By Jimmy Tomazinis
mail@floridanewsline.com
As I sit here and write this under the warmth of a spring afternoon following a cool morning and a successful fishing trip, I have such great optimism for the coming weeks and months on the water. I hope all of you feel the same. Spring just has an energy to it, you know? Not that the winter was bad, but green is my favorite color so I do enjoy the new leaves.
Unfortunately, April is probably the last month you’ll want to spend time in the creeks looking for specks and bass. Not because they’re not there anymore, but because there will be a lot more people on the water enjoying the warmer weather — which makes a creek fishing trip a little more dangerous and a lot less enjoyable. Blind curves and lack of courtesy will encourage you to seek less congested areas. If you do plan to spend any time in the creeks this month look for the less comfortable days, if we have any, since they can fend off the fair weather crowd.
I know you’re probably wondering where the optimism went so here it is. As soon as the creeks start to get packed with boaters the river fishing really starts ramping up. At an average of two to three miles wide in our area, the river is a great place to spread out and get some space to yourself. Redfish, sheepshead, seatrout, and even tarpon will be around.
As I mentioned last month redfish will really stand out this month as long as you can get the bait that they want. Blue crab will be on the top of their list with fresh dead shrimp behind that. Remember April is closed to shrimping in the river, so leave that net at home. Pull some shrimp out of the freezer or buy some until June 1. Focus on points, dock lines, and shell beds for the reds.
Another favorite I like to target this month is sheepshead. They’ll be moving in from their spawning run and hungry for a smaller piece of crab, clam, or shrimp. They’re going to be tight to structure, so seek out pilings somewhere. Wherever you’re fishing for them you may want to sacrifice some bait as chum to get them fired up. Get out there and enjoy the river. Tight lines.
