Capt. Rick Davidson, Editor (grassflats2@yahoo.com
Fishing Report APRIL 2021
We did have some April showers, but it didn’t interfere with a great month fishing in Steinhatchee. It was a huge month for redfish…and some huge ones were caught. Several tournaments throughout the month provided some inspiration for people to get on the water and the turnout for these tournaments were excellent, including the Pro Redfish Series event which took place under tough weather conditions. It’s been a great spring so far, and more to come.
HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS FROM APRIL…..TO SEE THEM FULL SIZE, DOUBLE CLICK ON THEM!
Adrian Rust was very efficient and caught a trout and a redfish on one plug. 
Alexis Cruse with her redfish. 
Austin Osborne caught this nice trout on a topwater plug. 
Brantley Rogers with a pair of sheepshead. 
Guy and DeAnn Sadowski from Savannah found a gator trout. 
Danny Sheldon and Kyle Craven won the Professional Redfish League tournament. 
Kade Dodd and his brother found these redfish at sunset. 
Ken Sink with a beautiful redfish. 
Kenneth Palmer with a fine overslot red 
Kevin Rollins caught this black drum out of one of our rental boats. 
Kip and Jason had fun with one of our guides. 
Lacey Montgomery with a nice marshline redfish. 
Lawton Taylor with a nice Spanish mackerel. 
Lee Doucette caught a snook for one of the unusual catches of the month. 
Matt Loquat caught this cobia on the flats. 
Nick George with a giant amberjack which was released. AJ season opens May 1. 
Phil Zeller and Scott Koons fished the Florida Lure Angler’s tournament. 
Richard Hernandez fished with his son Capt. Les and caught a bunch of kingfish. 
Danny Sheldon and Kyle Craven won the Professional Redfish League tournament. 
Wesley and Candler Bruce found a redfish. 
The most unusual catch of the month: this African pompano caught by Derek Simpson.
May Fishing Forecast
Count on continued excellent fishing. The water temps are still moderated by cool evening temperatures. Easy limits of trout can be found in 3 to 8 feet of water in areas of mixed grass. These fish will be moving onto the three foot flats as the grass fills in. Larger trout can be taken in the early morning in areas with moving bait schools, either mullet or whitebait. The larger fish can be taken on topwater plugs early and suspending plugs, jigs and live shrimp later in the day as they move out to somewhat deeper water. Cork rigs on the 3-foot flats will be very productive as the month progresses. Redfish are showing up both as single fish, and in schools of as many as a hundred fish. Fishing inshore, always keep your eyes open for these schools moving through and try to get in front of them. Fish with gold spoons, topwater or suspending plugs, or jigs and soft tails around rocky structure and oyster bars. For some guaranteed action, anchor on one of the offshore bars like Nine-Mile Bank and throw out a block of chum. Fish spoons or floreo jigs, drift live shrimp, or even get out a fly rod to catch some guaranteed Spanish mackerel and bluefish, but make sure you have a 12 inch length of wire leader. Kingfish can be taken now around active bait pods in 15 to 30 feet of water on free-lined live bait or trolled plugs or spoons. Cobia can be taken on the flats, but the larger keeper variety will be around offshore bars and deeper structure. Always keep a cobia rod rigged, whether inshore or offshore, with a live bait quickly available or use a large jig or swimming plug. They will show up in your chum lines and swim right up to the boat. Further offshore, red grouper are available in 40 to 60 feet of water and limits have been taken regularly by our offshore guides; gag grouper are in season north of the river from Taylor to Franklin counties . Remember that the Sea Hag Marina Ship’s Store has absolutely everything you need for a successful day fishing, including rental boats, live and frozen bait, chum, high-end rods and reels, moderately priced combos, terminal tackle, lures, spoons, soft baits of all types and LOTS of apparel.
Our tournaments this month include the Casting for Christ tournament on May 1, the Fishing for Vision tournament on May 15th, another Hooked on Heroes event on May 22, and the CCA STAR statewide tournament starts May 31 and ends September 6th.
And looming ahead: scallop season, the most exciting time of the year at the Hatch. This year in our area the season starts June 15 and runs through Labor Day. If you need accommodations, boat rentals, or guide trips, make your plans now because things are already filling up.
Capt. Kyle Skipper Www.m1fishing.com Marker One Flats Charters
May is a traditionally good month for fishing and I have a few days left available. It won’t be long before it starts to warm up and we shift from fishing to scalloping. If you want to book a scalloping trip I still have plenty of availability.
