Like the title says, "Here She Blows". It's been almost 3 months of non-stop very windy conditions. We get a few days here and there of nice conditions and then all of a sudden someone turns on the big fan again. We've been doing a lot of inshore fishing in the lagoon just to stay out of the breeze. Been trying some new techniques I've learned recently as well as bringing back some of the old school strategies from the past and things are working out.
The inshore fishing in the lagoon has been pretty good. We're catching lots of trout and snook, mostly on live bait. Pilchards, shrimp, and mullet have been our go to baits. Most of the catches have been along the mangrove shorelines and docks. The dock fishing is a little difficult for some anglers cause those snook are smart and know how to break you off. Our seatrout we're getting have been out on the flats and along the mangroves, freelining pilchards and mullet. Unfortunately most of the trout this time of year are full of worms so my suggestion is to just take a quick pic and release them to get bigger. We've also been able to find some fun fighting tarpon back in Sebastian River and the poons along the beach. The other fun fighting fish that's been pretty plentiful have been big jack crevalle. You can throw a lure or live bait into a jack feeding frenzy and hook up almost instantly.
We haven't done to much fishing at Sebastian Inlet in the last couple months. With the weather being so rough and the schools of goliath grouper trying to eat your snook all the time has deterred us to fish other inshore areas. Hopefully the weather will get a little better here soon and the snook bite will get hot out there again. Snook season closes June 1st then reopens September 1st. Doesn't mean we can't catch them, just means they can't go in the grease.
Now on to the offshore fishing. Summertime starts our offshore season as long as the seas will stay somewhat calm. We've been doing quite a few offshore trips in the last few weeks when weather permits. Bottom fishing has had the most success lately. The snapper bite has been really good, catching a bunch of lane, vermillion, mangrove, and red snapper on the bottom. As long as the bait shop has the bait we need, there is no problem limiting out on those little lane snapper. We've also been catching some medium size amberjack, triggerfish, kingfish, mahi, and cobia. Sometimes it's been a little tough getting those fish to the boat though. The sharks have been horrible. All I can say to that is reel as fast as you can. If you ain't out of breath when you get it to the boat, you're not reeling fast enough. Trolling has not been much of an option lately, the scattered weeds have made trolling almost impossible. At the beginning of May I took my family offshore to do the Central Florida Shootout Fishing Tournament, my wife Michelle took 1st place for the Heaviest Cobia, along with 3rd place in Lady Angler, my son took 4th place in Jr. Angler, and my daughter took 5th place in Jr. Angler. You couldn't ask for a prouder husband/dad moment.
We finally got our Red Snapper days for the year and I've got the spots for them and they're plentiful. Unfortunately they only gave us 2 days to keep red snapper, so we have limited openings, July 9th and 10th. I did open up that weekend for charters so if you're thinking about it, don't hesitate to book a trip. We're offering half days and full days. Anglers are allowed to keep one red snapper per person per day with no size limit.