 April 2011
April turned out to be one of the best fishing and catching months that we have had in years in the Clearwater and Dunedin fishing area. Water temperatures slowly rose during April and the bait has saturated the bays. This is spring time fishing’s “Perfect Storm”.
This amazing situation set up a month long fishing frenzy. All of the inshore and bay waters of Clearwater were inundated with our fishy visitors looking to wreak havoc on the bait and any fisherman’s line. Snook, redfish, trout, mackerel, ladyfish, pompano and early tarpon were just a few of the welcomed species. The fish were eating anything they could find, such as, white bait, pin fish and lots of shrimp. Any type or color of artificial bait was working as well. The 1/8 oz. jig head with 3 to 4 inch jerk baits seemed to work the best for trout and reds.
Check out some of the action as it unfolded during April spring break in the Clearwater fishing area.
Doug and Jane came out to see what the commotion was all about. They stacked up a couple dozen trout with the two largest being 22 inches. They also landed four nice redfish, a couple high flying ladyfish and a few mackerel.
Richard and AJ joined me for some catching action. After picking off a mess of trout and mackerel, we headed back into the shallows and found a nice 26 inch redfish. They added a couple more redfish and called it a day.
Jason and Family came aboard and had a beautiful April spring day. Everybody was getting in on the action catching trout, redfish, mackerel and ladyfish. This was their first experience with inshore fishing and they had a blast catching fish.
Frank and his two sons, Jason and Logan, came out to bend a rod in April. They found the fishing frenzy that was going on inside Clearwater Bay. Dad and kids caught lots of trout, mackerel, redfish and a few ladyfish mixed in. Logan, 7 years old, caught the biggest reel screaming mackerel and was so pumped up; he took a dunk in the water. Of course the water was only 2 feet deep, but never the less.
Alex and son Ayaze joined me for spring break and some fishing action. Ayaze wasted no time catching his first redfish. He followed up later with the biggest of the day, a nice 29 inch bronze beauty. Both Alex and Ayaze added numerous trout and mackerel to the collection. While catching trout with shrimp, Alex’s line took off. To our surprise, a tarpon came busting out of the water and was securely hooked. After pulling the anchor line, we chased the tarpon around the bay for 20 minutes. We finally landed the 40 lb. silver king and Alex said, “I don’t know who is more tried, the tarpon or me”.
Joe and Patty, and their son and daughter, Jack and Jackie came aboard for an afternoon jaunt to Clearwater Bay. We cast our first line in the direction of the mangroves with a large shrimp on the hook and instantly hooked up a redfish. Then second cast, same thing. A half dozen redfish later, the bite shut down and we moved on. Lots of trout, mackerel and ladyfish where added to the catch. Their largest gator trout was 23 inches.
Kyle, Kody and Dean jumped on board and we headed to the mangroves to take advantage of the morning high tide. With no luck there, we headed into Clearwater Bay and cast some shrimp out looking for redfish. Kody hooked up and caught several fish before the spot shut down. They also found trout and mackerel on the grass flats inside the bay. Next area was around Clearwater Pass where the guys were throwing live white bait (sardines) at snook ganged up in the pass. Kyle had two screamers on and before we could maneuver, the fish cut him off. While we were throwing bait to these snook, Dean was on the front of the boat casting out an artificial jig and catching trout. He caught 6 to 8 fish all around the 20 inch mark.
No matter what type of fishing you want to do, snook in the pass, trout in the grass, redfish on the flats, mackerel everywhere or tarpon showing up on the beaches and in the bays, April has turned into one of my favorite months to be fishing inshore and on the flats.
Capt. Gary |
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