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The primary targets in May are King Mackerel but again many other opportunities abound on the pier. Come cobia should be hanging around especially when the big bottom rays, turtles and sharks move in. Spanish will be around all month and can be caught jigging Gotchas, Braid Runners or Sea Striker slab spoons. Pompano should be near the shore break at the pier and take jigs, sand fleas and shrimp, and somewhere near the end of the month the whiting should also be moving in good. There is always a chance of a few black fin tuna in May and late may offers a shot at a tarpon. As I said earlier the King Mackerel are the primary target and can be caught best on drifting live or frozen cigar minnows or using the medium size Braid Runner or Rattle traps. May is still a time of optimism and opportunity for the surf angler as many options abound. If you like evening fishing there will be plenty of small sharks to entertain you from late afternoon into the evening. Using a spinning rod rigged with a wire pulley rig and a cigar minnow you can target sharks from 15-50lbs. you have the opportunity to catch several in a couple hours this way. If you want to try for larger sharks using a 114H 6/0 senator reel or larger you can target the larger bull and sand sharks using either a chunk or ladyfish or bonito. You will need to pick a north wind day so you can use a balloon to drift the bait out or swim the bait as it will be to large to cast out. Pompano will continue to be the main target of surf anglers using sand fleas, jigs or Yummy fleas tipped with Fish Bites yellow, pink or orange crab flavor. For the angler who likes jigging May is an excellent month to spot cast pompano and offers good practice for fly anglers targeting Spanish and ladyfish. The jetties in May provide multiple chances at many different species ranging from Pompano, Spanish, Bonito, Reds, Ladyfish and hardtails. Most of the fish at the jetties take a variety of lures but Gotchas, Braid Runners in the small size, bubble rigs and Calcutta jigs tipped with shrimp are best. Bonito will take lures but if you take a Sabiki rig and get live cigar minnows you will do even better. While fishing for bonito you may occasionally run into a grouper or cobia also but either of these will require a net of gaff or some sort to land at the rocks. Black snapper will show towards the end of the month.

May is excellent for bottom fishing for several reasons. 1 The weather is normally wonderful in May, light breezes and small seas. 2 The snapper season has just recently opened and inshore wrecks hold good numbers of fish still. 3 Because it is early in the year the water has not really heated up and the fish are much more active and aggressive and can be caught Jigging with Clouts and Sea Striker Slab spoons unlike later in the year when live bait is a must. Trolling inshore (inshore I mean 10-15 miles or less) you will find exceptional numbers of King Mackerel. Some of the more common places to find kings early in the year like this are the southeast rocks, broken bottom, El Matador Gulley, Nicky grounds and the 18"s. kings can be caught trolling many different lures or cigar minnows (live or frozen).

Offshore truly turns on in May, the wahoo, dolphin and tuna are very close (as close as 25-30 miles at times in fantastic numbers. The dolphin and wahoo prefer to feed near tide lines, weed patches and rips. They like these places because weed patches provide shelter for many small bait fish, tide lines and rips also attract bait fish because of extra nutrients collected in the areas from the mixing or ocean currents. White marlin will range to within 35 miles or so with the Nipple being one of the hot spots. The Blue marlin typically likes to feed in the deeper areas close to the spur, the steps or the squiggles. The tuna can be almost anywhere food can be found from around weed patches, tide lines rips and just plain old open water. Why open water you may ask well it really isn't just open water as many schools of offshore squid and anchovies are present over deep structure and it appears to be just open water. Water color also dictates where fish will be as they like the dark blue to cobalt water over the green water, the blue water is much saltier and carries more nutrients for bait fish there for producing more predators. Grouper will be along edges and natural live bottom. As for the jacks the often prefer the larger offshore man made reefs. The reason the jack like the man made reefs is many of them are old metal hull boats, barges and tanks (metal). The metal reefs for some reason attract large numbers of what we call Speedos or chum mackerel and amberjack love them. Moral here is attract and have the right bait and you will get the jacks the bite

May is the month you really want to be bay fishing as plenty of trout and reds roam the flats early every morning and in the evening hours. Try a Yozuri Tobi minnow, DOA shrimp or terror eyes. Reds sneak in also. As the day warms the trout and reds move to channel edges, deepwater boat docks and bridges. Large jack cravelle roam the bayous most mornings and can be spotted chasing menhaden. Large spoons, mirrolures, and rattle traps work well here. Get your fly rod out for some early morning fun on the flats. Spanish, trout and reds all take flys good and May is an excellent time to get them to bite - the water is still pleasant and fish are aggressive.

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