PORT CANAVERAL NEARSHORE: The tripletail bite in early January was on fire outside of Port Canaveral, and we’re hoping for a similar month this February so that we can continue catching these hard-fighting fish as the near coastal waters warm back into the lower-70-degree range on this part of the Space Coast. Live shrimp are our number one bait option most of the time, but you may also get them to strike small baitfish or even jigs when they are feeling aggressive. Tripletail are some of the best eating fish that we catch all year, so if this appeals to you, please get in touch with me so we can get you booked for one of these excursions before the tripletail leave the Port Canaveral area and make their way northward up the coast.
BANANA RIVER LAGOON: Speckled trout, redfish and black drum are my three main targets this month. During cooler days we often find them on the edges of drop offs or near undercut mangrove trees. On calm sunny days they will often ease out of these deeper places and into the shallows where we can sight cast to them with artificial lures or live and cut baits. The black drum prefer to dine on shrimp or crab. Sometimes we find huge schools of giant black drum gathering in the deeper sections of this lagoon. When we do, it can be a free for all on fish ranging from 30 to 50 pounds. The reds and trout will strike live shrimp, fingerling mullet, or mud minnows at times. On the days when we can’t get out to chase the tripletail, these other species keep us busy most of the time.
Capt. Jim Ross
Fineline Fishing Charters
www.FinelineFishingCharters.com
(321) 636-3728
