By Jimmy Tomazinis
mail@floridanewsline.com
And here we are in the slow simmer before the rolling boil of the summer. The river changes a lot in April, May, and June. As the average temperatures rise and the rains remain on a weekly basis, the salinity slowly creeps up — usually peaking in June. Our frequent afternoon thunderstorms tend to bring an end to this. Until then, knowing how salty the river is can help you find marine species this time of year, especially trout.
Spotted seatrout are a lot more sensitive to salinity than redfish, so they will be pushed up and down the river as it fluctuates. For instance, you might catch them south of the Buckman one day, but if we get rain or the wind blows from the south, they’ll most likely be pushed north of the Buckman by freshwater working its way out of the river. Keep this in mind if you’re suddenly not finding them around. They may just be a short boat ride to the north where the salinity is more favorable.
Redfish will be all over the river this month and hungry for about any bait you throw at them. We’ve got to make it one more month until we can put live river shrimp on the menu, but crab, mullet, and croakers have you covered until then. I do great on artificials like bucktails if you want to keep it simple. Docks and shell bars are great places to look for them.
On the same docks there’s bound to be good numbers of sheepshead that will take clams or crab. I’ve yet to find an artificial for them. Give each dock or whatever structure you’re fishing a good 15 minutes before moving because they can be slow to find your bait at first, but they’ll sniff it out eventually. A little chumming goes a long way too.
If you haven’t had your fill of surf fishing for whiting and pompano yet, this will be your last good month until the fall so keep that in mind. Look for clear water and invest in high quality bait. It can mean the difference between catching fish or not most days.
That’s all I have for this month so get out there and go fish when you can. Tight lines.
