By: Capt. Greg Poland
March is a fantastic time to fish, although we closely follow the weather to decide which side to fish on. On real windy days, I’ll stay in the mangroves, canals, and fish the shorelines for snook and redfish using medium size spin rods with a jighead tipped with a live shrimp or a pinfish. Stock up on a good selection of jigheads so that you can match the water flow and try fishing them at different stages of the water column from bouncing along the bottom to just under the surface and everywhere in between. You will get strikes everything from a goliath grouper to that snook that you have been chasing. Use your trolling motor to work down a shoreline and you are bound to find little undercuts or downed tree limbs which are great areas to fish, as these spots hold the bait that the snook are feeding on, so take the time to fish slowly around these areas for greater success. On a calmer day when the wind is not blowing so hard, I like to switch it up a bit and fish in the Gulf for the pelagic species, but I am also going to switch my tackle to a 20lb spinning outfit with a heavier rod. The baits of choice that I like to use are pilchards, thread fin herring, or ballyhoo. It may take some extra time and you’ll need the patience to catch them, but they are well worth it and if you can load the bait well with them you will be able to do some live chumming and get the bite sparked up! I fish on a Contender Bay Boat so I need the weather to be right for this style of fishing, but if you choose your days you can wind up with some great fishing out on the edge of the reefs which can be few miles offshore so it’s an easy run back in if the conditions change. Decisions on where to fish this time of the year you have to keep an eye on the daily weather changes and always have a backup plan!
