Looongest winter eveeerrr!! Sure we don’t have the ice and snow here, but we got a prolonged dose of wind that made for conditions that limited what we could do more often than not. March began with some really nice weather and we find ourselves back in a week of wind again. Not unusual for this time of year, but I’m hoping we use up all of our wind allotment and see a stretch of nice days that rewards us for our suffering. It can’t last forever, right?!
Fishing is great almost everywhere right now. I have done well and there has been good reports for bay, bridge, reef, offshore and the sharky shallows. Just keep in mind we have many choices to allow us to play the wind and keep the trip in relatively comfortable conditions.
We have been staying in close and fishing the shallow reefs in the 1-3 mile range from shore. There has been a huge diversity of fish to catch and the seas are always a few feet less than what we get on the deep reef edge where we target yellowtail snapper. While we see a slightly smaller average to the fish size, we catch more large bonus fish of all kinds. The other advantage to the inside reef is the sharks on the deep reef have been so vicious we often have 70% of our catch eaten before we get to see it.
On the bright side, the water cleared fairly quickly when the wind slacked and temperatures were in the low to mid 70’s. We were fortunate to get a spear trip in just before this current wind event. I had a big group of beginners that fared well and all got their first speared fish. I do these trips often and I arm you with plenty of information to study to be closer to ready for your trip. It is critical that you know as much as you can before you immerse yourself in such a technical activity. It’s on you and the results will be there if you study hard and then some!
In summary, keep an eye on the weather this month as your trip approaches. March is a very busy month with Spring Break and my ability to move trips around for better weather days is limited. Call me if you see a conflict and I will do what I can. Also, all spearfishing trips will be substituted with rod and reel trips per poor conditions should spearing be out of the question. Not what I want to do, but I have to earn a living!
Just a reminder to Spring Breakers that windy days can still be saved with a sandbar trip or catch and release shallow water shark fishing can make for a fun day when there isn’t much else to do.
Kevin
