COULD THIS BE THE WEEK

For far too long now this report has sounded like a broken record every week were we spend more time talking about how cold the weather has been rather than how good the fishing is. Last week I changed focus and looked ahead to upcoming days of warmer spring fishing. I fully thought that by the time this week rolled around we would have some good fish stories to tell. Well, Mother Nature thought otherwise and again we suffered through a week with record cold temperatures. And if that wasn’t enough, combine the cold with the relentless north wind and it was a pretty miserable week to be on the water. Matter of fact, the trips we had on the books we cancelled and fishing reports were extremely hard to come by.

Going into the weekend things were looking up as the weather was gradually warming each day and winds were slowly subsiding. I really believe with a few days of good weather fishing will improve very quickly as well as our attitudes. An angler can only be constricted to land or fish in unfavorable conditions for so long before they become very irritable and difficult to be around. Maybe anglers fishing in the northern states have learned to cope with it, but here in sunny, warm southwest Florida it’s not something we are or want to be accustomed to.



This week may provide the big change we are all eagerly awaiting, a warming trend is forecasted and the official start to spring is just over a week away. I have a feeling when the season does change it will do so quickly and the fish will respond accordingly. While we cannot predict exactly when this will happen we can prepare and be ready to take advantage of it.

Watch those water temperatures and remember seventy degrees is the magic number give or take a degree or two when you need to hit the water for our first good dose of spring fishing. With the water temperatures running colder than normal for so long the fish have adapted so you might expect the fishing to go off even sooner, well before it hits seventy degrees.



Sooner or later the winter cold will have to give away to the warmer days of spring, but the question remains, Will this be the Week?



 “Catch the Action” with Captain Bill Russell