by Capt. Rachel Cato
Cold fronts start to fade out and more warm days allow the water temperature to stabilize. As long as water temperature stays in the 60’s fish will be moving and feeding in the spring in transitional areas. These are areas where fish are moving from winter zones towards warm weather zones. Species will move through these areas often staying for a period of time or just a couple days. Do work throughout the day, in and out, without sticking to spots. Depending on tide and wind some areas will not be fishable; high winds will force you to find cover. Just as low tides will prevent you from fishing high on flats. Bait is tough to find and makes birds aggressive, so reduce chumming and keep your baits low. Sometimes adding a small #5 split shot along the leader helps to get baits out of bird’s reach and on the fish.
Spotted sea trout can be an active species this month, with a lot of lucky anglers catching slot-sized fish easily. They will flood the grass flats gorging on anything they can eat to build up for the spawn. Keep in mind you can only keep 4 per person and they must be 15” min in length. Only 1 per limit can be 20” or more. If you are finding a number of fish in the 17-18” range, I wouldn’t bother keeping the smaller fish. There’s not much meat yield on a 15” trout. Shrimp below corks or free-lined white bait are the most productive set up.
Mangrove snapper will continue to be caught, along with sheepshead and black drum; if using shrimp fish over structure. Squid bits are an easy and cheap bait for white grunts. White grunts will vary in size, but larger fish can be found in deeper water nearshore. Easily identified by their interior bright orange mouth, these fish are unregulated and great table fare. Try using lighter split shots, from #5 up to #1, depending on current, right above the #1 or #1/0 circle hook, depending on fish size. As always, try something different until you find what works and remember to enjoy your day.