March has certainly lived up to it's reputation as being a windy month however March, April and May are typically three of the best fishing months of the year for BIG breeder "Gator Trout", bull redfish and schooling black drum. 

 

The windy conditions we endured this March turned many potentially great days for sightfishing on the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River, into days of blind casting or fishing with live bait.

 

Although the sightfishing has been challenging; most anglers who were hooking up with live finger mullet or cut baits during the really windy days, also had some great fishing for reds and sea trout on the flats when conditions permitted. 

 

Cold weather always makes the fish school up tighter, and this dramatically improves sight fishing.  Right now, the sight fishing has been excellent with clear water and lots of  tailing fish.

Black Drum

Although the chilly weather is still with us, normal springtime weather conditions will return in April and we will start to see more black drum schooling up to spawn in the south end of Mosquito Lagoon and the North Indian River Lagoon around Titusville.

 

These fish are often found in deeper waters in the wide open, so we need lighter wind conditions to locate them.

 

Schooling black drum are normally in the 5lb to 10lbs category with 10lbs being the norm however, expect to catch some fish upwards of 25lbs. 

 

On schooling drum, fishing a live shrimp or a cut crab will get you a bite fast.   

 

Scented jerk baits that look like shrimp also work well, and for the guys who like to fly fish, clouser minnows and shrimp patterns usually get the job done.

 

In the lagoons and creeks around Ponce Inlet, the recent cold fronts and resulting winds have dropped water levels and forced the redfish back into big schools on deep edges, creeks and sloughs.

As the water temperatures warm up in April, the schools of 400 to 500 redfish we see now will break up into smaller schools that can be found across the shallow grass flats and oyster flats farther north.

 

Schools of giant bull redfish in the 20lb to 40lb range are now located in the deeper portions of the Lagoons.  

Some of these fish are extremely spooky and tight lipped so when you find a school, give them plenty of room and make long accurate casts to catch more fish.

 

For guys like myself who like to toss lures; gold Johson Sprite spoons, crankbaits, suspended and top water plugs, and a variety of soft plastics will all produce fish. 

 

DOA bait busters, a 3" DOA CAL bait or GULP jerk shad in Gold or gold glitter on black, have been the most productive colors for those of us who prefer targeting the Redfish schools with soft plastic baits.

 

For those of us like my wife, who like using bait; live shrimp, live mullet, mud minnows, chunks of cut mullet and large fresh dead shrimp are the baits of choice for consistent light tackle Redfish catches.

 

Fly fishermen that are using sliders and crab patterns have been hooking up with 5 to 10 fish a day during the warmer days.  Black or olive colored crab patterns seem to work best, but anything remotely resembling a crab will get you a tailing redfish, especially on the Mosquito Lagoon.