Following one of the mildest winters I’ve experienced in my 35 plus years living here, I’m not sure what this March has in store for us. “Marchinal” weather is almost a certain, but if the winds stay out of the north that could be a good thing continuing the southern migration.
With water warmer than normal, I’m expecting an early run of mahi this March when conditions are right. Color changes, temperature breaks, current rips and pieces of float should be holding. I’ve noticed a decline in our flying fish population and also amount of sargassum weed lately, but both are obviously good indicators of life and good areas to try when found.
There’s been a big push for mahi regulation changes, but amazingly enough they haven’t made any yet. Please take it upon yourself to self-regulate; keeping only what you’re going to eat, releasing small fish and females especially.
The sailfish season has become a year-round thing lately with late spring and summer being the best over the last few years. I expect this March we’ll have a pretty good showing of sails along with other pelagic stuff. Trolling and live baiting both work well leading up to the summer live bait bite, I strongly recommend a dredge teaser. A Fish Razr strip teaser or a rubber fish dredge made up of RonZ rubber fish are what I use.
I’ve been live baiting a lot lately and made the switch over to Tigress Kites which I’m extremely happy with. They fly in virtually no wind, when we have that scenario, and are extremely responsive when steering them with weights in average to windy conditions. I also have a couple of their trident cup holder combos. It really makes it easy having everything in arms reach to and helps to move the entire spread around the boat when drifting or chasing fish.
This year the fishing has been better a little deeper than in years past, so don’t be afraid to slide out beyond the reefs. I’ve been spending most of my time lately out as deep as 175-250 on average and on some days out as deep as 400. Blackfin tuna, wahoo and kings all usually fire off in April but I’m guessing that this year we’ll see a good amount of them in March. The Hill, the Pinnacles, The Ledge and the Peanut are all good places to target them trolling, live baiting or even jigging.
March has always been a pretty good month, this year I expect it to be even better than usual. Fingers crossed… Whatever you decide to do this March I hope your next fishing trip is Off The Chain! Please give me a call to set up your next fishing adventure. Capt. Scott Fawcett (772) 285-1055
FORECAST BY: Capt. Scott Fawcett
Off the Chain Fishing Charters
Phone: (772) 285-1055
Email: fishscottyf@bellsouth.net
www.offthechainfishing.com
