TUPPERWARE NAVY – APRIL

Welcome back. Here we are in April, and spring is just around the corner, which gives me a self-provided Segway into this month’s offering, spring fishing. When I say spring, I’m not talking about the season, I’m talking about cold weather fishing, and the Floridan aquifer. This aquifer, which stretches from Georgia, Alabama, and all of Florida, is the closest to the surface, on Florida’s Nature Coast.

Combine that with the porous lime rock substrata, and you have springs!, whether it’s Weeki Wachee, Homosassa, Chassahowitzka, Three Sisters and many others.  Every creek and river on our coast is fed by this source. So, where am I going with this you may ask!? The answer is unbelievable cold weather fishing,  Filmans Bayou, Hammock Creek, the Mud River, and both Jenkins and Higginbotham creeks, all have springs in the back. So when the Gulf temperature drops, many species head to the springs, with their constant 72° outflow, that makes for a fishy happy-spot, and a target-rich environment for the Intrepid angler, willing to brave the cold to reap the benefits.

My last two trips have been fantastic with redfish, trout, sheepshead, black drum, mangrove snapper, snook, and even goliath grouper, not bad for a hole as big around as a one-car garage door!  This is a spot where you sometimes have to get out and drag the kayak over the rocks to get to it, then set up your anchor, and drop a line down, up to 40 feet. The deepest reading I’ve gotten over the mouth of this particular spring has been over a hundred feet! These spots are Nature Coast treasures, and well worth the time and effort to discover and fish them. I may be the only angler hoping for one more cold snap.  Springs are still productive, though slightly decreased in the summer, when the bay temperature starts to rise, and the dark bottom shallow bays turn to bath water range temperature, from the summer sun.  That 72° outflow is again a natural comfort zone. Think about seven species in one spot, and I never pulled up my anchor! Let me know if you enjoyed this story.

Till next time, Bruce