Stuart Offshore: April 2021

It’s no secret that April is one of my favorite months, and this year it looks like things are shaping up to be even better than normal. Trolling, live baiting, swording and long-range marlin, tuna and mahi trips are all excellent choices for this month.

April is great time of year to break out the ultra-lights. I use Blackfin 7’6 spinning rods with 20-pound braid and a 40-pound leader, they’re perfect for live baiting for everything out here, sight casting to finning sails, and pitching to schooling mahi. If you’re into fly fishing,  make sure you have one handy because there’s a good chance an opportunity will present itself this month.

More often than not I spend most of my time fishing over the reefs and contours from 70 to 300 feet of water out of Stuart, but April is a month that I definitely stray a little further out looking for weed lines, birds, pieces of floating debris and even schools of fish busting. Make sure you have some chum ready and don’t forget to try deep.

Whether you’re trolling dead bait or live, a Cannon 10 TS downrigger is the perfect choice to get your baits down, if you’re drifting or running and gunning to grass mats or float try a RonZ jig to get down a little deeper. You can even leave it in a rod holder and dead stick it with pretty good results. I also recommend doing this while you’re kite fishing or just live baiting in general.

April offers so much and if it’s anything like last year, it only gets better from here. If you’re interested in getting offshore and trying anything from swordfishing to sailfishing with the ultra-lights or even fly fishing, please give me a call. I hope you’re next trip is Off The Chain.

FORECAST BY: Capt. Scott Fawcett
Off the Chain Fishing Charters
Phone: (772) 285-1055
Email: fishscottyf@bellsouth.net
www.offthechainfishing.com