Curtis Jackson of Valdosta,Ga. with a nice trout taken on a live pinfish under a Cajun Thunder.

Let’s call this month’s report/outlook the good, bad and the ugly. It’s mid February and our winter is still holding on. Speckled trout is closed until March 1, grouper season doesn’t open until April. I’ve lost count of the low pressure systems moving from the west into the eastern gulf responsible for day after day of small craft warnings and advisories. We’ve even had a few gale warnings. Since our grouper closure which started February 1 we’ve only had 1 day of decent sea conditions. In reality Mother Nature can be just as powerful as our National Marine Fisheries Service. Th e very few folks that have ventured out this month have not faired well, only a handful of redfish catches way up the creeks, nothing happening at our big Cedar key fishing pier. If someone has done any sport with the sheepshead they’ve kept it a secret, which is highly unlikely. I visit our city marina everyday on my bike rides and it’s still pretty much a ghost town, just a few working clam, crab and oysterman boats. As you can see the bad is pretty dadgum bad. Now the ugly, our current sea surface temperature is 52 degrees: it did manage to rebound to 59 degrees a few days ago but another freeze last night sent it back to the low 50’s. Until it rebounds to the mid 60’s we don’t have much of a chance of doing any serious inshore fishing.

Now on to the good, speckled trout season opens March 1. Hopefully in early March we will get help from Mother Nature. It may not be an early spring but any relief will be beneficial in cranking up and getting things moving. March’s inshore potential target species include of course speckled and silver trout, whiting, redfish, spanish mackerel, sheepshead and flounder. Sorry no cobia, tarpon or shark until probably May. The key to our inshore success is the all important water temperature. Normal water temperatures allow baitfish schools to return and gamefish to follow. It’s kinda like the CIA tracking terrorist activity, they always follow the money. In March; follow the bait and enjoy.

Now moving briefly to our off shore March outlook, grouper should be stacked up on your favorite rock piles and reefs. Off shore water temperatures are still OK and should be steadily rebounding in March. They didn’t drop as severely as our near shore areas. Just what depth will be the best when the season opens April 1 will be controlled by water temperature and our spring run of sardines and herring. Th e sporty king mackerel will also be following the bait and might show up in our area by late March.

So there you go; “the good, the bad and the ugly” for sure. Just like the Clint Eastwood movie it’s always fun to watch the reruns. I have a good customer who claims to have watched it over 30 times and says each time he picks up on tidbits of new entertaining stuff . So let’s get the boat and gear ready and watch this year’s spring rerun and get out and get on the water. Good luck and good fishing and catching in March.

See you next month “if nothin’ don’t happen”!

FORECAST BY: Captain Phil Muldrow
Native Son Charters, Inc.
Full time guide – Inshore and Off shore
Charters out of Cedar Key
Cedar Key, Florida
352-543-9930