Jacksonville Fishing Report Spring 2025

I've been doing more fishing than writing over the last few weeks but lets catch up! The Spring fishing has wrapped up at this point but we enjoyed some great inshore, nearshore, and offshore action on the days we could get out. It's been a windy few months and the Wahoo calendar is already starting to fill for next winter after we had to push some trips due to all the storms.

Inshore the Sheepshead fishing was wide open over the last couple months during the spawn. In the St. John's and the ICW the Redfish and Trout bite has been hot and we had a fun day fishing the first year of the Triple Challenge catching some great Redfish but not being able to find the right Flounder to round out a slam. The Flounder fishing is picking up now as we move into May and should only get better over the next few weeks.

It wasn't a wide open Cobia run this year but we made the most of the opportunities that we had on the beach bite. It was fun to share that experience with some new clients who had never seen the Manta rays or free swimming Cobia. The best fish of the year was a sight casted free swimmer on a day we saw no Mantas but went 1/4 on nice size free swimming fish that were just riding the swells North. The other notable catch this season was one of my own, after Capt. Matt. Chipperfield tagged a ray with his jig I put him on the helm and took a turn on the tower. Just North of the Jax Pier we spotted a Manta working in very shallow, swirling into 3-5 foot of water and working mostly inside the sandbar. Usually the shallow rays are a waste of time, in over a decade of chasing the migration there have been only 2 good I can recall catching in less than 15 feet of water. Lucky for me it was my turn and before we even slowed down on the apporach I could see the fish hovering over the right wing. I yelled down from the casting platform "fish on this one" and launched a jig as the ray swirled again changing direction. The fish had no hesitation and came off it's companion to garbage can the bait, "Hooked up!" In the shallow water the fish was quick to get back to the Ray and it was a delicate dance to keep the line tight but back off the drag enough to not put too much pressure on what was now ray and fish as the 40lb leader rubbed the wing. After melting the Saragossa for a few heart wrenching seconds the pressure changed and I breathed with relief as the line began to change angles from the ray and I could feel head shakes again, game on!

Offshore we had a great Wahoo season this winter, more fish than the last few seasons and some great days on both the troll and live baiting. We never landed one in the triple digits but the quest continues, saving it for next winter on a declared day! The Mahi bite has been fantastic over the last couple weeks and hopefully we see that continue. Grouper opened May 1st and we started with a bang. The weather wasn't ideal for the opener but we made it out with a nice well full of live sardines and cigar minnows and caught a nice mixed bag. The first four baits of the season resulted in 2 Gag grouper, a Scamp, and a Mutton. The flatline bite was hot as well yeilding 6 gaffer mahi on live baits just drifting out the back. We ended the day on a hot hambone bite, stacking up almost a dozen delicious yellow eye snapper on the deep side on the break.