Fishing Forecast with

pring fishing in South Florida is really heating up. Fishing the urban canals like C-14 and the Lake Ida Chain have shown an abundance of snakeheads, peacock bass, and largemouth bass. Live bait is the bait of choice for peacock bass, but don’t be afraid of throwing an X-rap or even the fly rod. When picking out flies for peacock bass, go with anything white, chartreuse, or extra flashy. Peacock bass are still sitting up on their beds. You’ll notice that some of them have fry sitting with them, and it’s best to leave those beds alone even though it is tempting to fish for them on their beds. A freeswimming fish will fight much harder than one bedding. For bass, I have been finding a speed worm or a fluke worked through the hydrilla grass is working best. I personally love a topwater bite, so I have also been throwing a lot of frogs with great success!

Now looking at the Glades, the water level is almost at the lowest point, which is great for fishing. The large fish die-off from the cold fronts earlier in the year has limited the amount of peacocks, but you can still find a dozen or more if you move around and keep a lookout for them. In the meantime, there are plenty of cichlids to go around and they are a blast on light tackle and fly. If you want to learn to fly fish or teach your kids, this is a great opportunity for them to get comfortable with the fly rod with a ton of opportunities to catch fish and keep them interested.

For largies, topwater such as the Spook Jr. is always a great bet. If you’re practicing catch and release, I like to replace the treble hooks with single inline hooks, and it makes it way easier to release the fish and get right back to the action. For peacocks, the jerk bait bite has been excellent and will continue to stay that way throughout April. For all situations, I have found it best to use braided line with a 4-6’ fluoro leader; a straight 12lb. fluorocarbon mainline also works well. I like using fluorocarbon over monofilament because the fluoro is slightly stiffer and has better clarity over the monofilament. If you are seeing the fish and not getting bites, try stepping down your leader material a size or two and slow down your presentation. A good set of polarized sunglasses is crucial to seeing what’s under the glare of the water. For dark water, try using an amber lens, and for cleaner water, try using a blue or silver lens. Both will help with being able to spot some of those big cruisers.

Tight lines all!

Traveling to South Florida to find some of the most amazing fishing locations in the country isn’t a big secret. In fact, Florida often ranks as the number one fishing state in the US, with fishing charters and guides outnumbering every other state. Florida also ranks globally as the leader in international gamefish records.