Northeast Hot Spots
Fifth month brings first-rate redfish action.
Backcountry anglers from Fernandina to Flagler Beach can find upper-slot redfish in the drop-offs, edges and creek mouths along the Intracoastal Waterway this month.
Big reds will gobble bait, but the best action comes from topwater lures and in-line spinners. Try a MirrOlure Top Dog, Top Dog Jr. or other walk-the-dog style topwater baits. Greenback and silverside colors fished along the grassy edges attract fish. Baitfishers free-line mud minnows or finger mullet over oyster bars and near the edges of cordgrass or mangroves.
When backcountry reds get lockjaw, use fish-finder rigs tipped with finger mullet to find 2- to 4-pound flounder on the ocean side of local jetties. Jacksonville Beach's Capt. Kirk Waltz rigs smaller Kahle hooks to heavy leaders in his quest for May flatfish. "A 50-pound, 10-inch leader is not too stout," he says.
Anglers can also target spawning sheepshead and big redfish near the jetties. Both hang around the rocks at the St. Johns River mouth and go for fiddlers with gusto.
Farther south, anglers fishing the lagoons should look for snook moving near the islands along the Intracoastal Waterway from Three Sisters north to Edgewater. The best bets for baits: mullet or MirrOlures.
The north Mosquito Lagoon islands also hold big trout. Gator trout want pigfish, but they'll bite copper Bass Assassins and D.O.A. Shrimp too.
For Space Coast bottomfishers, try "glow" rigs tipped with bonito strips for gag, warsaw and gray grouper. Deep-jigging in 220 to 290 feet often brings amberjack to the boat, as well.
For king mackerel and wahoo, slow-troll along the Space Coast with live bait. Live menhaden on tandem treble hooks and a wire leader is the rig of choice for these razor mouths. Capt. Tim Fletcher of Cool Beans Charters of Cape Canaveral takes kings averaging 15 pounds but occasionally lands much bigger ones. Slow-troll live pogies for wahoo and king mackerel over the reefs in 60 to 110 feet of water. Trollers might also entice some dolphin. Dolphin action turns hot in May, so troll rips and weed lines in 150 to 200 feet of water, pulling skirted or naked ballyhoo for schooling fish.
Farther north, Capt. George Strate anchors the Mayport Princess above drops and ledges in 60 to 110 feet of water. He rigs 5/0 Mustad hooks sweetened with live or frozen cigar minnows, cut squid or cut baits on 60- to 80-pound mono with an 80-pound mono leader for bottomfishing.
"May starts the hot season for snapper and grouper," Strate says. "Prime water temperature for us is 68 degrees. They bite better on mono leaders than wire."
Chuck Darner of Jacksonville's Offshore Fishing Club trolls for May dolphin in the warmer waters along the Ledge, the western edge of the continental shelf off Florida's First Coast. "Schoolies come to small or medium ballyhoo trolled on mono," he says.
Jacksonville's Capt. Tony Bozzella, a respected tourney pro and owner of TBS Lures and Jigs, fishes from about 120 of water out to 1,000 feet for big bull dolphin in the 25- to 50-pound range. He favors C & H American Express lures pulled at 9 knots or faster.
"Troll faster for bulls up to 12 knots," he says. "You're wasting gas if you slow-troll big lures."
DOCK TALK
Savvy saltwater anglers know balled bait pods hold a plethora of pelagics that can produce some of the best angling action each spring. Baitfish pods routinely hold thug-size jack crevalle, cobia and king mackerel.
Pelagic species stay with the bait as long as the weather remains seasonal. Pogy, also known as menhaden, ball up just outside the surf through waters up to 40 feet deep. They could create a new "destination fishery" for many First Coast anglers.
"The variety of fish you get on the pods is unbelievable," says Capt. Kirk Waltz, a Jacksonville Beach television and radio fishing personality. "Troll just close enough to get a live-hooked pogy to the pod. It can be free-spooled or hung below a 3/4-ounce egg sinker, if you want to get deeper. Really big fish bust the balled bait from below."
David Lambert, Regional Editor
Southeast Hot Spots
Mixed bag offers something for everyone.
May is just about as good as it gets for anglers fishing between Sebastian and Fort Lauderdale. Snook, trout and reds top the list of targeted inshore species, but anglers can also find good action from sheepshead, flounder and jacks.
At Sebastian Inlet, large schools of jack crevalle cruise off the beaches. These fish can crush a well-placed topwater plug. A few tarpon pods also prowl along the beaches, although the best part of the tarpon run usually occurs during June and July.
