Captain Greg's Fishing Report for April 2017
Port Canaveral, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Orlando
Last Month's Action
Last month treated us well overall and if anyone wants to reference my March report it played out exactly how I thought it would. Our Near shore fishing absolutely saved us on half day trips and provided really great action on most days. We caught many different species of sharks, big red drum that I am now convinced are residential fish. We had several big goliath grouper, triple tail and different species of smaller fish such as sheep head, pompano, whiting and weak fish. The offshore action was good on full days when we had enough time to find clean water to slow troll for kings or when we had time to get out to the deep water to fish for amberjack, trigger fish and to troll for dolphin fish and sails. The dolphin fish are trickling in so we are looking at a good start to April. The sharks fishing on our full day trips has been unreal. They have almost plagued us but we have ideas in the works to take our shark fishing to another level of excitement. The evening shark trips close in have also been uncharacteristically good for the month of March and I expect shark fishing to remain on permanently good status from here on out. I can’t forget to mention cobia. Yes cobia fishing was terrible and until we get some help from our fisheries management it will continue to get worst. Problem is once they help restore a resource they never give it back.
April Near Shore Fishing Forecast
Traditionally April is tough when it comes to near shore action. It seems for no apparent reason shark fishing gets tough along with everything else. However, I think it will be different this April. The best chance of any kind of cobia action will be the first 2 weeks of April along with triple tail. The shark fishing shows all the signs of remaining good. This totally goes against almost all of my historical data but I need to go with what I am seeing and my gut on this one.
April Offshore Fishing Forecast
Oh boy, here we go, and lets release the flood gates. I think we will see our last bit of nasty sea conditions after the first week or so of April but maybe that is just wishful thinking. Immediately after this is when we will find our only short shot at any kind of cobia run. Look near shore but also out to about 8 miles. That is flood gate one. About the second week of April maybe even earlier we will have our mahi run. Unfortunately it won’t be anywhere near the level of last year’s run because the amount of pressure put on these fish is going to be on another level. In this case those willing to fish rough days the ocean will thin the crowd and make your fishing more successful. That is flood gate two. The smoker king mackerel will be back as soon as we lose the swell followed by a few consecutive days of calm seas if you put in the time and effort to locate them. Flood gate 3. The slow trolling pretty much like always will be your safe bet for a successful day with good variety. Focus your attention between 70 and 100 ft to get a good variety of kings, dolphin fish, cobia and the occasional wahoo or sail. The kings will always be the most dominant specie. Bottom fishing for amberjack will remain good out in the deep if you can reel them past the sandbar sharks. 60 to 100ft bottom has actually been really good for Ocean Obsession Port Canaveral’s top Party Fishing Boat. They are crushing the muttons and mangrove snapper. The success of mutton and mangrove snapper fishing is hard to replicate on a private charter or personal boat but killer days can be had combining a little slow trolling and bottom fishing in the same area. Shark fishing will be very good on full days for big sandbar sharks and hammerheads. Just because you can’t eat them don’t underestimate the fun they are to catch. When it boils down to it we should all be fishing for the fun because the amount of money spent to own and use a personal boat or to afford a charter will buy a awful lot of groceries.
About Captain Greg's Reports and Forecast
Captain Greg has been fishing the waters of Port Canaveral and the Atlantic for over 30 years. He has the largest and most highly rated private charter business in Port Canaveral, Sea Leveler Sport Fishing Charters. Greg and his team of full time captains fish well over 200 days each per year. We have kept detailed catch history for every trip ran since 2010. You can access this history at www.sealeveler.com/reports. His engineer wife, Amber, has analyzed the catch history along with other historical data such as water temperature and weather patterns. Greg uses his fishing experience and knowledge along with his wife’s statistical analysis to bring you the best fishing report available for Port Canaveral. Greg will give you the honest truth on how the fishing has been along with his best prediction of what to expect by using all of this information.