The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River:

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Port Canaveral Offshore and Nearshore Fishing:

Many nearshore anglers have reported that some of the best shark fishing they have ever seen along East Central Florida's coastline occurred during the past few months.  The shark fishing is still on fire and should continue throughout the month of March. 

Although the heavy winds amid the cold fronts have cancelled some of the far offshore fishing this past month,on calmer days, the bottom fishing has been good for Amberjack, American red snapper, grouper, and a ton of sandbar sharks on the wrecks and reefs out of Port Canaveral in 180 to 250 feet of water.  

The AJ bite in particular has been good but the sandbar sharks have been wreaking havoc on the fish on the way up.  Deep jigging is an especially good way to target amberjack but unless you have deep pockets and don't mind losing a jig every time a sandbar shark grabs your fish on the way up, you might want to stick with live or chunked baits.
On the troll, the offshore bite has been pretty good for bonita, blackfin tuna, kingfish, and a dolphin here and there on the 60 to 90 foot reefs.  The kingfish have been apparently running farther south around the Patrick AFB area.

Nearshore fishing has been very good for blacktip and spinner sharks that have been migrating through our area. 

During March, the kingfish and cobia bite usually ramps up along the coast.    The Cobia bite has not yet peaked to the "March Madness" hype, but a few nearshore anglers have been catching Cobia off the beaches in the Cocoa area. 

When the seas calm back down this month and the surface water temperatures hit 60 to 70 degrees, the Cobia bite will improve dramatically outside of both Port Canaveral and Sebastian Inlets.   

The Mantra Rays that the Cobia shadow move according to baitfish patterns governed by water temperature, so when we see the giant rays coming nearshore, we can expect the cobia to be shadowing them.   The deep, 400 foot wide ship channel that extends 3.5 miles offshore from the mouth of Port Canaveral plays a major role in attracting baitfish, which in turn attracts the rays and the cobia.   

Historically, during the first two weeks in March, anglers can expect good numbers of Cobia to show up outside of Port Canaveral following the Manta Rays.  
March is when many nearshore anglers begin targeting tripletail along floating debris, buoys, and weed lines around Port Canaveral.  The tripletail can be found holding on the buoys and almost anything you can find floating on the surface.    Palm fronds, tree limbs, old crab pot floats, boards, and even floating coolers can hold Tripletail.

The larger tripletail are usually caught out in the 45 to 65 foot depths by anglers using live shrimp as the bait of choice.   Small plastic or hair jigs, DOA shrimp, jig heads with a piece of shrimp, etc. all work on these tasty fish.
Closer nearshore and just outside of the surf break this month, nearshore anglers will be targeting bluefish, Spanish mackerel, and jacks by trolling or casting small spoons, jigs, or lipped diving plugs around the schools of glass minnows that hang around Port Canaveral.  

When good numbers of Spanish mackerel move into the Canaveral area and the seas are calm, you can sometimes during the early morning see them busting on the surface after baitfish.   Spanish Mackerel can occasionally be seen actively feeding inside the mouth of the Port.
   

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Playalinda and Area Beach Surf Fishing:   During  the month of March,  surf fishermen along East Central Florida beaches can expect to find pompano, bull whiting, slot black drum, and a variety of sharks in the surf.

The weather fronts we experience in much of Central Florida make surf fishing a feast or famine proposition.  During good days, spurts of action will put pompano, whiting, black drum, and sharks on the beach.   The fronts lower the water temperatures in the surf which greatly improves the pompano bite.

At Playalinda Beach, sand fleas, Fishbites, and peeled shrimp are the baits of choice for whiting and pompano.    Long casts to the sand bar about 100 feet or more from the beach are where the bigger whiting and pompano hold.   The most optimal conditions for pompano fishing is during the last of the incoming and the beginning of an outgoing tide, just ahead of a cold front.
 
Long casts with small silver spoons or jigs will produce hookups with Spanish mackerel and bluefish that can often be seen chasing baitfish farther out from the sand.   

Surf anglers along Cocoa Beach have been targeting whiting using 2 and 3 hook pompano rigs with Pink Shrimp flavored Fish Bites, live sand fleas, and small pieces of shrimp for bait.    Although the fish in the Coca Beach area are normally caught closer to shore making long casts unnecessary; it pays to set out several rods at varying distances until the fish are located.

Surf fishermen near Cocoa Beach and around Cape Canaveral have been catching good numbers of whiting, along with some keeper pompano and black drum.    Crab flavored Fishbites tipped with fresh peeled shrimp or blanched sand fleas on a pompano rig are baits of choice.   Bluefish are also being caught in the surf by anglers using fresh chunked baits and small casting spoons.

Most of the fish were caught on extremely long casts on a falling tide.
 
Pompano fishing throughout the Space Coast seems to be most consistent in the Melbourne Beach area.  

Unlike pompano in the Playalinda Beach area that are often under size, the majority of pompano caught in the vicinity of Melbourne Beach are slab size. 

During high surf conditions most surf anglers use longer rods and heavier tackle to toss 5 or 6 ounce pyramid or Sputnik type leads over 100 yards to reach the outer sandbars where the larger pompano are running.    Standard pompano rigs with small circle hooks and bright colored floats baited with live sand fleas tipped with clam flavored Fish Bites, blanched sand fleas, or Fishbites tipped with peeled shrimp are baits of choice for pompano in this area.

Medium to heavy (11 to 13 foot) surf rods and 6000 to 8000 series reels spooled with 12 to 15 pound monofilament are needed to make the long casts necessary in heavy surf conditions.   Small diameter braided lines cast farther than mono but they do not stretch like mono and will pull your sinker along the bottom to the shore during heavy wind and surf conditions.  For this reason, many surf anglers prefer using mono during heavy surf conditions.
 
Although pompano and whiting are the primary target for surf fishermen along East Central Florida during the winter months, black drum upwards of 40 pounds are a common catch during periods of fish migrations.   

Sand fleas, peeled shrimp, Fishbites, small plastic jerk baits, and bucktail jigs are all baits of choice for black drum in the surf.  A dark colored splotch of water in the surf could indicate a big school of drum.

Shark fishing along all of our area beaches has been off the charts for the last couple of weeks and that pattern should continue throughout the month of March.    There has been a steady flow of black tip sharks, lemon sharks, and Atlantic sharp nose sharks in the surf with Melbourne Beach remaining as one of the top areas to hook up with one.
 

When you're targeting shark, beef up your tackle with a heavyweight rod and reel, braided line in the 60 to 80 pound class, and a 200 to 300 pound mono leader with large circle hooks.    A live or freshly cut bait will usually out fish a frozen bait hands down.  

Make sure you have a shore fishing shark permit and have completed the educational shark fishing course.  The permit is geared to fishermen who target large sharks from the beach and takes about a half hour to complete.  It is a free add on to your fishing license that you need to print out and keep on your person while fishing.

To get the permit, you need to complete this educational shore based shark fishing course which consists of a quiz and some educational videos.

 

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Until next time,

Tight Lines and bent rods!