March 10,2004 -- Spring is Here!!

Capt. Ted Springer spent the last two days scouting for upcoming charters. He found good reds on the sand in about 1 to 2 feet of water during the middle of the day. Lures of choice were bone and chartreuse She Dogs. Fish moved up after 9:00 A.M. and stayed until late evening. These reds were both north and south of the East Cut and cruising the grass and sand edges. This pattern should continue right into our summer pattern. As the water warms look for them to be shallow both early and late. He ended the day catching and releasing 10 plus reds from 18" to in excess of 30".

Taking a break from this action he moved to the west side in about 3 foot of water and switched to a Purple and chartreuse, Tidal Surge soft plastic on a 1/8 oz. Jig head. The trout were staging along the break line and eager to attack plastics. The largest trout was 20" plus and after catching and releasing 8 trout went back to the reds.

Our water is reaching the magic 70 degree mark so look for the large trout to make their move to the sand and gravel pockets on windy shorelines, in preparation to spawn. Hopefully the new moon of March will bless us with a repeat of last year. Zane Swopes 11.22 caught during the new moon last March still stands as the benchmark to beat. The new moons of March, April and May could very much bump Zane from the top. The large numbers of 28" plus trout we caught and released last fall should put our anglers in a position to catch their trout of a lifetime.

Footnote:
Yours truly should be back in the water before April unless I have other complications from my foot surgery.