Capt. Chuck Rodgers from Rattlesnake Point Outfitters was away on business, but he spoke with a couple of anglers who competed in a redfish, snook and speckled sea trout tournament during the weekend, he said. They mopped up a bunch of small redfish and a few trout, but big ones, from the bay. Waters were cold or 57 degrees, and the weather currently remained chilly during this unusually frigid winter in Florida. The anglers found no snook, and the snook population took a big hit during fish kills from the severe cold snap earlier this winter. Any snook that were around probably held up the rivers in the warmth and won’t drop down until later in the season, when the weather warms. Fishing for giant tarpon with Rattlesnake usually begins toward the end of May. Call: 866-439-4305. Visit Web Site.

Lake Okeechobee

Big, female largemouth bass in the lake seemed closer to moving onto the spawning beds, because of somewhat warmer waters, said Capt. Angie from Captain Angie Douthit Guide Service. That was about the only difference in the bass fishing compared with recent weeks, and the cold winter had made the bucketmouths sluggish compared with usual. The bigger fish are the most affected in those conditions. But a few hefty ones were lost in the weeds on a trip Monday on top-water lures. Anglers on trips pitch the plugs like East Texas Big Bass Lures, a top-water with props on both ends, to the holes in the hydrilla. Rubber worms, smaller ones 7 or 8 inches, in June Bug were also fished on the trip. Though spawning fish don’t feed, that doesn’t mean they’re not caught. The bass can be coaxed into a reaction strike, swiping a lure or bait to clear it away from the spawning bed. Some anglers specifically target big, spawning females, the biggest of the bucketmouths, that way. They usually release the fish, but Angie tends to fish an area, not just the beds, and largemouths in all stages – spawning, post-spawning and pre-spawning – will be found in the area. Spawning season lasts a long time on Okeechobee, stretching from September to May, peaking in December to February. Different bass spawn at different times during that period. The lake was as warm as 64 to 65 degrees on Monday, and the mean water level was 13 ½ feet, a normal level. Crappie fishing was best at night on the Kissimmee River that feeds into the lake. Crappies also swim the lake, but angling for them has been better in the river this season. Angie, a professional bass angler, guides when she’s not competing. She enjoys fishing for largemouths with artificials and likes to teach if anglers prefer. But charters can also fish simply for fun and also with bait, namely shiners, if they’d like. Some also jump aboard to take advantage of the area’s rich crappie fishing. Call: 863-228-7263. Visit Web Site.

Bucketmouth bass fishing stayed about the same as before on the lake, said Capt. Butch Butler from South Florida Bass Fishing. The cold winter made the fishing challenging, but charters barreled out steady catches on shiners. The bait can be more effective than artificials in cool waters, and his trips begin to throw top-water lures, spinners, rubber worms and such as waters warm, making the largemouths aggressive. Lake conditions were perfect, with plenty of clear waters and vegetation. Crappies were nabbed best in the Kissimmee River at night on minnows or jigs, and Butch runs trips for them. Call: 863-634-5431. Visit Web Site.

Miami

Warmth finally began to move in, and good sailfishing took off, said Jackie Glinski from the Blue Waters II. The weekend is supposed to reach the 80s, after this cold winter. Trips lit up the sails 2 to 3 miles from shore on baits hung from kites or trolled. Schoolie mahi mahi began to come through 5 to 6 miles from shore. The season was a little early for mahi, but these were the first of the fish, and they usually stack up in the waters from April to June. Hammerhead sharks also began to arrive, haunting the wrecks off Miami-Dade County. King mackerel, big bonito and blackfin tuna also roamed around. Seas were too rough for boats to push farther offshore for swordfishing, but the angling usually gets busy around the full moons. Call: 305-373-5016. Visit Web Site.

Islamorada

Blackfin tuna, amberjacks and almaco jacks all gave up fights at the same waters 10 to 12 miles from shore while anglers butterfly-jigged on trips with Captain Easy Charters, Capt. Bruce Anderson said. So the fishing was great, and the anglers never knew which species would hit, and the vertical jigging was a treat. Plus the blackfins were good-sized or 20 to 25 pounds. The tuna, one or two, are sometimes landed when trips are sailfishing, and at other times a bunch gather at places like the Hump, located 11 miles from shore, and a mess are reeled in for a week or two. They show up like that at all different times, unpredictably, and then they’ll disappear for a moment, except for the one or two hooked as a by-catch, before returning again. The amberjacks weighed up to 60 pounds, and the almacos weighed up to 20 pounds. Lots of yelloweye snappers were cranked up while anglers aboard deep-dropped baits such as chunks of squid or bonito in 400-foot depths 9 miles from shore. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

Lots of porgies and some lane snappers, both good-eating, were plundered on the Miss Islamorada at wrecks in 100 to 130 feet on shrimp and squid, Capt. Ben Loy said. Some of the porgies were large, and an 8-pounder, a huge porgy, was the biggest. Waters were cold for the best yellowtail snapper fishing, and 10 or 12 were plucked aboard per day when the effort was made to catch them. But 80-degree days were forecast for the coming days, and that might make the yellowtails pounce again. A 37-pound African pompano was the big fish of the week and was landed on 10-pound tackle. The bruiser pulled the angler around the boat, good fun. A 17-pound mutton snapper was also hauled in. Out-of-season red groupers were caught and released, an interesting catch. Grouper season opens May 1. The Miss Islamorada sails 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from world famous Bud N’ Mary’s Marina. Call: 305-664-2461. Visit Web Site.

Key West

Blue waters were moving in, and sailfish and other pelagics were
beginning to appear, said Capt. Ted Lund in an audio report on
Over Under Adventures’ Web site. Sailfishing should continue
to improve in the next weeks. A charter and his son from New York
City on Monday wrestled in more than a dozen false albacore on light
tackle. They caught and released a 175-pound hammerhead shark on a
20-pound spinning outfit. They also hooked three sails, landing none, and saw a number of others tailing at the color changes. Lund, the former editor of Saltwater Sportsman, heads up Over Under’s operations from Key West this year for the first time. Having fished from the Keys for 30 years, he’s also the former managing editor of Sport Fishing, the previous editor in chief of Fly Fishing in Saltwaters and a freelance outdoor writer and photographer for publications including Sports Illustrated, Yachting and the Miami Herald. Call: 866-OUA-TUNA. Visit Web Site.