This past week had its challenges to say the least, most of the week had heavy wind then the weekend brought some weak step tides. Most of the action in the past week was in the backwater jigging shrimp for trout, snapper, and sheepshead. The water temp still stayed around the 71-72 degree range which is still on the colder side for spring fishing. This past week and probably the upcoming week I believe are going to be transition weeks from winter to spring, I’m looking for that water temp to hit the 74 degree mark to really kick off our spring bite. Live bait has still been tough to find, some local captains are finding it offshore early mornings before their trips but even then the say you gotta have a little luck to find them. Once the water warms up a little the live bait will push on the beach making it easier to find. And when bait is on the beach the snook and tarpon follow.
I ran out a day this past weekend but with a weak incoming step tide I knew the bite would be tough so I decided to do some scouting instead and put some miles on the skiff. After hearing some early reports of tarpon staring to show up I wanted to go see for myself. However the beach side was still murky from the wind and had a small swell coming in so that option was off the table. So I worked my way from the Marco beach all the way south to the Port of the Islands channel but couldn’t find any consistent numbers of tarpon to fish. Most likely they were not moving on the slack tide and thus not rolling or jumping in their usual migrating spots. They are still scatted and need a little luck to find a pod but these upcoming weeks are only going to get better.
This week is looking better, with some less wind (hopefully) and a full moon on Friday which means strong tides for the days around. Should be a better bite in the upcoming days.
