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Fishing Report for Ft. Pierce, Florida
Capt. Joe Ward
April 21, 2004
Fort Pierce - Saltwater Fishing Report
April 21, 2004
INSHORE - The best action around seems to be the trout with regular reports coming from all around the Treasure Coast. Some of the hot spots have been the Moorings Flats and Queen's Cove to the North and on the South end it has been the South ens of Jenning's Cove and the West side of the river just north of the Jensen Beach Causeway. Large live shrimp or small greenies are catching most of the big fish.
Snook action remains good after dark around the area bridges. Live mullet, pinfish or large shrimp are all good choices. A Flair Hawk will also work on the first part of the out going tide. I had reports of two snook that were caught and released at the South Bridge in Ft. Pierce that went way over the slot limit.
The bottom fishing is still good around the bridges and along the catwalks of the South Bridge in Ft. Pierce. The catwalks are still holding plenty of sand perch, small snapper and plenty of under sized grouper. The bridge action in Stuart has been good with reports of big croakers, black drum, snapper and snook. Live shrimp has been hard to beat.
There is still some scattered pompano being reported like the one that Cammie Ward caught on Tuesday. She was using live shrimp and landed a 5.7 pounder. Also, I have been getting reports of some nice flounder around the Turing Basin and on the sand bars just south of the South Bridge in Ft. Pierce.
This past Saturday was the final regular monthly fishing tournament for the St. Lucie Co. chapter of the National Teen Anglers. In the high school division 1st place went to Mark Maxwell of Westwood High School, 2nd was Jesse Meerhoff of Port St. Lucie High and 3rd went to Charles Hunt also of Westwood. In the middle school division Alex Shaffer took home two trophies for 1st place and biggest fish. Alex is from Forest Grove Middle School. 2nd place went to Richard Salamak of Northport Middle School. The next tournament will be on May 8th for the Teen Angler of the Year with the top five students from each school will competing for the title. For more info on Teen Anglers just got to www.teenanglers.com or www.teenanglers.org
OFFSHORE - Still plenty of wind keeping a lot of folks at home but the bigger boats are reporting kingfish action to the south of the Ft. Pierce Inlet in 40 to 70 feet of water. Most of the kings were caught on live baits. A handful of dolphin were caught in 100 feet of water but were scattered and you really had to look for them.
Bottom fishing has been steady but a lot oo north tide has been making it tough. I did get reports of snapper and grouper on the Offshore Bar in 90 feet of water out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet and along the Six Mile Reef out of the St. Lucie Inlet.
I got an e-mail from Gaffer's Bait and Tackle about Wild Bill Reinhardt and John Botelle fishing along the Six Mile Reef with dead bait in 80 feet of water. They brought back 4 muttons from 8 to 10 pounds, a 19 pound African pompano. On the next trip they released a 50 pound Goliath grouper, a 15 pound jack crevalle and a pair of nurse sharks of 250 and 300 pounds. Boo Ginderske fished at the Loran Tower Reef with grunts and landed a 24 pound mutton. Greg Nolte along with Todd Miller from Oregon City also fished the Six Mile Reef and brought back an 18 pound dolphin caught on trolled ballyhoo.
FRESHWATER - I got a call from a very excited grandmother about 13 year old Nathan England. Nathan caught a 9 pound 12 oz. bass while fishing in Okeechobee. He was using artificial baits.
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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