Early March brought a couple strong cold fronts to end our hopes of early warm weather like it usually does. A two sets of cold fronts put us back into the mid 50s for a couple of days and water temperatures sank right back down into the 60s.
The fishing was really good on either side of these fronts. Especially right before the front and a couple of days on the back side of the front after some sun warmed the flats back up. The cold fronts typically lose their strength a little after the middle of the month and spring patterns will last through mid-May. Water temps will slowly rise from the low 70s into the mid 80s and most of our fish will be happy throughout the warmup. Redfish will get a little more aggressive and Snook will start to peak out to the creek mouths and show up along the beaches. Look for speckled trout stacked up on ambush points along flats as well.
The middle of the month gave me an unwanted break from fishing as I caught a flu bug going around that put me out of commission for a few days. So while I'm sure there were fish to be caught, I was not looking for them.
There were a couple of spectacular days early in the month to sight fish redfish and snook. Redfish cruising sand flats on lower water would happily take a fly or 4" paddle tail when presented well. We got some good eats from snook on paddle tails, suspending twitch baits, and white flies. After our last cold front the third week of the month, Snook began to move out of creeks and would stage up to feed at Creek Mouths and edges of springs on the incoming tides. Redfish could be found in a mixed bag of cruising fish in singles or small pods while some others were still in a more winter time pattern - staged up in schools milling around. Be prepared for both to help you catch more fish while the water continues to warm. My anglers had aggressive eats by single or small pods of fish on baitfish flies less than 300 yards from a school of fish that would only grab a slow moving, small crab pattern on 10 pound tippet.
We had a couple of days later in the month with big south winds and super high tides. Redfish and snook responded well to pinfish with the tail cut off. These baits work well because a pinfish is strong enough to hold in the current even with a trimmed tail. They'll often sit where ever you cast them. Putting them way back into the mangrove pockets dropped them right in front of fish and would often entice a bite.
The Spring time provides awesome opportunities to grab a redfish, snook, speckled trout, and a mixed
bag of other species on a sight fishing trip. Take advantage of some awesome weather on the water and grab yourself a day!
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