APRIL
Largemouth Bass: Lake Talquin
This Tallahassee-area lake may be one of the state's best-kept secrets. Thanks to a comprehensive stocking and habitat management program by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the reservoir has quietly become one of the most productive lakes in Florida, and April is the best month to fish it.

This month is the peak of the spawn, and bass are leaving their normal deep-water haunts to move to the numerous small creek arms. Key spawning sites are any sections of shallow vegetation, bulkheads, laydown logs and brush tops.

Talquin holds normally turbid water, making sight-fishing for bedding bass virtually impossible. Instead, you should concentrate on key cover areas with weedless plastic worms and lizards or large Colorado-blade spinnerbaits in gaudy colors like orange or chartreuse. Savvy anglers also keep a rod rigged with a chrome lipless crankbait, because those bass that have finished spawning may explode in surface schooling activity in the creeks at any time.

Alternatives: Lake George bass are entering a post-spawn mode, and anglers working topwater plugs or soft-plastic jerkbaits in or on the outer edge of eelgrass beds find exciting action.

Snook are ganged up in the Wiggins Pass and Estero Bay area of the 10,000 Islands this month. Topwater plugs, hard-plastic jerkbaits and plastic jigs are effective for these fish.

MAY
Seatrout: New Smyrna Beach
The mangrove-lined waters of the Intracoastal Waterway in the New Smyrna Beach area provide outstanding, if little publicized, trout hotspots. Catching several trout of more than 5 pounds each is not uncommon.

On rising water, fish the lower portions of the mangrove creeks joining the waterway, especially during the early morning or late evening hours. On the ebb tide, local experts concentrate on the downcurrent side of the creek mouths in the ICW and work the drop from shoreline to channel.

Soft-plastic trailers in smoke/glitter pattern on jigs are effective, but a gaudy hard-plastic jerkbait that can work down four or five feet is deadly on "gator" trout.

Alternatives: Shellcrackers are bedding well along the west coast of Lake George. Start your search for beds near the mouths of the spring feeder creeks.

Big trout are smacking topwater plugs along Spartina grass shorelines in the Jacksonville area during the early morning hours on the rising tide.

JUNE
Cobia: Cedar Key
If you enjoy sight-casting to cobia that run up to 60 pounds on a shallow flat, Cedar Key is the place to be this month.

Look for cobia along the outside flats of North Key, Seahorse Key and South Bank. A rising tide can dirty the water and make fish hard to spot. Savvy anglers wait for the clearer water on the last half of the ebb. That is when they target the outer flat edges and reefs in 2 to 4 feet of water, where the cobia tend to concentrate on the falling tide. Find an area where there are rays and you will likely find cobia.

Polarized sunglasses are a must, but once a fish is spotted, virtually any 4- to 6-inch soft-plastic grub on a jig in pink or chartreuse can score. Just dance it on the cobia's nose.

Alternatives: This is a prime month for trout in St. Andrew Bay at Panama City. Topwater plugs fished against shallow grass edges early and late in the day should score.

Permit up to 30 plus pounds are hanging on the nearshore wrecks in the Tampa Bay area. Live crabs are a top choice for bait and can often be sight-cast to surfacing fish early in the day.