Hope everyone had fun cobia fishing last month. Continue to look around the 50/60 foot range for the rays and leatherbacks holding fish. Free swimmers should be abundant through April as well. If you find some type of color change, weed line or temp break in that depth, you’re golden. Buck tails and live bait will do the trick. If they won’t fire on the buck tail follow it up with a live bait of some sort. Cobia are not picky, so whatever you have will work. When using live bait, I use a 60 lb. leader from my 50 lb. braid to an 8/0 circle hook. This is also the time of year that they will come in very close. Don’t hesitate to start or end up in the 20 foot depth. Cover your ground.
Kings will start showing up in better numbers this month. Live bait will be choice this time of year for the big ones that come back through. We were just on the tail end of the smaller fish migration. Soon the 30-pounders will start showing more consistently. Fish your local reefs and any structures that hold bait. Ship wrecks and any other structures work great. You can also sabiki these structures for baits.
Soon you will start seeing the bait pods show up. The water is warming up and the fishing will only get better. Start looking for birds and flipping pogies. It’s been scarce to non-existent lately, but don’t worry… it’s almost here. Get yourself a good cast net; Tim Wade nets are what ya want. Get a little extra lead on it to sink it faster. Leave the “Wally World” net at home; that 4-footer just won’t cut it. We normally throw a 10/12 foot net.
Bottom fishing for grouper and throwback reds is gonna be good. (check your local regs). Use live bait with 3-ways and knocker rigs (whatever works best for you), 80/100-lb. leaders, and 8/0-10/0 hooks. I believe you’re supposed to have circle hooks now in fed waters so, again, check the regs.
To keep the kids busy you can chicken rig all the reefs for triggers and the mighty sea bass. Use squid and small chunk baits. Triggers tend to hang a little higher off the bottom so once it hits crank it up a few feet.
Mahi are close by so get that gear ready. I will touch base on that in May’s issue.
Good luck! See you out there…
Capt. Chris Cameron
Fired Up Fishing Charters
firedupcharters@gmail.com
www.firedupcharters.com
www.sharkfishingcocoabeach.com
(407) 222-3573
Your premier fishing guide charter for shark fishing Cocoa Beach,
offshore fishing Port Canaveral, and nearshore fishing Cape Canaveral.