Fortune favors the angler who is willing to do what others won’t, the one who forgoes ease and convenience to reach places others are unwilling to go. At least that’s what I hoped and what had my anticipation running high as I strapped my old nine-foot Hobie Sport to the kayak cart.

I have much nicer kayaks, an Old Town Predator PDL and a Hobie Pro Angler 12, but dragging these behemoths, well over one hundred pounds each, over one and a half miles through dirt and grass was too much for this old angler. To ease the burden of the long trek, I packed light with my bare bones Hobie Sport and a minimal selection of rods and tackle.

The journey to the launch was a long one, but fortunately there were diversions to break up the monotony of dragging a kayak on a cart. At various locations a creek bordered the trail, and the wider and deeper portions of the creek were loaded with panfish and bass. There were no trophies in the creek, but sight casting a small Nikko Okiami Shrimp to these abundant, cooperative, and aggressive fish was too much of a temptation to resist. Perhaps I dawdled too long. I tallied over two dozen fish, and I hadn’t even reached my destination yet.

My destination was no secret. The bank was cleared in several spots along one end of the lake to provide easy shore fishing. I imagine adventurous anglers hike or ride bikes to reach this bass fishing oasis, although not today. I had the whole lake to myself on this beautiful, sunny Saturday.

I could see why someone was willing to hack out clearings along the shore. Every opening offered bass and panfish that were willing to eat. My kayak sat high and dry as I caught another dozen fish. It would’ve been a good day if I had just fished from shore, but dropping in a kayak to access all that fertile water beyond the reach of the bank had me thinking good could turn into epic.

Fishing indeed got better once I got the kayak in the water. I started with a Nikko Zaza Leech on a 1/16th ounce Ned style jig head. This was a good combination, perhaps too good. It was one of those blessed days where fishing gets too easy and certain techniques become boring. After hits on almost every cast and numerous bass caught, I switched to a Nikko Shakey Worm rigged Texas style with a 1/16th ounce bullet weight. After a while it too was swapped out, not due to lack of success but from a desire to catch fish on something different. Next up was A Band of Anglers Loader Minnow and then a Q8 Super Baits Bullet. I think you get the idea. Many more bass came to hand, and I was now wishing I had brought more tackle so I could try something different.

It was an epic day indeed. I lost count of all the one and two pound bass, and I had a scuffed-up thumb to show for it. Bigger fish were caught. I hooked four bass in the five to six pound range. Three threw the hook and one was landed. I’d also occasionally take a break from the bass and toss the Okiami Shrimp on my ultralight where hand size bluegill would oblige.

I should point out not all my fishing trips are home runs. This latest spot was the fourth remote fishing hole I had found by searching on Google Maps. I struck out on the previous three. When you fish a hard-to-reach area, you hope the fishing success is at least somewhat proportional to the level of effort it takes to get there. The first three spots failed miserably on that accord. Those past failures made this latest success so much sweeter.

By now, some of you are asking where I was fishing. I’m not going to tell you. I’ll just say it is somewhere in central Florida, probably within an hour drive for most Spacefish Report readers. I recommend you follow the same steps I did. Scour the online maps, visit new places and embrace the grind. When you eventually find your own honey hole, bask in the glory of the moment knowing you earned every fish through diligence and hard work.

With adventurous trips like this, there is always the agonizing time when you must pack it in and start the long journey back to the truck. A descending sun and the impending emergence of swarms of mosquitoes help hasten that decision. At least I had fond memories of the day dancing through my mind to ease the drudgery of the long trek home.

Spring time seems to be upon us here in Central Florida. The weather has been starting to warm and bringing on a new pattern for our fish. The bait has started to move out of the deeper channels and onto the shallow grass flats and the fish have followed. Look for the redfish and trout to be milling around in the shallow grass looking for an easy meal. The black drum have been holding on the mud and sand bottoms looking for crustaceans like shrimp and crabs.

North in the New Smyrna area there has been a variety of fish holding in and around the mangroves like snook, redfish, trout, jacks and flounder to mention a few. They have all been chewing well on both artificials and live bait and as the weather continues to warm, the bite will only get better!

