Mark Davis holding a snapper.

The month started off with a bang, especially inshore when some boats were catching as many as 20 roosterfish a day, above the average of a good day of fishing. Mark Davis was here the first week of the month to film yet another episode of Bigwater Adventures and came out of the gate with a nice blue marlin to start the show. Moving inshore, he took a wide variety of snapper, roosterfish, bluefin trevally, and jacks. The big Shamu was a cubera snapper that easily went over fifty pounds and took a Spro bucktail jig. The fish was released.

Offshore has been hampered by warm water most of the month, making the fishing more difficult. Sails were harder to get in significant numbers, but the number of marlins was up from the average. Tuna were consistent all month, but when the pods of dolphin were in the area, the yellowfin were with them.

Cooler water finally started to move in towards the end of the month, and the sailfish became much more active, giving anglers multiple shots each day at hooking up. Roosterfish turned finicky for a few days while snapper continued to bite. March looks very promising, and the fish numbers and the oceanic conditions continue to improve.

Until then, Keep a wet line!

Todd Staley