[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he cold fronts are behind us and warmer weather is on the horizon. I can only hope the last two months don’t offer any type of indication as to what the weather will be like this March. If so, you better batten down the hatches. March is typically a pretty breezy month in general, but after losing so many days to weather since the first of the year, I can only hope this March will be different from normal and the worst of it is behind us. Cold fronts hit us late in the season this year, so expect March to offer more sailfish than usual and an overall good bite. Quality sized dolphin, blackfin tuna, wahoo, and kingfish will start to show up and don’t be surprised if you hear about a blue marlin or two being released, especially later on in the month as we start running more long range yellowfin tuna trips. It’s always a good idea to stop and see Dave “the bait guy” in the mouth of the Pocket. Even if you’re planning on trolling for the day, it’s a good time of year to have a couple dozen baits in the well for when opportunity arises. Drifting or slow trolling live baits along with trolling dead baits or even artificials this time or year will produce days with great action. This is a good time of year to venture out a little deeper and look for pieces of float that will hold not only dolphin but small wahoo too. While I still pull teasers this time of year, they’re not from my Cannon downriggers like usual. Spring is definitely a time when I switch back to what they were intended for and pull a down bait for wahoo, big kings, and cobia. Use the cycle mode on the Cannon 10 TS to trigger bites from lazy fish. That option is a game changer. There has been a lot of sargassum weed out there lately too, so I’m sure this March will also offer up some epic weed lines. Huge mats of grass are great places to toss a live bait, but don’t waste too much time on a mat if you’re not getting bites. It usually doesn’t take long to produce a bite if something’s there. If you don’t get bit right off the bat, move onto the next one. As the water continues to warm back up, so will the bottom fishing and cobia action. Make sure you’re always ready with a Gulfstream Cobia Slayer or your RonZ rigged on Yo-Zuri fluorocarbon.