Top baits this week for me were the Zman Jackhammers, Chug Bugs, Whopper Ploppers and the Mike Bucca 5” Bull Gill Bone color.

Zman Jackhammers

I’m fishing the half ounce green pumpkin Jackhammer in areas with scattered hydrilla and in ditches. I use a 4.5” Hogfarmer Spunk Shad in green pumpkin magic. Fishing these on flats with scattered hydrilla.

***I’ve been trying the new Zman EVO chatterbait and had some success but I’ve had 5 of the blades separate from the bait and it just falls off while retrieving the bait. Needless to say, I’m sending the remaining ones I have that are still in the package back to TW and buying Jackhammers. I wrote Zman and I’ll let you folks know what they say.

Chug Bugs

I’m fishing my Chug Bugs (bone or Shad), Whopper Ploppers (bone or Shad colors) and popping baits around Shad schools along canal edges and cut throughs that have loads of bait in them right now.

Mike Bucca Bullshad

The Mike Bucca Bullshad 5” Bull Gill in bone color is my go to swimbait. I’m fishing these along thick grass edges near deep sharp drops. Get on the Bullshad email mailing list so you can get the bait drop info. The only way to get the Trick Shad and Glides are go to a bait show that Bullshad attends or through the bait drops. Sign up at Bullshad.com

The live bait bite was great this week. The fish are moving into deeper water so the deeper canals and pits are my focus areas.

Tight lines!

Get the latest word on the bite with Damon from Spacefish on the Mark Moses Show. We talk local fishing every Friday on the air at 4pm.

The bite has been pretty consistent in areas around structure with bait present. You will have the opportunity to catch redfish, snook, trout, jacks and ladyfish. I pulled this massive snook out from the mangroves Saturday morning on a Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ 4″ paddle tail in the pinfish color.
The fish really seem to be dialed in on the 4″ bait profile right now. A medium or medium heavy rod with 2500-3000 size reel, 15 pound braid and a 30 pound mono leader is all you need when using these lightweight lures. Since many of these fish can be found in shallow water, I rarely use a jig head heavier than 3/16 oz.

Another sun-shining 80-degree week is ahead of us, with the lingering east winds tagging along! The full moon is upon us, and the fishing has been hit or miss due to the dirty waters. The past week’s swell on the beach wasn’t bad, but the currents were churning. This happens when the moon is approaching full phase, causing large periods of rising and falling waves to push onto the beach.

Anytime the tides have been moving, they have been producing bites, and they haven’t really indicated which tide has been best for fishing. Bait-wise, sand fleas have continued to grow in thicker quantities in the Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach areas, which is a great sign for fishing! We just need that dang water to clear up for us to get an outstanding bite. Mother Nature knows best and will figure it out for us. Whiting, black drum, and a few sheepshead have shown up to the party and will continue this week coming up.

Frozen shrimp pieces and sand fleas have been the go-to baits for the past week, paired on a pompano rig with heavy triangles (4 oz – 5 oz) and 3 oz – 4 oz sputniks. Pink and orange floats have been the go-to if you’re into using floats on your rigs.

Shark fishing has been a tad bit hard this week due to the surf conditions, but they have been steadily caught. Bonito, ladyfish chunks, and whole mullets are the baits to target them. We have some secrets that have been producing bigger bites, but that’s an in-person kind of talk, you know. Stop by the shop and learn the secrets.

Looking forward to seeing y’all and tight lines!

It’s snook season! The big ones are becoming more user friendly now that the water temps have risen into the mid 70-degree range. Live pilchards, croakers and menhaden are top baits to use right now. A few of these fish have been keepers as well. Our best action this past week is during the morning outgoing tide. They tend to shut down during the middle of the day, then start back up on the afternoon incoming tide.

Captain Justin and I have also been catching a lot of 4 to 8 pound class black drum on some of the near-coastal reefs. We’ve had multiple days with 15 to 20 drum landed, and one group of clients landed over 40 drum on their trip. Mix in a few sheepshead, redfish, black margate and mangrove snapper and you’ve got the makings of a great day of fishing. The fishing is just getting better and better, so come book a fishing charter with Captain Justin or myself and let’s get out there and catch you next memory!

