Easy to Catch
These guys will eat almost any kind of bait. This is the time of year that the seabass makes money – lots of money for local charter and party boats. Easy to find on a good fish finder, they are very cooperative and easy to catch. On most drops of the bait, anglers imply need to start cranking fish to the surface. Setting the hook is almost unnecessary.
The big male seabass develop a peculiar hump on the top of their head and at this time of year, the coloration around their head turns green – sometimes almost an emerald green. These are the ones we call “greenheads”. They are larger than the younger males and all of the females.
Catching these fish can be fun even for a novice. This is an ideal time to get a youngster offshore on a calm day and let them haul in some fish.
The Best Bait
The best bait is – any kind of bait you put down. From cut squid to small live fish to other cut bait, all of it will catch fish. And. When the bite gets really hot, a one ounce jig head with a green swim tail grub will catch as many seabass as any other bait.
One nice part of spring seabass fishing is the unexpected bites of other offshore fish. Grouper and red snapper will be in the mix, so don’t scale down too far on your tackle. A big sow red snapper or grouper will scream the line off your reel and or hole up quickly. Be ready for almost anything.
The Bottom Line
Seabass are easy targets this time of year. It is quite easy to clean an area of seabass if some kind of conservation isn’t used. I know one captain who fishes only two or three passes over some of his seabass hangouts, and then moves on to another spot. He refuses to fish out any area. Smart man in my opinion – saving the greenheads for the future!