Month: March 2024
Posted on
March 2024 – Saltwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
The rods are bending at Martin Family Charters! March has been an interesting month when it comes to the species of fish caught. Most of the time, speckled trout and redfish are the most common species targeted in the Indian River, Mosquito Lagoon, and Tampa Bay. However, most of our success has been been catching weak fish, Spanish mackerel, grunts, porgies, catfish, snapper, and jacks. The variety of fish has been a lot of fun to witness, not knowing what will come up from the depths! It has made the most sense to fish nearshore on the calm days, and stay inshore on the windy days. Safety and fun are our #1 priorities so we especially want to thank some of our guest that have braved the weather on some of those cold, rainy, or windy days. With that, the bait fish seem to be plentiful which really makes the next few months look very promising. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the water.
Posted on
March 2024 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
March has been a wonderful month for freshwater fishing here in Florida! Most of the time, the spot you are fishing is the most important factor in catching fish. However, in March it seemed as though the weather has played the most important role. During the spawn, the largemouth bass scatter as they move on and off their beds. This led to us fishing multiple spots in a short amount of time to yield the best results. Largemouth bass can spawn in depths up to 12 feet or so based on water clarity. Typically, the larger females will lay the eggs while the males protect the bed. For the majority of the year it is difficult to determine if a bass is female or male, with the exception of the spawn. The full bellied females will be red under the belly where they lay their eggs while males could have a bleeding tail, mouth, or pectoral fins from cleaning the spawning bed. Knowing that, we have had successful charters using shiners, slow moving soft plastic worms, flukes, and lipless crankbaits. With the weather starting to warm up, it looks to be an amazing start to 2024. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to seeing you on the water!
Posted on
March 2024 – Freshwater
BY: Tim / 0 COMMENTS / CATEGORIES: Uncategorized
March was on fire! After the fish have spawned, the bass tend to feast on the new fry that consist of minnows, shad, and other baby bass. Balls of bait fish get corralled by schooling fish, and this is where we’d see them busting on the surface. The challenge wasn’t choosing what lure to use, but rather making sure we were within casting distance of the corralled bait. This was easier said than done, as sometimes the schools moved away too quickly. However, when we would get those top water strikes, there’s nothing more exciting!
As you know, most of our trips are with families. Long cast and refined retrieval tactics are things to be learned in the future, so for now we’d focus on using live shiners to ensure we were maximizing our chances for success. There were times in March we had to be a little patient, but all in all we caught a good amount of largemouth bass, bowfin, and long-nose gar. We are looking forward to April, and hopefully we can add some crappie to the list. Thank you for reading!