Snook in the shallows

Inshore fishing has turned on this last week. Snook bite on live bait has been pretty good with snook from lower 20” range up to the 40” size and in between. Live greenies have been very productive and some fish are being caught on 4″ DOA jerk baits. light colors are best jerk baits to use. Inlet bite has been decent as well with some redfish as well as a few snook with plenty of jacks and some jewfish as well. Live pigfish and mojarra have been working well there.

Schools of 10-15lb jacks roaming the flats in the lagoon

Schools of jacks have been moving up and down the lagoon and with light winds you will see the schools of fish swimming and or daisy chaining on the surface. Fish have been anywhere from 5lbs to 25lbs and are aggressive if you don’t spook them with the boat. Nearhsore bite will be kicking off soon but with the front this week, it will be most likely too rough to get out. If the winds come out of the west we will be out looking for the bait pods and schools of Tarpon, Jacks and Bonito crashing glass minnows.

This is the first week since October that we were almost able to complete the entire week offshore. The fishing was literally good one day then bad the next. EVERY day. We feel the full moon had something to do with it.

GET BAIT. Bunkers have been around and one day is easy, next is difficult, but try to throw that net and make it work. Some days it seems to be the make and break. They have been scattered all over from the port to around the tip to Patrick AFB.

Pelican has been a little slow towards the end of the week. then it turned into the ocho Alpha. The water was much cleaner and the fish followed that. There was a clean line just outside it and held some fish. We also had some scattered sails and mahi. Please don’t go mahi trolling at the reef…

Minnows worked as well but once the live bait shows up you may as well throw the minnows as chum. It’ll turn them off quickly.

For all you Mahi lovers… Go king fishing. At least you will catch something. lol

They just aren’t here yet. The reef is holding more mahi inside of the stream. If you’re fortunate to have a go fast boat, then go to the other side or at least much farther out and use the radar to find them birds. Last week the tuna and mahi did very well, but it got slow over the weekend — well, slower. anyway.

Have an awesome week. Looks like the weather is shaping up nicely again starting mid tuesday. Good luck and stay safe.

Gotta love this weather for us anglers this past week. Fishing on Headwaters and Garcia was fantastic! The topwater bite for me still isn’t showing the love that I expected but talking to others they had a different story and said they threw it all day and caught fish. My one lure on Headwaters still is a small suspending jerk bait(Yo Zuri 3D Fingerling) throwing in the pot holes throughout the hydrilla flats. Still wind is your friend here.

Garcia fished like the Good Ole Days for me and my long time friend this past week. We did manage to get several on topwater but this bite died quickly. I tried my jerk bait but no luck. My last choice of lure was the key to success as after 3 casts and three fish my friend changed over as well. We never moved more than a hundred yards in an area all day long. This was simple worm fishing 101. Junebug and Red Shad were the colors that were the best colors.

Going back again this week but bringing my Ferris to try for a personal best if the fish are still there.

It wouldn’t be fishing if every catch was gonna be a trophy.

Good morning and happy Monday/Earth day to everyone! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, the weather was marvelous! This week is going to start off a bit breezy at the inlet, but only for Monday and Tuesday with NNE winds 15-25 and possible gust to around 30, and settle back down by Wednesday, so it will be a bit of a chore to fish the north side with the wind swell. I’m hoping that the NNE will bring in some cleaner water like it usually does, and start the pompano and Spanish mackerel back up again. We’ll see.

Fishing at the inlet for has remained slow, hit-or-miss, as always, due to water conditions fluctuating between cool and warm, and clean to silty: This keeps the fish in a state of confusion as to what they should be doing. The water temperature is still 74 to 75 degrees but should be 77 degrees by now. But the NNE winds keep the cooler water around. Onto the fishing as I saw it last week and through the weekend. Last week started off with a decent pompano bite on live shrimp and fish bites on Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday the water dirtied up and it went away — same for the Spanish mackerel; Monday and Tuesday saw a nice bite on small white jigs and small greenies, but by Wednesday, that too went away. The rest of the week was pretty slow with only some small bluefish and jack crevalle caught on artificial and cut bait at the tip on the outgoing tide. Not much to say about the incoming tide, except for a few snook hooked on live baits or lost to the groupers, who will eat anything they can catch, especially snook struggling to escape!

