Captain Greg's Fishing Report for March 2017
Port Canaveral, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Orlando
Last Month's Action
Unlike last year, this February was really awesome and treated us kindly with a lot of days of phenomenal fishing. I really have to give my wife the credit on my report for last month. She takes all the data collected for the last 10 yrs, puts in the number of every species we caught from our 4 boats, then takes temperature and puts it all in a nice little graph. All I do is look at the info, take a best guess at sea conditions, patterns I am seeing, throw in some gut feeling and BAM we have another spot on fishing forecast. Quick recap! Near shore the water stayed warm, clean and then to make it better the bait decided to show up in full force! We had all we could ask for out of February for near shore. Red drum, black drum, triple tail, stringer fish galore, occasional cobia. Offshore we had calm seas and just like forecasted, we had big king mackerel. We also had great bottom fishing, big sharks and a few sailfish, tuna, and cobia to boot. This had to be one of the best February’s ever.
March Near Shore Fishing Forecast
My gut is telling me that near shore may save us this March on half day trips. The big red drum have quite possibly become residential fish and wow what fun they are to catch. The big black drum that showed up will still be around for those willing to take the time to find them. Shark fishing should remain very solid along with triple tail and stringer fish such as whiting. The big question for March is always….. Will we have a good cobia season? The big question to me is what do people consider good? A fish or two by putting in a good days effort is what I think we will see so I will leave everyone to make the choice good or bad for themselves.
March Offshore Fishing Forecast
I write these reports for two reasons. One, so I can help our customers make the best decision on what trip they would like to book. Two, so other anglers can have a little insight on what species to target and strategy for their recreational adventures. This offshore report is going to lean more heavy on advising our March customers. I hate to say it but I think March may challenge us. I think we may see a pattern for a good part of March with big seas and swells followed by a few nice days and then repeat. The big swell will probably shut down everything inside of 160 ft. Near shore may save us on half day trips but if the swell gets too big, then the deep will be our only option. I am going to guess March just might make us pay for such a cooperative winter and going to force us to the deep on the calm days. We will need the time of a full day to get pretty far offshore to target amberjack and nice stringer fish such as porgies and trigger fish. We will also have a chance at a few early mahi and occasional sailfish while out in the deep. March is the month for cobia and I will list it as being a top catch month for them. However with every passing year I get more and more discouraged with the number of fish we actually see. For anglers using this report to plan their day. I do believe you will catch some nice cobia if you put in the effort. Concentrate your effort on the closest hard color change brown to green water but you also need the bait to be there. I do not believe the cobia run will be good for charter fishing days except for leaving a hour at the end of a full day to see if we get lucky and score a quick cobia. To focus any length of time on cobia fishing will be too slow and boring for most of our customers however may be the only option for afternoon half days As I read my report back to myself I don’t like the tone that I am setting but I will always give my honest thoughts. No fluff here! However it’s not all doom and gloom. We will have very good fishing on full day trips where we don’t have to fight the clock. If a half day is all you have time for then we will make it work. I hope I am wrong and we get a March with calm seas and we keep the easy fishing we have had but only time will tell.
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.
Awesome! Thanks!