February/March Fishing Report February 7, 2024 INSHORE: Ponce Inlet and its surrounding areas boast some spectacular fishing opportunities in the late winter and early spring. On inshore trips, our primary target species this time of year include sheepshead, pompano, black drum, whiting, snook and redfish. The sheepshead typically cooperate the best and are commonly found around man-made structure such as jetties, rock piles, docks and seawalls. They can't resist a crustacean bait such as shrimp, sandfleas or fiddler crabs presented naturally, which is why we typically don't leave the dock without at least two of the three this time of year. Sheepshead make for excellent table fare, and we certainly do not mind harvesting them if they make the legal-size limit of 12". Any fish that we keep on your trip can be filleted and bagged for no extra charge. NEARSHORE: The nearshore fishing can also be very good in the coming months. Weakfish, Sheepshead, Black Drum, Giant "Bull" Redfish and even sharks can be caught around many of our nearshore artificial reefs. There is often opportunities for spanish mackerel and bluefish along the beaches this time of year as well. If the timing is just right, you may even get to witness a Manta Ray or two migrating North as the water temperature begins to rise. Often times they will have cobia swimming with them on their journey, which makes for the ultimate sight casting experience. OFFSHORE: This is an awesome time of year to target snapper on the artificial reefs within 20 miles of the inlet. On a 6–8-hour charter, we will be dropping natural baits such as live shrimp, squid, and cut baits, looking for lane, mangrove and vermillion snapper. It's almost a sure bet that you will catch your fill of the 'endangered' red snapper and possibly even a mutton snapper or cobia in the process. On our full day trips, we will often mix in a bit of trolling where king mackerel, mahi-mahi, blackfin tuna, wahoo, barracuda and even sailfish are possible encounters. However peak trolling season will usually kick off towards late March and last through the end of May.