Capt. Glyn Austin
April should bring more consistent weather patterns as the March temps were all over the map and the fishing was as well. With the cold fronts brought high winds, high water levels and low water temps in the lagoon while between the fronts the water warmed up and the fish were active. The fronts also brought in some clean water despite the heavy seas.
April can be a great month to fish the beach as the Jack Crevalle, tarpon and sharks will be around in good numbers. Live mullet, greenies and pogies will work well but theres nothing like a big jack or a blacktip shark exploding on a topwater or subsurface bait along the beach. Rapala XRap 14 with the inline single hooks are great baits to throw this time of year. The fish will be easy to find as they will be up on the surface getting the sun and the sharks will be feeding on the bait pods as well as the Mackerel, jacks and Bluefish that school up along the beaches from Sebastian to Melbourne.
The jacks and sharks will also be plentiful in the Sebastian River, Turkey Creek in Palm Bay and Crane Creek and Ballard Park in Melbourne. In the creeks I like to use live baits for the sharks. Mullet is your best bet. If I am fishing for jacks, trout and ladyfish I like to fish Rapala Twitching Mullet and Twitching Minnow as well as Storm GT360 Paddle tail baits. You can also find some good numbers of tarpon in the creeks during early in the moring and you could pick apart the shorelines and docks for snook.
In the lagoon from Palm Bay to Sebastian anglers can focus on the deeper mangrove shorelines and docks as well as the spoil islandsfor snook, trout, redfish jacks and flounder. I like to fish the Rapala Skitterwalk early mornings for the topwater bite then move to subsurface baits and soft plastics as the sun comes up. Fish the edges of the bait pods along the mangrove shorelines for the same species.
The inlet bite can be great but the big jack crevalle will station themselves in the inlet’s swift current looking for a meal to float by. Live pigfish or pinfish are the best bait most days. I also have consistent success with big Storm GT360 Paddle tail baits rigged on heavy jigheads. Nightime is when the snook and redfish are more active on artificial baits such as bucktails, jigs, soft plastics and diving plugs for anglers fishing from the rocks or jetties.
Capt. Glyn Austin
www.captainglynaustin.com
321-863-8085
Capt. Glyn Austin is a lifelong Brevard County Resident and full time inshore/nearshore fishing guide. Glyn runs a 23’ Shoalwater tunnel boat which is comfortable for up to 4 anglers and will let us get shallower than most flats boats for inshore fishing and offers a smooth dry ride when fishing the Inlet
and nearshore waters of
Brevard County.