Port Canaveral, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Orlando

The hog snapper came out of his hole, saw his shadow and went back in.

I know we all are over this wind and rough seas by now. It really doesn’t even seem like 2022 has even started yet, due to only about 10 combined days to get out deep all year so far.

Cobia is the fish on every locals mind and with fuel being so expensive and cobia fishing being close. These fish are going to get punished if they actually pop. You better be first to find them, because by the time you see it on social media, too many boats are on it and it’s over. I do believe there is a good chance we missed or are currently missing some of these early fish due to sea conditions. We had already been catching a few fish off rays along the beach the very few calm days we had toward the end of February. A great way to dial in on rays & cobia is to find the spinner sharks. I tend to run and cover a lot of ground until is see spinners, find a color change, spot a free swimming fish or find a ray and then that’s when I start looking.

If you are visiting and going on a charter with us, you don’t need to pay much attention to cobia fishing. We can explain cobia fishing until we are blue in the face and when we start to look, customers give us about a 30 min window and if they haven’t seen one they are over it. 😂.

Since the wind won’t stop thanks to the hogfish seeing his shadow 🤪. The best bet for action out deep in March is going to be chicken rig fishing. Chicken rig fishing is dropping to the bottom with 2 baits on smaller hooks and getting instant bites from snapper species, trigger fish, grunts, sea bass, and smaller jack species.

Let me back it up a touch first and speak directly to our Spring Break customers. These conditions right now, make Spring Break tricky. Think of the ocean as a snow globe. The wind and waves are like shaking that snow globe. Even when the globe stops shaking it needs time to settle. If the day you pick is calm and beautiful, there is a good chance the water clarity is still going to be poor. Spring Breakers love half days and half days simply don’t allow enough time to go the distance needed to try and make things happen. This is why chicken rig fishing is a great option because we don’t need good water clarity and can get quick action. Half days we can’t run long distances to the stream looking for a edge to mahi fish or have time to deep water bottom fishing to see if the sharks will let us catch amberjack. We can’t travel long distances North or South to look for pockets of clean water to live bait troll. All these options work on full days because we need time. This makes chicken rigging the very best option for quick action. Everyone gets to catch fish, you end up with enough for dinner and sometimes a fat cobia follows up a shark and you score big.

Another great option is to be flexible and if conditions aren’t good then stay close and fish for sharks. Every now and then we catch a red drum and once in a blue moon score a cobia or a tarpon. The very best trips lately, have been our nearshore and shark trips. Everyone feels good because it’s calm. Time of day doesn’t matter, so you can sleep in. Nothing fights better than a nice black tip or spinner and they are almost always willing to bite so the action is great. Pictures come out great! Sharks cook up awesome, so keeping one to eat makes for a great dinner. These trips are also a lot less expensive.

Everything is lining up to be a tough March, but being flexible and working with what opportunities the ocean gives us is key. Absolutely have to be fishing for the fun of fishing and no other reason.

The Suzuki Repower Fishing Report is sponsored by Mastry Suzuki Repower

Captain Greg Rapp
Sealeveler Sport Fishing Charters
Phone: (321) 794-3474
Capt. Greg on the web: https://www.sealeveler.com/
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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.