Look for plentiful snook, bluefish and mackerel in and around Fort Pierce Inlet. On the grass flats and cuts inside and north of the inlet, look for snook, trout and redfish. The flats near Harbor Branch are another good spot. Soaking live pinfish in the inlet or near docks and bridges is one of the best ways to catch nice snook.
Snook, barracuda, bluefish, jacks and even a few smoker kings gather near the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant discharge off Hutchinson Island to feed upon abundant baitfish pods that show up at this time of year. Spanish sardines, threadfin herring and cigar minnows comprise the most common baitfish in the area. Keep several sabiki rigs aboard, and make sure the livewell functions properly.
As the water warms, look for permit schooling near the power-plant boil and along the Hutchinson Island beach. Shallow wrecks, like the one off Jupiter Island in 20 feet of water, can be permit hot spots for the first angler on-site with a few live crabs in the well. Some cobia hang around navigational markers, flotsam and structure like the David T or the Sirotkin artificial reefs located about 8 miles off the St. Lucie Inlet in approximately 100 feet of water.
May is also the month to boat some of the biggest kingfish of the year. The Six Mile Reef off Stuart, the 60- to 90-foot depths off Hobe Sound, the area east of the Juno Pier and the ledge due east of Boynton Inlet are traditional kingfish hot spots. Slow-troll bigger live baits such as blue runners, goggle-eyes or tinker mackerel to entice big kings.
Also, if you locate a good school of feeding kings, it's likely that mutton snapper will congregate below. Fish a dead sardine on the bottom for them. During the full moon, try late afternoon and night for yellowtail, muttons and kings in the 60- to 90-foot depths off Boynton and Hillsboro Inlets. Bonito also swarm the edge of the reef in 90 to 150 feet of water from Stuart to Lauderdale. For more action, slow-troll small bonito or horse ballyhoo on the outside of bonito schools for big wahoo, king mackerel and an occasional blue marlin. The key is to deploy big baits and be patient.
Off Fort Pierce, productive water for dolphin and wahoo begins about 8 to 10 miles out. Look for water color changes, temperature breaks, weed lines, floating debris or bird activity to find feeding fish. A ballyhoo behind a blue-and-white Ilander lure should definitely be one of the baits in your trolling spread.
A small feather way back on the center rigger is another excellent lure to deploy for blackfin tuna making their annual migration through the region this month. Drift small live baits in 100 to 150 feet of water in the area between the FPL stacks and The Breakers Hotel off Palm Beach or east of the Ritz-Carlton to the south for blackfin.
DOCK TALK
Virtually every weekend during May, anglers can find a KDW tournament somewhere along the Treasure Coast and the Palm Beaches. One of the largest and most popular of these events is the annual Palm Beach County KDW Classic (www.kdwclassic.com) set for May 31 out of Riviera Beach Municipal Marina. The family-oriented tournament features about 30 awards totaling more than $32,000 in cash and prizes.
The KDW Classic has a strong community following and an even stronger conservation commitment. In the past, the tournament has benefited the Palm Beach County artificial reef program and several youth programs. Last year, Tropical Storm Barry forced the cancellation of the fishing, but tournament officials still awarded all the prize money by randomly drawing boat numbers! At the time, one tournament participant quipped, "I have a better chance at winning an award by doing it this way than if we had to fish! Let's have a party every year!"
Tom Twyford, Regional Editor
South Hot Spots
My, my, it's mahi time in south Florida!
May is the best month of the year to catch dolphin, or mahi, in south Florida. The weather is nice and seas often calm as large schools of dolphin migrate through the area.
Off Miami-Dade and Broward counties, schools of dolphin hang around weedy patches and floating debris such as wood planks or palm trunks. The weeds and debris attract baitfish, which attract dolphin.
Anglers typically run 20 to 30 miles offshore to search for dolphin. While running, keep an eye out for flocks of diving birds, which hover around schools of feeding dolphin to pick off baitfish stragglers or snatch scraps.
After spotting a school of dolphin, try casting anything from live pilchards and chunks of ballyhoo to jigs and flies toward the frenzy. If you find weeds, debris or diving birds, but no dolphin, try trolling ballyhoo through the area. That might entice a strike or two. Don't be surprised if you hook a wahoo or blue marlin, which often hang around schools of dolphin when they're hungry.
Closer to shore, look for blackfin tuna up to 30 pounds and kingfish in the 20-pound range around Fowey Light, Key Biscayne, Haulover Inlet, the steeple in Fort Lauderdale and Hillsboro Inlet. Anglers in Broward and Miami-Dade like to drift live pilchards on flat lines and goggle-eyes on kite lines. Some anchor and chum with live pilchards while putting out kite lines, flat lines or weighted lines in 100 to 200 feet of water. Make sure you bring plenty of hooks and bait, because those techniques and areas also produce good action from bonito, barracuda and an occasional sailfish.
