge to Lake Harney. A good way to locate these schooling fish is to look for white pelicans and other wading birds congregating along the shoreline. When in the feeding mode, these fish will take most swim plugs, and small live shiners. This is also the time of year when the bluegill are on the beds and the large channel catfish are moving upriver to spawn.
When fishing the lagoon flats in April, fish early morning and late evening with your favorite top water plugs for extreme trout and redfish action and use soft plastics and jigs in deeper water, 2 to 3 feet, midday. Remember, April is one of the months when sea trout are egg laden for the spawn, so it’s very important to handle and release the larger females with extreme care.
Along the beach out of Port Canaveral, look for the arrival of bait pods, Atlantic menhaden, and gamesters like large jack crevalle, tarpon and kingfish in close to the beach shadowing them. Also, there still should be some cobia in the mix, so always keep a rod rigged with a one ounce bucktail ready to cast at a moment’s notice.
