May Fishing in the 10,000 Islands

After being disappointed in the outcome for April, I am looking forward to some stable weather! We did catch some nice fish in April and had some good days, but the overall month was less than spectacular. We had some extremely strong winds that really made it tough on the fishermen. Early April had some pretty awesome days of Tarpon and Permit roaming our Islands! The waters were crystal clear and made for some great sight-casting days. On top of this, the backcountry Snook fishing was good, too! Then the winds came, and this changed everything.

So now we are looking for May to finally bring us some warmer waters and an increase of Snook in the Islands. You should also continue to see some Tarpon and the Permit fishing will kick back up. All this makes for some great fishing possibilities. We also expect to see more rain and this will help the Snook fishing. Right now, the salinity levels in the backcountry are super high. This also means the PH level of the water is acidic, as there is no water flow to dilute it. Mangroves put off a lot of tannin, and without fresh water to flush it out, those levels increase. This is something we have talked about for years, but does not seem to get the attention of too many people.

Snook will be my main target this month as May has always been one of the best months for landing big Snook. I love to use some topwater lures early in the morning for that surface bite! It is definitely the most exciting way to catch Snook. And you may catch the Reds and even some big Trout while you're at it. Of course, there will be plenty of baitfish around and this is always a sure way to get on the bite. Incoming tide in the Islands will almost always be the best feed. Early in the day being the best. Snook season will be over in May, so be sure to handle the big females with care. Hoping we have a good spawn this year! If we get a good rainy season we should get a good spawn. They seem to coincide with each other. Snook seem to like the right level of brackish water to spawn.

Redfish are still here, but their numbers are low. They will show up in larger schools in the fall. You may come across groups of 10-15 fish, but mostly it will be scattered fish. This will change dramatically in the fall when schools in the hundreds may be seen. I had an area that was holding some nice Reds and our best day was over 30 fish this April. But that has tapered off and they are much harder to find in numbers now. Typically, we see schools of the smaller Rat Reds in April and into May, but I have not come across them. I remember in years past catching 50-60 Reds a day in April that were all under 18". Not sure if the forage food is down for them not to be here or why, but we definitely need to figure out why. We still have the same amount of area, but those schools just are not around. I am hoping this all is a cycle and we see their return.

Trout fishing has also been off a little. April is a month that sees some great Trout fishing but the days that I did some of it were a little more than disappointing. The guides that I know who are really good at catching them are even saying it has been tough. Maybe May will see an increase. I know I have said this before but I truly believe that until we see the grass grow back, I don't expect to see our Trout recover. How can they? There is no place to hide, ambush, and feed. There is no place for shrimp and small fish to hide. Our grass flats used to hold millions of Pinfish, Shrimp, and even lots of Seahorses and Pipefish. Now all you see is sand with the occasional weed clump. This is why we are catching more Trout on the bars and around the Islands. It is because the grass is gone. Again, I am hopeful this will change. The Trout can bounce back quickly!

I hope you get out and enjoy the month of May as it should be a great month of fishing, especially for the big fish! Good luck and be safe! Capt. Mike Merritt