Inshore anglers target abundant tarpon in the Florida Keys during May, one of the best months to tempt silver kings with fly tackle. Many anglers toss flies to tarpon hunting in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Bay as well as on ocean-side flats. Light-tackle enthusiasts can get in on the fun by using spinning tackle baited with live shrimp or crabs to cast at cruising kings.
Another popular tarpon tactic calls for anchoring the boat near bridges and in the channels leading to the bridges connecting the island chain, and drifting live mullet, pinfish or crabs with the tides. Some of the best fishing occurs in the evening, just as the sun begins to set. Those who can't make it down to the Keys may catch tarpon at night around Government Cut by drifting with live crabs.
Government Cut is also a good spot to hook a snook. Snook season closes May 1 in the waters of Everglades National Park and the rest of the Keys but runs through the end of the month in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Snook are just starting to congregate near area inlets as they prepare to spawn. The best snook fishing typically happens on outgoing tides at sunrise or in the evening. Drift live pilchards or bounce jigs on the bottom around Government Cut, Haulover Inlet and Port Everglades Inlet.
DOCK TALK
Ron Miller was hoping that his brother's first saltwater fishing trip would be a good one, and he made sure that it was. Gary Miller caught his first saltwater fish a kingfish and Ron Miller caught a 55-pound cobia while fishing on the Fish City Pride drift boat out of Hillsboro Inlet Marina in Pompano Beach. The Pompano Beach angler was fishing a whole sardine near the bottom in 105 feet of water south of Hillsboro Inlet when the cobia hit.
"Our wives both said that when we're old and in wheelchairs, we'll still be talking about that cobia," Ron Miller says. "I thought I was hooked on the bottom. Then, the line began to scream and I said it was definitely not the bottom."
Using 40-pound line, the angler needed about 30 minutes to land the big cobia. The fish took him from one end of the drift boat to the other and almost spooled him three times.
Mike Miller, Regional Editor
West Hot Spots
Tarpon hunt in the West Coast shallows.
A fly-fisher by preference, Capt. Wayne Simmons of Dunedin likes to pole through 4 to 6 feet of water over the sandbars around the passes as he hunts for early-season tarpon.
"I'm stalking triple-digit fish," he says. "If the water is clear and not too choppy, you can see them from quite a distance away." With this advantage, Simmons is able to position himself so he can intercept fish as they move along the beach. "My favorite flies are a baitfish-patterned, yellow-and-white Enrico and, if the water is a little murky, a purpleand-black crab pattern tied on a 5/0 hook."
For big trout, fish Tampa Bay with topwater baits, says Capt. Ray E. Markham of Terra Ceia. "We have some of the largest trout along the west coast. It is not unusual to catch numerous fish in the 4- to 5-pound range in a day." He adds that the area held even larger trout until an outbreak of red tide hit Tampa Bay. "I fish from the north end of Sarasota Bay to Cockroach Bay and catch the biggest fish on topwater lures. MirrOlure Top Dogs are extremely effective baits."
Retrieve a Top Dog in a straight line, periodically jerking it sharply to make the lure dance across the surface and pop the internal rattle. The best times to fish, Markham says, are during the morning incoming and afternoon outgoing tides on the new and full moons. "I like to fish the mottled areas places in the grass beds where vegetation is sparser, or there is just a shell or sand bottom," he says.
Down in the Ten Thousand Islands, anglers find hot and heavy catch-and-release snook action, even though the season is closed. "As water temperature increases, winds die down and schools of baitfish return, you have the perfect fishing conditions," says veteran guide Capt. Jay Peeler of Goodland. "Now is the time to fish the passes with a free-lined live bait. On an incoming tide, fish the outer points and then move inside and try a mangrove shoreline."
Anglers can rig live bait several ways, but the most common techniques involve hooking baitfish through the lips or beneath the dorsal fin. An angler who can throw a cast net can often fill a livewell with plenty of bait. Toss several handfuls of live bait on the surface to chum up some action along a stretch of mangrove shoreline.
DOCK TALK
Capt. Stewart Ames is very meticulous when it comes to snook fishing. The Clearwater-based guide keeps a detailed log of every snook he catches.
"I write down where I catch the fish, the stage of the tide and the water temperature," he says. "Knowing this helps me catch more fish as I can count on the snook being present in the same place the next time the tide and temperature are the same."
No matter how much you fish, eventually it gets hard to recall the location of all your honey holes. "You might think you remember when and where you caught that snook," he says, "but you really don't remember exactly unless you can go back to your notes and see where you were and what the conditions were like that day."
