Port Canaveral, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Orlando

May is all about having options. With any luck our 4 month stretch of rough seas will subside and we will be able to enjoy everything May has to offer.

Go blue water trolling. This is the best time of year to do it and it is one of the few styles of fishing we have left where the sharks don’t eat just about everything you hook. If you want to take the laid back approach just go until you find blue water and deploy your trolling spread and let the auto pilot take you East. Put a lot of variety in your spread by using small feathers for black fin tuna, small ballyhoo for mahi & sailfish and big skirted wire rigged ballyhoo or strip baits for wahoo. Make your presence big with teasers and get creative on how to get them outside of your wash. If you want to take the more aggressive approach then run and gun until you find a nice edge of some kind or a area with a lot of flying fish. This requires burning a lot of fuel and at these prices the laid back approach might be the better way to lean.

Yellowfin Tuna trips to the backside of the Stream will be on fire. These fish might be closer than most people think so be sure to key into water temp and all visual cues. Nothing worst than going 20 to 40 miles further than you have to.

A lot of people get excited for bottom fishing in May. I use to love bottom fishing and it was definitely my passion for many years. Can’t say I’m too excited about knowing I have to go bottom fishing these days. Everyone’s mindset and expectations have to be in the right place for it to be fun. Red snapper are just about all you can catch these days and when you do hook a grouper and actually get it coming it usually gets ate by a shark. The same goes for amberjack and it’s just heartbreaking knowing these fish are just being wasted. I really enjoy fishing for vermillion snapper, trigger fish and other smaller species. I also suggest that people start focusing on smaller structure. The wrecks and big natural bottom is infested with sharks so the best bet is to fish smaller less known bottom.

Deep drop fishing for golden tile fish, yellowedge grouper and the 1 snowy grouper you can keep is excellent in May. Plus you might already be out there looking for mahi anyways. Pick a depth, and make 15 min drifts until you get bites. If you don’t get a bite in 15 minutes make a 20 ft jump in depth and try again. Usually it is a depth that produces when it comes to golden tile fish.

Live bait trolling for kings is also going to be great action but the taxes are going to be high. Sharks are brutal everywhere all the time but May is typically really bad. You have a good chance at pulling cobia off the sharks and if you are in tune with how a cobia fights you will need to throw your reel into free spool when you feel the fight change as the sharks try to eat him. Most of the time when you can get the cobia to swim to the surface you are in the clear.

May is a great month but the tax man will make you pay depending on what you do so try to stay positive and steer the course. Our fishery is out of whack and as captains it gets very discouraging especially on days the fishing is tough. Nothing worst than finding a few fish to save a tough trip and sharks eat them.

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.