April 2013 Fishing Report: Large female Spotted Sea Trout were schooling up in the shallows a few weeks ago in March. We were using Scaled Sardines tossed into two feet of water with great results. I think the larger sea trout have learned to stay near the shallows and residential docks at night giving them a little protection from Flipper. We were actually looking for Redfish on a recent trip when we found a large school of female trout measuring up to 27 inches. I would like to see a maximum limit of 26 inches on trout as these fish are all fat with roe.
Redfish are starting to show up more as the water gets a little warmer in April. We have been doing well locating Redfish near the oyster bars on the higher stages of the tides. Shrimp and fresh cut bait are working well on the Red Drum in these areas. Remember to limit your boat noise as the fish are very spooky in two feet of water and less.
Kingfish are here now and hopefully will hang around into May. I am not able to fish for the Kings very often as my boat is a flats boat and not made for off-shore fishing. However, on the calm mornings with an east wind I am able to venture a few miles out for the Spanish Mackerel, Kings and Bonita schools. Get them into a feeding frenzy behind the boat by tossing a hand full of live bait out every now and then. This is how a fly fisher can score a fast swimming Pelagic.
Capt. Paul Hajash 727 251-2623
www.flyfishingflorida.com
