By Capt. Patrick Smith, Contributing Writer
May is a great month with lots of bait around and plenty of fish to eat them too. The main target for me is going to be snook; day or night it really doesn’t matter. If you find moving water, you should be in business. One of the tactics I use would be early morning top waters, whether it’s a Zara Spook or Yo-Zuri Hydro Pencil or just a nice popper. There’s not much like a big snook or giant jack crushing a top water. Once the sun gets a little higher, I like to use DOA TerrorEyz and DOA Bait Busters thrown around docks and sea walls.
For live bait anglers, a pilchard or threadfin freelined around docks probably won’t be ignored for long. The nighttime bite should be hot with a black and silver or all black crystal minnow. Black and purple flies with a pretty good-sized profile should get torn up around the bridges.
In the fresh water, the first spawn from the peacocks is over and they should be starting to feed again. The largemouth bite should remain good as long as the water temperature doesn’t warm up too much. Live shad and shiners are going to be the ticket and it’s a great time of the year to catch them; artificial and fly also. If I were to rig three rods for freshwater artificial this month it would be an unweighted fluke, a Yo-Zuri 3DS Minnow and a topwater popper.
Capt. Patrick Smith
CaptPatrick@swamptosea.com
www.swamptosea.com
561-503-0848