by Capt. Billy Norris
Spring is finally here! Even though it got warm a little early this year, it is a welcomed occurrence to anglers! Baitfish are showing up in gigantic schools and hot on their tails are the game fish. The offshore bite has been fantastic! As far as bottom fishing and the nearshore wrecks, the wintertime sheepshead are spawning and are starting to depart. In their place, snapper have begun to occupy the reefs. We’ve been having great success with mangrove and lane snapper, as well as tons of grunts. Target them by fishing directly on the bottom. Grunts and lane snapper aren’t picky and will take a variety of baits, including shrimp and squid. Mangrove snapper can be caught on shrimp as well, but you will drastically improve the amount of quality fish you get by using whitebait. In addition, there are some nice sized cobia and permit around. The pelagic bite has been red hot. Big kingfish have been the star of the show, with Spanish mackerel and bonitos mixed in. The snake kings will eat pilchards or threadfins, but to get the big guys, use blue runners. There is one drawback to king fishing with blue runners; you will get your but kicked by big sharks and blow through a lot of kingfish tackle. There has been an abundance of BIG sharks out there, including lemons, bulls, hammers and tigers. If you are going after some big game catch-and-release action, up your tackle and go after jaws! Tripletail are also still hanging around and should be until the end of stone crab season in May. The backwater bite is shifting into the springtime pattern as well. The snook bite is on fire and as long as you have whitebait you should have no problem putting a bend in your rod. In addition to snook, the backwaters around Bonita have been producing reds, jack and some tarpon! Spring is here, so get out there and catch ‘em up!
