Gator sea trout have an up slung mouth that makes them tailor made for feeding on the surface.  Their violent strikes will often send the fish and your lure completely out of the water into the air.  I've had sea trout hit a Chug Bug or SkitterWalk completely out of the water and come back for a second, third, and even fourth hit.

Unless they feel the sting of the hook, a hungry sea trout will continue to nail a well worked bait all the way back to your boat or to shore and will often smash it again as you pull it out of the water.

Sea trout are ambush predators that like to lay in wait, much like Snook.  If they strike at your bait, miss, and don't follow it; it always pays to make another cast to the same spot.   You will often pick up another reflex strike from the same fish.

Work your topwater baits at varying speeds until you start getting strikes.   Start with a very slow retrieve and gradually speed it up until you get some action.  Make long casts to catch the most wary gator trout.

When the morning topwater bite slows down and the sun climbs towards twelve o'clock, switch to fishing D.O.A. CAL baits rigged weedless, or paddle tail baits around the bait pods. 

If no mullet are present, move to another area.  Fishing the bait pods during April is the name of the game for successful topwater fishing.

According to the "powers that be", Peacocks Pocket Road should be open April 1st. This will give bank and wade fishermen additional access to some productive marsh areas and mud flats along the Indian River in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Again, when the baitfish become more concentrated on the shallow flats, topwater Chug Bugs, Rapala Skitterwalks, MirroLures, Zara Spooks, Skitter Pops or Bomber Badonk-A-Donks will start producing vicious strikes in the early morning hours when worked around the bait pods.  

Suspending plugs, large silver or gold spoons, soft plastic baitfish imitations and of course live finger mullet will also catch big fish when worked around the bait pods.

As the April showers cause water levels to rise in our Lagoon systems,  the backwaters become flooded and the larger winter schools of redfish will split up into singles and smaller groups to invade the very shallow, newly flooded areas that you would not normally consider fishing.

Although the cold fronts are still coming through our area, April is when normal springtime conditions move the Black Drum in the North Indian River Lagoon to start their spawning behavior.

 

Unlike the huge adults, Juvenile black drum in the 5 to 10 lb category are good eating, especially in the springtime.

Most schooling fish will weigh in around 10 pounds but you can catch fish upwards of 20 pounds if you fish the deeper water bridge pilings. 

These fish are also decent table fare when taken earlier in the spring.
 

A live or fresh dead shrimp, chunk of clam, or a section of fresh crab are "go to" baits for black drum, but I've used jerk baits on a jig head scented with some Pro-Cure Crab Oil with some success.  

My neighbor used to soak his crab and shrimp flies in Pro-Cure Shrimp/Prawn oil when he targeted drum and redfish on the fly, and although he occasionally got skunked, it didn't happen very often.

 

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There are always good numbers outside of Port Canaveral and Sebastian Inlet during late March and early April.

 

• To avoid predators and light, shrimp usually remain buried in deeper water with sandy bottoms during the daytime hours. 
• Like most fish, shrimp do not like strong light.   Assuming that there is a current to stimulate them into moving,  shrimp will move up in the water column to stay in their preferred light comfort zone when light levels drop in the evening hours.
• Shrimp are not attracted to lights.  The light sets simply help you see them better. 
• At night, shrimp will move up onto the flats to feed where they can better hide in the oxygen rich vegetation.
• Like fish, shrimp like an increase in oxygen levels.  This is one reason why they are more active on the surface at night. 
• At night underwater vegetation produces oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis which increases the dissolved oxygen content in the water.
• The reflective coating on the back of a shrimp's eyeballs that helps them amplify light in very low light levels is the reason why a shrimp's eyes glow when your light is shined on them.  .
• Shrimp feed on nematodes, algae, polychaetes and vegetable matter.  The phytoplankton move up from the bottom in the water column and the shrimp follow along.  This is why your depth finder looks more cluttered in the evening.
• The eyes of fish and shrimp adjust to light much more slowly than humans.  This is why you often catch fish the first hour after it gets dark.
• Like fish, shrimp are structure oriented.   They move along and around any structure in the water like rocks, debris, bottom contour, channel edges, your anchor rope, your lights and even your boat.
• Shrimp come to the surface for a variety of reasons.  Light conditions, high barometric pressures, increased dissolved oxygen levels, turbulent currents, uneven bottoms that create up-swells, and predators (like sea trout) that chase them to the surface.
• Moving water has more dissolved oxygen at the surface than still water.  
• Lower barometric pressures decrease dissolved oxygen levels near the surface making it less comfortable for shrimp.  This is why the "old salts" stay home when the barometer drops.