Here comes the heat, Summer brings us calmer water and southern currents along the surf, bait begins to hold on the piers and inlets, as we move through the month bait will increase in amount. We should see Threadfins, Pilchards and Goggleeyes, lingering mullet around also.

Fishing starts to get a little tougher as you must target your fish because very few species will be in abundance except Tarpon, the northern migration tarpon run should be in full swing through june and are a sportmans dream and some reaching 150 to 175 pounds and are beasts and almost impossible for a shorebound fisherman to get in but every so often everything is in your favor and you get that catch of a life time from shore.

Catching Tarpon from the Piers , Beaches and Inlets, from the Piers you can sight fish them with live Pilchard live lined, a nice size Mullet head lobed out from the beach will also work and at the inlets live or Dead will get you picked up.

Other fish that will begin to move in will be large cero mackerel, bonita “little tuny” and everyone’s favorite Mangrove snapper, the snapper will show best once the summer bait moves in thicker and the snapper will be stacked up under piers, docks or around structure inshore, best bet for the Mangrove snapper will be live shrimp, Silver-sides or any fresh cut white bait.

There will be Panfish in the surf and all will be easily caught on pieces of shrimp on a double chicken rig, your likely to catch Spots, Sand perch “Mojarras”, whiting, and maybe a straggler Pompano.

This time of year I bring fishing to the beach with me a snorkel and mask because if the fish aren’t hitting I’m a because the water is super clear and its hot on the beach.

Have a great June and get ready to take the kids fishing, summer break is almost here and they will have plenty of time so you need to make some time.

Bait for April along our shore we should see Pilchards starting to show up and Silver Mullet moving north, thread herring “greenies” should be running the shadow lines of the piers and some of the piers will be holding a good amount of goggle-eyes.

Shrimp have been in the Broward area last month and I only saw a few good days, but I do expect to see a few in April so keep your dip nets and lanterns ready and if you see a good SE wind for a couple of days find a place you can shrimp from that is close enough to the water to use a 18 foot dip net, the inlets work and you can shrimp from the seawalls or rock jettys, Hillsboro Inlet would be my suggestion.

Mutton Snappers should begin to move in to the more hard bottom areas of our shores, Piers in and around jettys and the inlet channels, beaches where you are able to cast out to hardbottom “Rocky Sea Floor”

So the Northern Piers of Broward will likely see some Monster King Mackerel, Cobia and maybe even a few giant Bluefish this month, the kings that I have seen in past years and some go well over 30lbs, they also have there days with decent Muttons and Mangrove Snapper.

On the southern piers as the pilchard move in we will see some Nice Snook caught, Nice size Spanish Macks, March was a more consistent month for Pompano, Spanish macks, Bluefish and were caught with ease, this should continue through this month of April.

Best bet from the beach or pier for Pompano will be a double drop loop rig, #2 khale hooks with baited Sand Fleas or fresh shrimp. I advise you to cast as far from the beach as you can get or fish from a pier in the pompano area, it’s funny but they always seem to run in one area on a pier. Banana Jigs “daffy jig” Docs Goofy Jig all work well if you are jigging from the piers and sometimes you can score big time from the beach with jigs as long as they come in shallow though.

Tarpon will start to show up in more numbers heading towards the north at the end of the month, so get to ready to wrestle those 125 pounders from land if that your target species, nothing like trying to stop 100 plus fish from a fixed structure it is the challenge of all challenges the only other fish I know that is equally hard is those toothy critters Sharks, but nothing like the acrobatic show that the silver kings puts on, so get ready that time of year starts at the end of the of this month.

Happy Fishing, the Boatless Fisherman…aka Tom Argue…a Fishing Friend

Bait this month will be Ballyhoo, Goggle eye, Big Thread herring “Greenies”, We may see some small sardines at the North end. Speckled swimming crabs “Calico” have been abundant on the beaches, I would say there must be a Permit swimming close by.

March is a great month it will hold a more consistent bite and there will be more fish along the coast. Bluefish should be around any night we have a good wind off the ocean. Big Spanish Mackerel should also be in the area along with Bluefish during the day. On the Southern piers Snapper, Mangroves and Muttons and, in the past, I have seen some nice Cobia’s caught this month in the the 30 to 40lb range.

Pompano Madness on our piers will begin and anywhere they are being caught should be chaos, as always. But they sure do taste good don’t they. They will bite to the South best, we will see them also on the Northern piers. The morning and evening bites should be best and it will be great to be out on the wooden planks enjoying a good bite with fishing friends.
I am looking forward to some awesome fishing this month.

Best bet from the beach or pier for Pompano will be a double drop loop rig, #2 khale hooks with baited Sand Fleas or fresh shrimp. I advise you to cast as far from the beach as you can get or fish from a pier in the pompano area, it’s funny but they always seem to run in one area on a pier. Banana Jigs “daffy jig: Docs Goofy Jig all work well if you are jigging from the piers and sometimes you can score big time from the beach with jigs as long as they come in shallow though.

Black tips and Spinner sharks will invade the North end of Broward but will be everywhere. A 4/0 wide and cast from the shore should find them this month and a nice head bait from a lady fish will work great. They are a great fight on lighter tackle and I prefer 40 to 50lb test and I love to see them do their aerial acrobatics and rocket spins from those 100 to 125lbders “Catch and Release” that’s how I play with them.

Don’t forget the perfectly seasoned shrimp that will be in our waters this month. We should have a few evenings into the late night to be able to net enough for dinner and they will go great over a Pompano filet. So look for East winds with a North current and a full moon normally helps too.

Happy Fishing, the Boatless Fisherman…aka Tom Argue…a Fishing Friend