April is a month stuffed full of fun with everything from spawns to transitions keeping Space Coast anglers on their. Bait species of all sorts will flood the flats and fill our lakes. Gamefish like the snook will look to evacuate their backwater winter holding areas and make fast for the inlets, port and beaches. Yet another really warm winter all but ensures that our snook stocks will be through the roof. The east coast didn’t have the die-offs as severe as the west coast did a few years back so some of our east side fish are bordering on the ridiculous size. One fishery I always look forward to is the Mega Jack Crevalle off the Space Coast beaches. Crazy hard fights from the 25-50 jacks will test your tackle and stamina. This fishing is not for the faint hearted, as the strike alone is liable to stop it from beating.
Typically right on their heels or tailfins in proper speaking will meander in our massive tarpon. I would be negligent as a guide, outdoor writer, and fisherman of the central Florida waters if I didn’t include some Seatrout talk in an April fishing forecast. With the spawn going wide out, bait flooding the flats, and warming waters the best chance for a trophy “gator” trout is now! You can catch a seatrout in at least 1,000 different ways, and all are fun in their own respects. However in my book there is but only one true way to fish for large seatrout, a topwater plug! Utilized early or late in the day at lower light time periods for the best results, and always a Walk-the-Dog style to tempt the biggest ole girls. I say girls for a reason and this bit of knowledge can go a really long way. All seatrout over 25 inches are female, and a good portion of the fish 23-25 inches are too. Below that 23(ish) inch mark it’s anyone’s guess, and that makes me extremely selective of the fish I’ll keep to help maintain the brood stock. This is especially important in areas of the Banana River Lagoon that suffered from the fish kill last year. Those resident populations of trout will need some time to reestablish. I prefer to look at a trout in the 18-22 inch range as the perfect dinner guest to invite home with you, if you are wanting to do that. I always use best fish handling practices to guarantee the heathy release of our larger fish. I also swap a good portion of my topwater plugs to an in-line j-hook (made by VMC) and ditch the standard treble hooks. Much less chance of damage to the valuable breeder fish and they seem to give my clients/self a considerably better caught fish ratio with big trout. Less foul hooked fish, so way less fish pulled off in the fight.
Capt. Alex Gorichky
LocalLinesChartes.com
Space Coast Fishing Guide
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Contact Capt. Alex at 321-480-3255