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Fishing Report for Ft. Pierce, Florida
Capt. Joe Ward
June 30, 2004
Fort Pierce - Saltwater Fishing Report
July 2, 2004
As many of you know our son-in-law -- Sgt. Jeffery Parramore was called to active duty on March 13th and is serving in Afghanistan along with about 100 men and women from our area. On July 3rd at the Freedomfest at Lyngate Park in Port St. Lucie the Ft. Pierce Family Support Group of Battery "C" -- 2nd Battalion of the 265th Air Defense Artillery of the Florida Army National Guard will be raffling off a 1/2 day inshore fishing charter for 2 people which I have donated. All of the money from the ticket sales will go to the Family Support Group. Please come out and show your support for our troops that are serving your country.
INSHORE - Most of the inshore action has been the tarpon and big trout. They have been taking live baits but you have to be there early with the bite being just about over by 7:30am. Look for tarpon at Big Mud Creek and just about every where along the Intercoastal. For the tarpon try using a live mullet. The trout have been on the flats around the Midway Road area and south to the Jensen Beach Causeway. Live pigfish have been the best baits to use.
The real action this past week has been the big snook in and around the inlets. We saw a lot of pictures of snook caught and released and several were over 40 pounds. The fish were caught on live greenies along the rocks of the Ft. Pierce Inlet.
The snapper are making their way into the river with a lot of fish being reported to the north of the North Bridge in Ft. Pierce while fishing along the channel edges with live shrimp. I did have several nice redfish reported along the dock lines of South Indian River Drive. Finger mullet have been the bait of choice if you can find them. There has been a good flounder bite from the jetty's to the City Marina when using a live shrimp.
Surf fishing has been good with plenty of whiting being reported all along the area's beaches. The whiting have been feeding on sandfleas and small shrimp. The best bite has been on the falling tide. On Monday Paul Perrotta caught 5 nice whiting in about 40 minutes. He was using sandfleas.
OFFSHORE - Fishing has been tough for most with the dolphin being scattered all over. I had fish reported from 48 feet to 900 feet but no big concentration in one area. I got an e-mail from Jay and Marti Taylor stating that they went out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet on Saturday and caught a bonita, 2 kings and Marti caught a dolphin. They were using skirted ballyhoo and a 60 lb. mono leader and fishing to the northeast of the inlet and fishing in 80 to 100 feet of water.
The sailfish action has been steady out of the Ft. Pierce and St. Lucie Inlets in about 100 feet of water. Ricky Esin, age 8, caught his first sailfish on Saturday. Ricky was fishing in 80 feet of water out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet when he hooked up a 7 foot sail. He was using a live bait and 35 pound test line. It took about 45 minutes for him to land the fish. Not bad for your first sail.
There have been several nice cobia reported coming from around the Six Mile Reef out of the St. Lucie Inlet and from the Offshore Bar out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet. The kingfish have been in 15 to 60 feet of water and are hitting live baits which have not been hard to find.
I got an e-mail from Rob Gluckman reporting that his twin brother -- Dr. Will Gluckman was here from New Jersey and on Saturday he landed his first wahoo -- a 30 pounder. They were in 76 feet of water off the Loran Tower and using live greenies on Rob's boat "M'Ocean to Strike."
The bottom fishing has been good over the reefs and wrecks. Snapper to 14 pounds and grouper to 40 pounds were reported this week. The water between 90 and 180 feet seems to be producing the larger fish. Also, for you tuna fishermen, there have been a good number of blackfin's to 25 pounds being reported in 140 feet of water out of the St. Lucie Inlet.
The action at the Boils of the Nuclear Power Plant has not cooled yet. You just need to be there when they are feeding and you can get nice size permit, big catch and release snook and a lot of big jacks and sharks. I did get reports of a 33 pound king being caught there on Monday on a live blue runner.
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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