Atlantic Ocean Report

 

Waters still remain very cool, although beginning to rise. Inshore, the Speckled Trout are starting to move around and it will be any day that the Little River jetties start producing.

 

The Redfish are mostly still far back in the creeks, but if you have a skinny water boat, you can do some pretty good sight fishing during the heat of the day.

 

Nearshore, the Sea Bass are pretty much the only thing going. Fishing in the 15-25 mile range will yield a decent number of keeper fish, albeit you'll have to deal with hordes of Spiny Dogfish. Moving further out, once you hit 90+ feet of water the Dogfish will thin out and the Sea Bass get big and hungry. Catching limits of 2-4 pounders won't take long.

 

The Vermillion Snapper season opens April 1st, so they too will soon be available in this range.

 

The Gulf Stream has not started happening as cool water has been prevalent along the edge of the 30 fathom break. Wahoo trolling is not futile, but it is very slow right now. Most travelling to the break are targeting vertical jigging for giant Amberjack, Cobia and African Pompano while weeding through Snapper and Grouper.

 

This past weekend Capts. Chris Dew and Steele Parks guided a group for a day of vertical jigging aboard the 33' OIFC World Cat. The day was action packed as rods stayed bent all day long. A total species count includes: Amberjack, American Red Snapper, Gag Grouper, Black Grouper, Mutton Snapper, Trigger Fish & Bonito. A couple of the AJ's pushed the 80 pound mark and one of the Gags was pushing 30 pounds. The Muttons, which are uncommon for this area, were not too shabby either.

 

All in all, we are working hard to break free from the Winter doldrums. We're putting the final touch ups on annual maintenance to the OIFC and boats, and it is full steam ahead.