Fishing is heating up! There are lots of river pogies in the water ways! These are medium sized menhaden about five to six inches in size. They are a favorite bait for redfish and sharks as well a host of other fish. Atlantic sharp nose have started to arrive. The first, sharp nose sharks, to arrive are a few large males. These are the scouts. Soon there will be hundreds. These small sharks are about three feet in length. They’ll put up a nice fight on medium action tackle. Until the sharks arrive in mass the whiting bite will remain strong! Whiting are small exceptionally tasty fish and can be great fun to catch on light tackle. The only problem when you’re fishing sandbars close to the barrier islands you never know what you’ll hang into! You could hang into a large stag bass as they maraud the surf in search of disoriented prey.
Some blue fish have pushed into the sounds, again a good sign of warming conditions. The redfish bite in recent days has been has been tough due likely to exceptional clear water. Some flounder have caught during the past week. The inshore sheepshead bite has been good but the varies: as current speed increases their bite seems to decrease. Look for the better inshore sheepshead on those days with smaller tides. Last week there were several reports of good offshore sheepshead action! Though one fisherman said, he can see noticeable changes in the bite. In the coming days the offshore will likely slow as the inshore bite continues to gain momentum.
Live shrimp is still scarce. Adams Bait Shop is carrying live from Florida. See Don Adams for your live shrimp. CT from Tybee Island Bait and Tackle said he stocking up on fiddler crabs and he’ll have plenty on hand for those fishing this weekend. Remember if you don’t have at least 100 crabs on board you’re not sheepshead fishing!
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At the coming Fishing Seminar at Bahia on Tuesday April 19th (6:30 to 7:30pm) The discussion will be on what’s biting now! We’ll also talk about some of rigs and fishing strategies for sheepshead, whiting, cobia and large reds!
Please contact Ron or Rory at the Bahia Bleu Marina for sign up information 912.354.2283
Hope to see you there!
Fish On! Capt. Jack McGowan