The last El Nino cycle was in 2016. The warmer air and water attracted bait and predators, as well as hurricane near misses. Between the Fall tropical storms, the inshore fishing was outstanding. Since then we’ve been in the cooling La Nina cycles and the fishing has declined along with the temps.

The rain and wind of the recent years has differed a bit from this year. Normally there are a few very light wind days in the Winter, and February and March are pretty rainy. This year we had at least one day a week with winds under 8 mph from January through March, but April has been consistently over 12 mph.

The last big rain occurred on New Year’s Day, and this Winter has been relatively dry. What does that mean for fishing?

The shoreline estuaries need rain runoff to support the food chain that supports bait fish nurseries. More rain often results in more bait fish. This dry Winter may affect baitfish later this year and next.

Hopefully we get a break in the wind soon, so the the boats and kayaks can get out and see what has come in since March.