During the spring our inshore schools of redfish begin to break into smaller schools and feed more aggressively, while larger redfish make their way to the harbor. We target redfish in the harbor and off the beach during this time of the year near deep drop offs and structure on the bottom with heavier tackle on the bottom. This time of year is also a good chance to catch some of the shallow water fish on artificial baits and on the fly. Both redfish and trout can be caught this time of year with success during all parts of the tide cycle. We target seatrout with a float rig with a shrimp or mud minnow, drifting it along the grass edge. Once the water is lower the trout stage on deeper drop offs and ledges but can still be caught on bobber rigs or an artificial on the bottom. Slot redfish are aggressive and willing to feed in smaller pods along the shallows using shrimp under a popping cork or a blue crab on the bottom. Bull redfish from 15 – 35+lbs put up a great fight, and are plentiful. We target them using menhaden, mullet, and blue crab near drop offs and ledges. While fishing for the big reds, we also hook other species including sharks up to 10+ feet, cobia, and even the occasional tarpon.The trout bite progressively gets better with the warmer water; Seatrout are spawning and can be caught in large numbers by the bank, including 2-6 lb females. As the spring continues to warm our waters breeder redfish continue to come in the harbor and off the beaches in big numbers. Trout and flounder are also in our inshore waters and can be caught along grass lines and oyster beds as the water becomes warmer. The cobia are coming in to spawn and can be caught in the harbor and just off the beach near the shipping channel and on the reefs. With the water progressively warming up we are also catching much larger sharks in the harbor, ranging from 6-12 feet! During this time the spadefish can also be caught just off the beach, these fish school up and can make for some constant action.