The date isn't as important as the temperature according to Ames. "Fish don't know what day it is, but they do know what the temperature is, and that is what they react to."
This attention to detail pays off when Ames fishes local tournaments. "On the first day of a two-day tourn-ament, my first fish of the day was an arm breaker," he remembers. "I was counting the money I was about to win as I horsed what I was sure was a 40-inch snook toward my boat."
A few minutes later, Ames' cash cow appeared and his reaction was not what you'd expect. "'It's a cobia,' I said with disgust." The idea of catching a 25-pound cobia is not normally the low point of an angler's day. "Guess I was disappointed for a few moments, but then I came to my senses and realized that this really was a nice catch."
Kris Thoemke, Regional Editor
Panhandle Hot Spots
King mackerel rule the waves off the Panhandle.
In May, schools of tarpon and blacktip sharks appear off the beach while king mackerel, dolphin and wahoo move close enough inshore to keep lines stretched. Monster grouper and amberjack populate many reefs, providing plenty of table meat. Inside the bays, speckled trout moving into a spawning pattern eagerly gobble down Berkley Gulp!s offered under popping corks, while redfish wait for a gold spoon or a jerkbait to flash through the spartina grass.
Capt. Stan Cooper operates Short Water Charters out of Panama City and heads for East Bay at daylight on a strong outgoing tide. He fishes from a flats boat with an elevated tower and says, "The small outflows around Davis Point are perfect locations to spot tailing redfish waiting for gold spoon or "electric chicken" Bass Assassin jerkbaits on unweighted 4/0 bass hooks to pass close. I never realized how much distance I could get with 15-pound-test braided line with the diameter of 4-pound-test mono until I tried it. It takes some education with clients who have never fished braid, but the lessons are worth it considering how much farther you can stay from spooky fish and still cast to them."
There are also plenty of gator-size speckled trout in pre-spawn mode, plus redfish and flounder waiting to feast on baits at Crooked Island Sound, which connects to the Gulf of Mexico. The massive sandbar is a great location to spot cobia, tarpon and blacktip sharks looking for easy meals. It doesn't hurt to keep a live eel in your arsenal in case a cobia wanders by! Just be sure to get there early, before guide boats from Apalachicola and Destin crowd in for the smorgasbord.
Capt. Jim Westbrook operates New Florida Girl headboat and the Miss Suzie, a sport-fisher, out of AJ's Marina in Destin. For top May action, he recommends looking for big "copper belly" gag grouper, backbreaking amberjack and plenty of vermilion snapper (beeliners) on the offshore reefs. Red snapper fishing doesn't open until June 1.
Most boats leaving Destin harbors stop just outside the jetties to load up on live bait using sabiki rigs. Some easy wrecks to fish are the Tugboat Janet Reef, Liberty Ship Thomas Hayward and the Anniston reefs. Pensacola also has some excellent fishing on man-made reefs such as the M/V Tessie, Tugboat Deliverance reefs and the 136 Hole.
A good pompano run occurs off the beaches of Fort Jefferson. Redfish and speckled trout also school inside the pass on the grass flats of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. It's an ideal place to make long casts with a bone-colored MirrOlure Top Dog Jr. fished with a steady walking retrieve.
King mackerel will be scattered from the Alabama line east around any buoys in the Gulf and over any of the thousands of man-made reefs. Trolling with a "duster" three-hook rig and a live cigar minnow attached to a 5-foot length of 40-pound-test wire leader is the most common method. Troll with four rods at about 4 knots. Keep the two outside lines near the top and attach 8- to 12-ounce lead weights to the two inside lines to keep them deeper.
Another popular kingfish method around Panama City and Destin is a fly line using a medium-heavy spinning rod. Attach the line to 3 feet of 40-pound leader and a double-hook rig with a single J hook and a 3-inch wire with a 2/0 treble trailer hooked into a live cigar minnow. Fish hook themselves when they strike. Don't be surprised if the fish turns out to be a nice dolphin instead of a king!
DOCK TALK
Don't be surprised if you can't see the No. 5 green channel buoy when you navigate through the St. Andrews Pass at Panama City into the Gulf. Because of encroachment and narrowing on the eastern side (the No. 4 red buoy), the green buoy was removed to allow a little more room for large vessels using the port. Plans call for more dredging, but in the meantime, fishing for bull reds remains blistering in the pass.
Jim Wilson, Regional Editor
The Chevy Florida Fishing Report airs from 7 pm till 8:30 pm every Thursday night, beginning January 31st through October 9th. Check your local listings for changes.
