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Fishing Report for Ft. Pierce, Florida
Capt. Joe Ward
January 28, 2004
Fort Pierce - Saltwater Fishing Report
January 28, 2004
INSHORE - The buzz this week has been about the opening of snook season on February 1st. The catch and release action was steady on Monday with the Turning Basin in Ft. Pierce being the best place to be. Snook fishing around the local bridges from Vero Beach south to Stuart has been good one day and off the next. Remember the slot size for snook is 26 to 34 inches. Most of the fish that were reported this week were caught on large live shrimp or pinfish.
The catwalks of the South Bridge in Ft. Pierce has been the spot to be for sandperch, sheepshead, small grouper and black drum. Small live shrimp has been hard to beat. Reports from anglers fishing some of the other bridges along the Treasure Coast are that the black drum, croakers, snapper, sheepshead and sandperch have been very active.
The trout bite has been very good this past week with the area around Harbor Branch and Round Island producing the most fish. I did get reports of trout from spots all up and down the river but none as productive as Harbor Branch and Round Island. The trout have been in 3 to 6 feet of water and taking a live shrimp or a light colored soft rubber baits. I did get a few reports of redfish along the dock line at St. Lucie Village and also around Harbor Branch and Round Island.
I got an e-mail from George Moler of Palm City stating that he was fishing for pompano on the flats at Sailfish Point when he caught an 8 pound spanish mackerel. There has been a lot of spanish mackerel, ladyfish and a good number of small weakfish all along the river. There has also been a strong snapper bite along the channel edges of the river from south of Vero Beach down to the Stuart area.
OFFSHORE - The sailfish bite was the big news this past weekend with a good of releases reported. The catches were about even on live and frozen baits and most of the fish were caught in 120 to 150 feet of water. The dolphin were scattered in 120 to 200 feet of water and were around the Northeast Grounds. Small ballyhoo with a green and yellow skirt took most of the fish. The kingfish bite slowed a little with fish to 24 pounds being reported. They were caught in 50 to 75 feet of water and a live blue runner was used.
The anglers that did get to bottom fish reported good catches of snapper to 10 pounds and grouper to 24 pounds. I did get reports of a few cobia being caught by the anglers that were bottom fishing.
If you would like to report a catch, call me at 772-201-5770 or e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also contact me on the web at www.captjoeward.com
Capt. Joe Ward
Inshore Fishing Guide
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