Fishing Report for Indian River & St. Lucie River - Offshore

Capt. Kevin Drennan
July 18, 2004
Stuart - Saltwater Fishing Report

We had a pretty decent week of fishing out of the St. Lucie inlet. Tuesday morning we loaded up on live baits and found a weedline in 130 ft. of water north of the inlet. We slow trolled our baits and it was not long before the first dolphin hit. Several minutes later we were pounded by the ever present bonito. We also hooked a nice 25 lb. king, a 10 lb. king and one more dolphin. On the way out on thursday we spotted a free jumping sailfish. We stopped the boat and tossed a live sardine at him. He pounced on it and took off. Unfortunately, an over anxious angler tried to set the hook too quickly and pulled the bait out of its mouth. We set up a slow troll in 80 ft. of water and released several bonito when another sail hit. This one was not going to get away.

We pulled in the other lines and chased him down with the boat. We released him at the side of the boat and watched him swim off. We caught a nice king and several more bonito before heading in. We stopped near the rocks at the inlet and threw sardines into the outgoing current and caught and released two nice snook. Not a bad day.

The dolphin bite has been hit and miss. There are plenty of kings and bonito around. The sailfish bite has been pretty decent all week. My neighbor has been catching tarpon south of the inlet. Look for them rolling through the bait pods. More later.

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