Water temps…………………February has been a darn good month for good fishing, cold fronts have been dropping water temperatures into the low 60s and in some places upper 50s which has brought in a lot of Spanish mackerel, sheep head, kingfish, small permit and cobia on shallow water wrecks on the gulf side deeper waters off Florida bay. These temperatures and species list should continue into late March. On warmer days some larger permit have been found in the shallows and the snook have been eating real well in creek mouths as well as in deeper water.
Mid February U.K. boys Malcolm McConnelly and Steve Rowlands fished 6 straight days with me. On their first day of fishing they also brought their U.K. weather with them. We had horrible temps in the mornings of high 40's and wind howling 25-30 knots. Seeing these guys thought the weather was "lovely" Steve managed to land a nice 33 inch snook. Day two and three winds calmed down and we fished water temps in the mid 60s. We went sight fishing for redfish with 8 reds being caught with the biggest reaching 30 inches. There were a lot of fish cruising, tailing and pushing big wakes, but not eating as well. The next two days were spent in the gulf on very calm days. Malcolm catching a 28# kingfish on 10# test power pro, a nice blacktip shark, over 150 Spanish mackerel (some on fly) and big sheep head.
Just days before the U.K. boys arrives Dave Johnson and Steve Schwab fished in trying conditions and caught 10 nice reds on the flats the largest at 32 inches.
In March hopefully the cold fronts will slow down which will bring a lot of tarpon into the ponds and lakes in the backcountry of Whitewater Bay. In February we were fishing it and found fish but the bite at the time was not very good. With the water warming up the bite should increase.
Bonefish have been around but with temps lower than 72 bonefish are not happy. We have chased and had shots on nice bones with few hookups, the next week air temps will rise to 85 warming up the water and should make for some great bonefish action.
The water temps in March SHOULD warm up, unless, the weather plans on playing more tricks on us. Like that nice and warm January and December, these fish rely on water temps at certain times of the year to migrate and spawn, like a calendar to us.
For any of you that have fished spring with me know that the permit are just around the corner, May is pretty tied up with a few days left on the calendar. April and June will be all around warm weather and hot fishing.
Until next time……Tight Lines and good fishing!
Capt. Jim Hale
Cane Polin' Charters
786-255-1788