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Fishing Report for Ft. Pierce, Florida
Capt. Joe Ward
March 17, 2004
Fort Pierce - Saltwater Fishing Report
March 18, 2004
INSHORE - Inshore fishing this week has been a challenging with all the wind. Snook fishing has been a little slower this week but I am still getting reports of fish coming from around the Turning Basin and area bridges after dark on both live bait and artificial's. Both the Ft. Pierce and St. Lucie Inlets are holding some big snook and they are being caught on live baits on the last of the out going tide.
Trout action has been good but again the wind has been a big factor. To the North try the area around Harbor Branch, Round Island or the Spoil Islands on the lee side of the river. Live shrimp or a soft rubber bait in the rootbeer color have been hard to beat. To the South try the area between Little Mud Creek and Middle Creek. A few trout over 6 pounds were reported coming from this area.
The redfish bite has been better than usual with fish to 10 pounds coming from along the docks just north of the Jensen Beach Causeway to the South and to the North around the Queen's Cove area with live shrimp being the bait of choice.
Snapper, sheepshead and black drum are on just about any structure you can find. It it's sandperch you are looking for try the catwalk's of the South Bridge or the wall behind the library in Ft. Pierce. There have a some reports of weakfish and croakers around the Sandpit in Ft. Pierce and around the Roosevelt Bridge down in Stuart. I did have reports of some big snook and jacks in the North fork of the St. Lucie River and they were feeding on mullet.
OFFSHORE - Weather has limited the offshore fishing but the days that were fishable were pretty good. I had reports of dolphin in 120 to 300 feet of water all along the Treasure Coast and they were taking small ballyhoo. The cobia are slow but I did have reports of several being caught over the Six Mile Reef out of the St. Lucie Inlet on Sunday and weighing in at 56 pounds. The kingfish action seems to be in around 60 to 80 feet of water south of the Ft. Pierce Inlet.
There has been plenty of bonita around to keep anglers busy as well as some big cuda's. I did weigh a 56 pound wahoo caught by Robert Maxwell of Clayton, Ga. He caught the fish just off the Six Mile Reef trolling a red and purple skirted split tail mullet. Bottom fishing has been slow but productive in 70 to 95 feet of water when you could find live baits.
I got an e-mail from Debbie Liebl and Bud Dawson about an estimated 5 & 1/2 to 6 foot tarpon that she hooked up on just off the beach in Ft. Pierce. She said that they were able to get some threadfin's and hooked one on and then she got slammed. They were hoping for a cobia but they got the tarpon instead which was a first for Debbie. They finally got him to the boat for pictures and estimated his weight at between 80 and 100 pounds.
I got an e-mail fishing report from Gaffer's Bait and tackle - Capt. Bruce Kennedy on the "Fishead" took 3 angler to Peck's Lake and limited out on spanish mack's using jigs, they also caught 4 snook to 32 inches on the way back - Bruce Demears fished off the Power Plant in 70 feet of water and caught a 63 pound cobia while using a rigged ballyhoo on a down rigger - Bill Reinhardt and John Botelle fish on the "Jaw Breaker" and brought up 4 muttons to 15 pounds, 5 mangroves to 8 pounds and a 30 pound jack while fishing with grunts just off the Loran Tower and while John was fishing alone he got 6 muttons to 9 pounds from the Six Mile Reef while using cigar minnows - youngster Cody Baker brought in a 20 pound african pompano from the north end of the Loran Tower Reef where he was using greenie chunks on the boat "You're On".
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
Capt. Joe's River Charters
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