This past week Mother Nature showed the ugly side of her head by giving myself and many other Nature Coast anglers an extreme shot of wind and rain. Now April is normally considered the driest month that we Floridians can count on but over a 3 day stretch many of us received over 3-5 inches of rain. Most of the time that would keep many of my clients from considering fishing in these conditions, but as good as the fishing has been along our area in recent weeks, I still was able to convince some brave souls to deal with Mother Nature's wrath and fish. And boy were these anglers rewarded with some of the best catches so far for 2008.
The most consistent action lately has definitely been with Redfish, Trout and Spanish Mackerel. But in recent weeks we have tons of surprises including Snook, Sharks, Cobia, Tripletail and Grouper. As you may have seen in some of my previous reports, I have been finding that most of the migratory species have been coming to our area a month early. I am assuming that's due to the extremely mild winter we've had this year. Because of these warm temps many big sharks and cobia have already been found roaming our local flats chasing the massive bait balls that are also a little early. The most amazing part of all of this great fishing is that the water is still so clear during this time of year that sight casting to all of these species has not only been possible but a staple of our every day fishing charters.
The highlight of my charters in recent weeks has been an inshore slam that Dave Preston and I performed using nothing but artificial lures provided by Pure Fishing Inc.. We started out our charter chasing tailing redfish in less than two foot of gin clear water and to our amazement we were spoiled when we watched a keeper Snook come out from a Mangrove and inhale a Johnson Spoon. The best part of it all was that the Snook actually had to charge through a school of tailing Redfish to get to the bait. Talk about exciting! After catching and releasing the Snook we proceeded to make a short run south in search of some bigger redfish on some hard bottom way back in some back creeks. The first stop we made didn't reveal any Redfish until we came across a school in the back of a creek that was no wider than an average size swimming pool. The first cast my client Dave Preston made with his Johnson Spoon landed right in front of a beautiful 26 inch Redfish's face and the fight was on. After an awesome fight that fish was also released. Now with both the Snook and Redfish out of the way we concentrated on catching a Speckled Trout to complete our first West Coast Slam of 2008. Within minutes of stopping on a shallow flat with tons of potholes, Dave made a perfect cast with a Berkley Gulp and was rewarded with a beautiful 17" Speckled Trout. What a Day!!!
As you can see the weather has been just a bonus lately. The fishing is Red Hot right now and should continue to be that way for the next couple of months. So rain or shine, if you're interested in a fishing adventure that will last you a life time give myself and Red Hot Fishing Charters a call today. We specialize in fishing memories and bruises.
Capt, Kyle Messier
(352) 634-4002
kylemessier@yahoo.com
WWW.REDHOTFISHINGCHARTERS.COM
1.JPG)