March was a great month to fish with the warmer temps and April means the hot weather should be here to stay. With the bait moving into the lagoon for the summer, the inshore fishing will be great for big trout snook and reds.
The Sebastian River, Turkey Creek in Palm Bay and Crane Creek and Ballard Park in Melbourne will be a great place to target snook, tarpon, jacks and sharks. I like to fish Rapala Subsurface baits as well as ABOA Dart Spin and Storm Coastal GT Paddle tail baits. Live shrimp and mullet are a great live baits to use as well. Fish the rolling tarpon in both forks of the river early in the morning and pick apart the shorelines and docks for snook. The sharks will eat live and dead baits in the lower river between the railroad and US 1 bridges and around the powerlines.
Fish the spoil islands in the Lagoon from Palm Bay to Sebastian for snook, trout, redfish jacks and flounder. I like to fish the Rapala Skitterwalk early mornings for the topwater bite then move to Twitchin minnow or twitchin mullet subsurface baits as the sun comes up. Fish the edges of the bait pods along the mangrove shorelines for the same species.
If you are looking for a lot of fun, target the big jack crevalle that 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 Rapala XRAP 14 long cast baits. 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.
Tarpon, jacks, bonito, sharks, mackerel and cobia can be along the beaches from Sebastian to Melbourne in April and can be caught from a boat and from the beach as well. Rapala hard baits and soft baits from Storm, Hogy and A Band of Anglers all are very productive. Live mullet, greenies and pogies will also work well.
Capt. Glyn Austin
Going Coastal Charters
www.goingcoastalcharters.com
321-863-8085