Polly Dean.

~April~
Cobia
Homosassa Bay
This month, cobia are migrating northward, following feeding rays onto the shallow flats in Homosassa Bay and offer an exciting sight-fishing opportunity and great table fare.

Look for the cobia to be holding in the maze of channels on the lower tide and following the rays up on the flood tide.

Timing the tide is key. As the water begins rising, veteran anglers start on the flats closest to the channels.

Polarized glasses are a must, and artificial lures normally out-produce live or dead bait. The cobia must first be spotted and then an accurate cast made to the biting end of the fish.

A 4- to 5-inch chartreuse, plastic-tail on a 1/4- to 3/8-ounce wide-gapped jighead is deadly. Savvy anglers fish it on a medium-heavy action 7-foot spinning rig spooled with 30-pound braided line and 3 feet of 40-pound fluorocarbon leader.

Alternatives: On the falling tide, spotted seatrout are feeding heavily at the mouths of tidal creeks in the Intracoastal Waterway in New Smyrna Beach. Five-pound trout are common.

Largemouths are spawning in Lake Seminole. Look for them on the hydrilla flats near the mouth of the feeder creeks.

~May~
Spotted Seatrout
Horseshoe Beach
If there’s a better month than May to fish for seatrout in Florida, good luck finding it. When it comes to limits of trout, the grass flats in the four- to seven-foot depths off of Horseshoe Beach are some of the best places.

Hit the grass bars on the rising tide and drift. A live shrimp under a cork works well, but also collects trash fish. A better bet is a rattling cork with a 1/4-ounce plastic-tailed jig on a 2-foot fluorocarbon leader. During the early morning hours, don’t overlook a compact topwater plug, since it can often draw larger trout.

While the grass flats produce limits quickly, experienced anglers often follow the rising tide into the oyster-laden creeks and back bays where larger trout tend to roam.

Alternatives: Big seatrout are prowling the mangrove shorelines in the Fort Pierce portion of the Intracoastal Waterway. Topwater plugs at dawn can produce trophy fish.

Look for largemouth bass to be feeding heavily along shorelines and midriver bars in the St. Johns River near Palatka.

~June~
King Mackerel
First Coast Wrecks
This month, the near-shore wrecks in the 9- to 15-mile range offshore from Mayport to St. Augustine can be gold mines for “schoolie” kings of up to 15 to 20 pounds, and experienced anglers normally count on limits.

Slow-trolling live bait over the wrecks is the most productive tactic, and Sabiki rigs can collect all the bait you need right on the spot. Carry plenty of rigs, because big barracuda like the wrecks too, and will take some of your rigs from you.

You can also expect to lose a king or two -- or major portions of them -- to the ‘cudas. But that drawback is tempered by the fact that in recent years, dolphin and even sailfish have been caught on the wrecks by anglers trolling for kings.

Alternatives: Anglers in the Port St. Joe area find migrating schools of king mackerel moving inshore as close as the first buoy line. Slow-trolling live bait is normally the most productive tactic.

This month’s full moon sees many big mangrove snapper gathering on rockpiles, reefs, and wrecks in Tampa Bay. Lighter lines combined with scaled sardines or shrimp work.