February 2021 Port Canaveral Florida Fishing Report

Everything that could and should be expected to bite did. Sharks, red drum, pompano, tripletail and black drum kept us busy on days the seas kept us from heading offshore. King mackerel, cobia, sailfish, black fin tuna, lane snapper, vermillion snapper and golden tilefish made for great fishing.

We can count on fun family fishing for sheepshead, drum, and pompano throughout the port and up and down the beach. I really enjoy taking families with young kids to enjoy this style of fishing because it is the perfect opportunity to make it about the kids. For most of us, our first introductory to fishing was something easy and our first real fishing memory was catching something unexpected and awesome while doing this easy fishing. Watching the kids catch small pin fish and little snappers, just having a blast when all of a sudden they score a awesome pompano or a big drum is priceless. I can’t stress enough the importance of taking the time with the little ones to do this style of fishing before jumping right into the big show.

Will the pogies show up? If they do our red drum and shark fishing will stay phenomenal. With the bait we could potentially have some great cobia fishing. We are long overdue for phenomenal cobia fishing on bait pods, 2011 was the last time we had it easy so come on already.

This is probably the most unpredictable month of the year. I am going to lay out all the possibilities and after I do we will draw a conclusion and formulate a plan of attack for February. We can find color and temperature changes stacked with bait inside 100ft that can make for phenomenal sight fishing opportunities for cobia & sailfish. It is very possible to keep clean water on the 100ft reefs and continue with fantastic slow trolling for king mackerel, black fin tuna, cobia, sail fish and the occasional mahi. Clean water in 100ft is the very best scenario because by now anyone who reads my reports knows that when the king is happy, everything is happy. Chicken rig fishing for vermillion snappers, lane snappers, porgies and trigger fish is one of the most dependable things to do this month so if you find yourself having to venture past 100ft be sure to have a box of squid ready and some live baits or vertical jigs for when you mark some amberjack and almaco jacks. Random blue water trolling might be a option if you prefer quality over quantity. Wahoo and nice size blackfin tuna are abundant this month but very random on where you might find them, covering a lot of water with a big spread and a variety of different size baits is going to be key. If you have a clear sunny day with some current then deep dropping for golden tile fish makes for a great option to put some meat in the box. The conclusion is that February is very unpredictable so your plan of attack should be to be open and ready for any and all opportunities that present themselves. I suggest once you find something that is working that you stick with it because there is a very good chance that nothing else will unless the king remains happy.

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.