Over the weekend, I saw quite a few schools of finger mullet all around the north jetty and back inside the inlet. That’s a good sign. We need baitfish to attract the predators. Remember, folks, when cast netting baitfish, please only keep what you need, and return the rest to the water unharmed and as quickly as possible! Our resources are NOT forever, plus it is one of the posted jetty fishing rules. Thank you.

Here’s a breakdown by area:

North jetty

Fishing was slow on Saturday, but some fish were caught. Early morning incoming tide, there were a couple slot snook caught on live baits, mojarras and live shrimp. Also, a couple catch-and-release redfish, inlet side of the jetty. Ocean side of the jetty on Saturday early and throughout the day, anglers caught a few pompano and whiting on fresh cut dead shrimp, not a lot, but enough to keep an angler interested. Bluefish and jack crevalles kept things interesting throughout the day on the outgoing tide at the tip. Silver spoons and live baits were doing the trick for them. The monster blues are gone, but the ones they were catching were pretty nice, in the 15 to 18-inch range.

On Sunday, the water clarity improved and so did the bite. Early incoming tide on the inlet side there were several slot sized snook caught, along with again, a couple nice catch and release redfish, all on live baits, shrimp and mojarras. Ocean side throughout the day they caught some really nice pompano, whiting, and I even saw a few nice black drum caught, more towards the tip of the jetty. Live and dead shrimp were the baits of choice. Outgoing tide was all about the blues and jacks on silver spoons, jigs and cut baits. Plenty of action there for those species. At the tip on the outgoing tide, a couple of the guys were catching a few Spanish mackerel and lookdowns on the tiny white jigs. Along the rock shoreline just west of the gate to the jetty, on Sunday I saw a couple fishing in the area, and they caught a couple blues, a few sand perch, one sheepshead about 14 inches long, a black margate AND a couple mangrove snappers about 11 inches!

South jetty

On this side the, the action was slower, due again to the dirtier water from the roughed-up surf and intercoastal runoff flowing out the inlet on the outgoing tide. At the tip, it’s the same cast of characters — black margates, blue runners, catfish, and maybe a pompano or two if some clean water is present. On the surf side of the jetty close to shore in the pocket, I heard of some small flounder still being caught on small live baits and small plastic swim baits. Most are too small to keep, but every once in a while, there’s a keeper. The incoming tide in the late afternoon has produced snook and redfish catches, live baits of shrimp and mojarras are doing the trick on them. Most of the snook have been too small to keep, but some are slots to be kept. Not much else except for the blues and jacks in the channel area on the incoming for those tossing silver spoons and jigs. No mangroves yet on this side.

T-Dock Area

Still slow here. Blame dirtier water and absence of small baitfish that are usually around to attract any predators. No bait, no fish. The incoming tide, if the water is a bit clean, you just might get lucky and find a snook or two hanging around on live baits, but it has been slow. For those tossing silver spoons of jigs to the channel area, there is always the possibility for a jack or two, and maybe some blues.

Surf Area, south side

Cloudy water here. Not much except for a lot of catfish, stingrays and bonnet head sharks being caught. If you find clean water, you might find a few whiting and pompano fishing cut shrimp or sand fleas.

Surf Area, north side

The water has been a lot cleaner than the south, also it is deeper on this side. The pompano bite has been rather good for the last few days with plenty of fish being caught, along with some really nice whiting. Fish the outside trough with sand fleas, fish bites of fresh dead, or small live shrimp. Bluefish and some Spanish mackerel also are possible in the surf for those fishing silver spoons and small jigs and such. Also, with the finger mullet starting to run down the beaches, be on the lookout for possible snook and tarpon action busting up the schools of bait! If seasonal conditions were here — and they are not — there would be small schools of tarpon roaming the surf along the coast. Just something to keep in mind.

That’s all I have for this week! Not too bad, but not what it should be for April. Soon enough, we’ll see warm, clean water show up and STAY! Have a great week. Grab your gear, lunch, drinks and sunblock, and go fishing!