As March started to roll out, I was all ready to transition to warmer weather and water temperatures that put our fish on the move as they prepare to put on weight after the slim pickings of winter. Too, it was close as it was warming up and I actually saw water temperatures in the low 70’s and even started seeing a few bull and black tip sharks on the flats. Then, this last cold front blew through and changed everything. The winds were brutal and overnight the water temperatures dropped into the mid to high 50’s. Moreover, the strong north east winds combined with the new moon tides made getting too far into the back country challenging.
As a result, I had to go back to my winter strategy and work more to the the outside targeting trout and a few pompano in and around the sand holes mixed in with the turtle grass flats. Here, at least I could keep the wind at our backs making casting a bit easier. At times, we switched over to light tackle spring gear and threw soft plastic paddle tails on 1/4 ounce open jig heads. Through all this, we had anglers catch their first saltwater gamefish on fly and their first ever fish on a fly. Both were spotted sea trout. The rod we used was an eight-weight with a weight forward floating line rigged with a white and chartreuse clouser fly.
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