Fishing Report & Forecast Mayport

By Capt. Kirk Waltz

The weather of March should hold a reminder to us as an example on how quick it can change. That being said I believe the cooler days of late March helped our fishery out on a positive note. Look for the jetties at Mayport to hold good numbers of reds, trout, sheepshead, black drum, and ringtails. High clean water should be what you look for to find the fish. On the high outgoing tides trout will be found by casting float rigs on the edges of the rocks with live shrimp. Cover the shallow and the deep water on each spot .Try to vary the depth based on the areas you fish. The water temps are still in the 60’s and the fish will be in tight schools I prefer a light tackle My favorite is Ugly Stix 7ft with a Penn Slammer 3500. If you haven’t tried this reel out you should. Work in varying depths but look for clean water both inside the rocks and out. The reds will be hunting for food on the high fall so go deep. Pitch a ¼ to a ½ oz jig ten feet out from the rocks up current using a jumbo live shrimp. Many of the fish will be oversized so you might have to throw a few back. Sheeps will also be in the same zone so don’t be surprised if you bang a few of these too!

If you’re targeting sheepshead this is the time of year this is when the final push of big spawners will be around approaching the next full moon. A fiddler, ¼ piece of blue crab, clam, or small shrimp work well. A Carolina rig/egg sinker rig is effective or small ¼ to ½ oz jigs are good methods too!

The big giant black drum have showed up well in March and should be around in April also. The high top of the flood tide on the tips of both rock piles is a great place. A ¼ to ½ of a fresh blue crab is the most effective though I have caught many on a peeled jumbo fresh dead shrimp. Typically we are fishing in 36-46ft of water and sometime deeper. Be patient. Its not always a huge bite that you see. They have a slow mealy kinda of bite that at times looks like a small fish is pecking on the bait and it’s a huge 60lber. Remember these are our spawners and don’t make good table fair so I really suggest you put them back. Make sure you have a venting tool handy to release the air from the distended bladders=. This way they can swim back down.

The offshore party grounds should still be holding good numbers of sea bass, ringtails, sheepshead, and some trigger fish and the Red Snapper seem to be everywhere. Check the regs for the legal limits as our snapper are still closed.

The beach fishing should start to pick up so begin to look for pogie pods to show if it’s a particularly warm month. Pogies mean big predators like bull reds, triple tail, sharks, Spanish, and cobia. The pogies, though at times scattered, have been around all winter and warming seas will make them school tighter.

For more fishing tips listen to the Outdoorshow radio program on 1010am or 92.5fm every Saturday from 7am to 10am. He can be reached at 904.241.7560 or 904.626.1128 or go to www. enterprisefishingcharters.com