Along with the Easter Bunny, April brings some of the best fishing of the year. Bigger blackfin tunas will be cruising just offshore in 150 to 300 feet of water. Kite fishing with live goggle eyes is your best bet to get hooked up with a butterball. If you don’t have a kite, you can still catch some blackfins on flat lines. I like to drift a live pilchard way out from the boat. I use 30 to 40 pound fluorocarbon leader with a 3/0 to 4/0 circle hook. Plenty of sailfish will also be around in 80 to 150 feet of water. The techniques are the same, but step your hook up to a 5/0 to 7/0 inline circle hook. Dolphin fishing will begin to really heat up as the prevailing winds will be out of the east and southeast, pushing the fish closer to the beach. Trolling is the most effective method for me. I like to pull a spread of five baits. I like chuggers or Islander style lures rigged with fresh ballyhoo off the outriggers. On my flat lines, I like to pull a daisy chain that includes a bird, with at least three jet heads or squid skirts on one side and a naked ballyhoo on the other. In the shotgun position, I like to use a small jet head, half ounce feather or a rigged squid. If one of your outrigger baits gets knocked down, but the fish isn’t there, immediately put the reel in free spool with the clicker on for 5 to 10 seconds. Nine times out of ten, a hungry dolphin will come back and finish the meal.
Keep reelin,
GENE DYER
Editor & Publisher
Coastal Angler Fort Lauderdale
fortlauderdale@coastalanglermagazine.com
(954) 680-3900