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From winter back to summer in 3 days is how this weeks looking. The extra mild conditions have make the fishing on the Nature Coast very good.

For seatrout, fish the incoming high tide on the outside points of the keys. The rockier the bottom the better, because the big trout will be right up on the rocks as soon as there is enough water for them to swim in there. The reason they do this is to sun on the warm rocks that were exposed on the low tide to the warm air temperatures. Some of the best baits are D.O.A. 5.5 jerk baits and MirrOlure Provokers. I prefer to nose hook my baits with a 3/0 Owner bait hook, because it increases my catch to strike ratio with the exposed hook. The best colors are glow, pink, pumpkin seed and golden bream.

The nearshore waters out to 12' are holding good numbers of spanish mackerel near rockpiles and other structure. One of the best methods of catching them is to anchor near the rocks and use a chum bag to lure them in. White Marsh fish chum is a good alternative to the messy frozen blocks. A mono leader of 30lb will get more strikes then a wire leader but to prevent cutoffs use a long shank hook if using live bait like shrimp. Give the area about 10 to 15 minutes for the mackerel to show up.

High incoming tide will be mid-morning this weekend. Capt. William Toney www.homosassainshorefishing.com