Spring is here and the warming water temperatures have brought the live bait, scaled sardines or pilchards, back into the harbor and surrounding bays and sounds. Most of our inshore gamefish are on the feed and the “whitebait” as these prey species are known locally are the preferred bait.

  Snook – There are more snook roaming the shorelines than I've seen in a long time. Both sides of Charlotte Harbor, the east and west walls, are holding good numbers of fish, and shorelines from Lemon Bay to Pine Island Sound are also fishing well. Even though these fish are targeting whitebait, top water plugs and flies are also taking fish. The season for harvest is closed, but the catch and release bite is good.

  Redfish – The reds are moving toward the mangroves. This is typical for this time of year as the higher spring tides allow them access to the root systems where they'll dig for fiddler crabs and other crustaceans. They're also eating whitebait and a well presented suspending plug or soft plastic jerkbait will get their attention. For both reds and snook, I like to work my baits or flies parallel to the shoreline. This allows me to keep my bait in the small trough that runs down most shorelines where the fish like to travel.

  Tarpon – The tarpon are here and more and more fish are moving along the beaches, into Boca Grande Pass, and numerous spots within Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound. The larger threadfin herring are great live baits and  larger swim baits and flies have also been producing.

 Spotted sea trout are still active on some of the deeper grass flats around the bar systems of Bull and Turtle Bay and some good sized jack crevalle are schooling up and are all over the area.

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