With the sweet smell of orange blossoms in the air and local songbirds singing at dark thirty in the morning and the time change, I believe winter is behind us.

We may still experience some cool conditions but cold days are daydreams later this year. The trout bite remains the bread and butter of the Nature Coast. Any moving tide in shallow water has been the best bite, poling the boat and specifically targeting limestone ribbon rock will get the bite.

The near shore rocks are holding good numbers of Spanish mackerel on free-lined lived shrimp.

Offshore, Capt. Chris Wilkins has been getting amber jack out at sixty feet on top water plugs. The catch-and-release grouper bite is better than the amber jack crashing the surface at sixty feet.

Other good catches include good size mangrove snapper, hog fish, sheepshead and big grunts. Live shrimp has been best for the snapper, sheepshead, and hogfish.

High incoming tide will be in the morning this weekend.

To schedule a fishing charter excursion with Captain Toney, visit his website.

If you want to learn more about how to catch Nature Coast fish from Captain Toney, subscribe to his videos at https://inthespread.com