There is loads of bait in the ICW right now. Large schools of mullet and glass minnows are apparent. This is a good thing because with the bait comes fish that feed on it. This is holding true when it comes to snook fishing. I received a first hand report the other day from an angler that had been out two nights in a row fishing the Highbridge area. He said there was bait and snook all over the area and he was catching a lot of them using a diving plug. I can attest to the snook biting because I landed my first of the season this past weekend. I had two that went 16 and 21 inches using a 7m mirrolure. The smaller fish swallowed almost the whole plug but with some careful hook removal the fish was released unharmed. Looks like it’s time to break out the fly rod to see if they will hit a topwater fly. I had good success last year with a Rainy’s bubblehead fly in the 2/0 size. These flies can be ordered online through Bass Pro Shops.
I’m a little stumped as to where the trout are. I’ve been getting some trout here and there but nothing close to the quantity of past years. Even last year I noticed that the trout bite was slow and this year seems to be starting off in much the same way. Maybe the lack of cold winter weather has had something to do with it or maybe it’s just a cycle they go through. I have no idea but I’m hoping things improve as the season progresses.
The flounder bite has been on the upswing in the ICW with some decent size fish in the 20” range showing up. Last week Capt. Ralph Olivett had three good size flounder he caught in the flats using Berkley gulp jerk baits. I’ve also had some nice flounder while live lining shrimp in the ICW. Flounder are very aggressive and have no problem coming off the bottom to eat bait. Live mullet and mud minnows are also excellent baits for flounder.
There are still some schooling reds in the flats but you have to search for them. Last week Capt. Chris Herrera and I had a group of fly fishermen out for reds and came across a school of about 100 reds but they would not take a fly. We lost the school so we headed off in different directions to search for more and neither of us had any luck. We had very windy conditions that day which can make it hard to locate fish.
The warmer water will also bring in the Manatees and they have arrived. They were all around my boat last week when I fishing a canal in Flagler Beach. I have also spotted them cruising the ICW so be careful out there when running your boat.


Photo: Sal Pasalaqua and his cousin Frank Pasalaqa show off a flounder and a couple of trout they got while live lining shrimp in the ICW.

Before I left for the 10,000 islands last Friday I did some fishing here on Thursday with my friend Miguel Pichardo came in from Utah for bike week. We hit a couple of spots looking for some action and found some trout in the 16” to 17” range. Miguel caught his on live shrimp and I caught mine using a bomber plug, firetiger color. It’s good to see that the action is beginning to pick up. I suspect with the warm weather we’ve had this past week that fishing should vastly improve in the coming weeks.
Let me tell you a little about my snook fishing trip to the 10,000 islands. It’s about a 5-5 1/2 hour ride, I-95 south to I-4 to I-75 south to 27 to Everglades City. I arrived about 10:30 am and met my buddy Nick who lives in Miami and fishes the islands about once a month. We checked into our room and loaded my tackle on his boat and headed to the ramp. We ran about 30 miles to the first spot and had no luck. The tide was not in our favor that afternoon as it was slack low. We decided to head to some open water in the gulf and fish for some trout while waiting for the tide to change. We fished in 6 ft of water and began connecting with trout. The trout there average about 16” with a large one going about 22”. We headed back inshore after the tide switched but still had no luck with snook. We did get more trout, jacks and ladyfish. We called it a day as the sun started to set and the gnats started biting.
At dinner that night we got some info from fishing buddies of Nicks that the snook were deeper into the backwaters but were difficult to catch.
The next morning we ran about 60 miles to a spot on the outside that Nick had done well at in the past. We spooked about five good size snook but couldn’t hook up. We went into Lostmans river and had no luck there so we ran to Rogers river. We worked a shallow creek while waiting for the tide to change and I landed an 18” snook. We the rising tide we went deep into the backcountry and hit a few spots with no luck. The last place we stopped we finally began to spot some snook, you could see them in the clear tannic water. I landed one about 10”, threw at another and when he turned directions the line dragged across his back and he bolted out of there. I spooked another when I blind cast to the shoreline. I must have hit the fish with my jig because the water exploded and the fish bolted. Nick did manage a couple of 20” snook using a Berkley gulp shrimp. In all we covered about 120 miles that day and didn’t catch a legal snook but it didn’t matter much as it is such a beautiful area.
On the home front Roy’s Bait House reports bluefish up to 11 ½ lbs in the surf along with whiting, pompano, and sheepshead. Mike Salzer fished the backwaters for a 4.04 lb and a 7.05 lb redfish. Greg Zvierko had flounder, reds and trout in the ICW. Gary Crawford went offshore for porgys and triggerfish.