Is This Spring? Maybe, Maybe Not.
While the rest of the United States are still scraping ice and wearing jackets, Floridians are entrenched in “no man’s land,” as far as, weather is concerned. There will be chilly mornings and warm afternoons this week and another cold front next week dropping temperatures back down into the 50’s. This time of year can be difficult for anglers to really dial in any kind of pattern or consistency, as far as, what is biting and where.
The best advice I can give you is to be versatile. Have a plan the night before based on the weather but, also, prepare a backup plan. When the water is chilly (70 degrees or less) shrimp and fiddler crabs are a great bet for backcountry or dock fishing for sheepshead, redfish and black drum. However, when the water temp ticks up a bit, you may notice that the sheeps haven’t left your favorite spot just yet, but they can be really finicky. Generally, when I have planned a shrimp and fiddler kind of day and the bite is just off, I can adjust fire fairly easily and fish for redfish or trout that are on the flat. Redfish that aren’t stacked up in the canals or deep water should be out patrolling the flats and oyster beds and would jump at your generous offering of an easy-to-eat cut bait. Trout that aren’t in the back feeding on shrimp love to eat a swimbait and, usually, aren’t too picky.
In my region specifically, the Anclote Power Plant offers a great hunting ground for a wide variety of fish that are dealing with the same “no man’s land” water temp fluctuation. Fishing a shrimp in the runoff area can produce trout, pompano, permit, redfish, snook, tarpon and even some wandering cobia this time of year. It is a great place to go by land or sea when the water temperature is just a bit too warm for sheeps and a bit too cold still to fire up the snook.
Speaking of snook, some of the best snook fishing you can do on the Gulf Coast happens when that water temperature hits the high 70’s after months of it being cold. Be versatile, and stay ready for whatever mother nature throws your way this time of year!