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Fishing Report for Ft. Pierce, Florida
Capt. Joe Ward
June 9, 2004
Fort Pierce - Saltwater Fishing Report
June 10, 2004
INSHORE - The good news for the inshore anglers is that the tarpon are starting to show up. A good number of fish were reported rolling around the mouth of Big Mud Creek the last few days. Most of the hook up are coming from anglers using live mullet and are fishing at daylight. After about 8:00am the fish are going down into the deeper water.
The trout bite has been steady up and down the river. All you need to do is find some clean water just after daylight or just before dark and use a top water bait or a soft rubber bait. As the morning heats up try using a pigfish and fish it in the deeper water. There are still a few pompano being reported but most are down in the Stuart area.
There have been good reports of the bigger snapper starting to gather along the channel edges to the north of the North Bridge in Ft. Pierce. Small greenies are the ticket but if you can't find greenies live shrimp will work.
The redfish have been around the entrance to Queen's Cove and around the docks on South Indian River Drive. Again, it has been an early morning bite with gold spoons and live shrimp working the best. The catch and release snook action has been on the rise on the flats with a good number of fish to 30 inches reported around the bait pods which are starting to show up in the river. On two charters this week we had several snook to 30 inches coming from the flats near Round Island.
All of the area bridges from Vero Beach south to Stuart are holding just about the same thing -- snapper, sheepshead, black drum, croakers and a few flounder. Live shrimp have been working the best for most anglers. I got an e-mail from Yvonne Gorney at Gaffer's Bait & Tackle stating that she weighed in 3 nice flounder that were caught around the Roosevelt Bridge in Stuart. Small greenies were used to land these fish.
OFFSHORE - Everyone is looking for the dolphin and they seemed to be doing a disappearing act but a few lucky anglers did report very scattered dolphin in as close as 40 feet of water and out as deep as 300 feet. Most reports were that if they did find a small weed line it only had 1 or 2 fish under it. Most of the dolphin reported were caught on trolled ballyhoo. Yvonne from Gaffer's reported that dolphin were found on the Six Mile Reef and hitting on live baits of you could find any and more fish were caught on the Eight Mile Reef on trolled ballyhoo.
Several nice tuna were reported in about 100 feet of water out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet and out of the St. Lucie Inlet Pete Sarno fished 3 and a 1/2 miles to the East and landed a 32 pound black fin tuna. The sailfish action seems steady in 70 to 95 feet of water from the Ft. Pierce Inlet south and past the St. Lucie Inlet.
I did get reports of big cobia hanging around the bait pods off of Ft. Pierce. Gaffer's Bait & tackle reported that Gary Voltz and Gary Murray fished along the Eight Mile Reef and brought back a 19 & 29 pound cobia.
The kingfish are also hanging around the bait pods. Try slow trolling a live bait like a blue runner or a big mullet. You may even hook up on a wahoo which I had reports of last Friday. Several fish in the 40 to 60 pound range were caught by anglers fishing for kings.
Bottom fishing has been good along the Six & Eight Mile Reefs out of the St. Lucie Inlet and along the Offshore Bar out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet. Cut baits have been working the best for the big snapper and live baits for the grouper. Down at the Boils of the Nuclear Power Plant the permit have arrived with good numbers being reported. These fish have been feeding on crabs early in the morning. Also, some bull redfish have been at the Boils taking live baits fished on the bottom. Capt. Mike Hemphill on the boat Sir Reel with Joel and Mary Prince limited out on sea bass at the Power Plant while using live shrimp.
SURF - Now that the seas have calmed, surf fishing has improved all the Treasure Coast. Catch and release snook have been very active early in the morning with whiting active all day. Look for the bait schools and you might hook up on one of those 20 to 30 pound jacks that have been cruising the beaches. Remember, watch out for the afternoon storms. They can move faster than you think so keep an eye on them in the afternoon.
If you would like to report a catch, call me at 772-201-5770 or e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also reach me on the web at www.captjoeward.com
Capt. Joe Ward
Capt. Joe's River Charters
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