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Fishing Report for Ft. Pierce, Florida
Capt. Joe Ward
February 11, 2004
Fort Pierce - Saltwater Fishing Report
February 11, 2004
INSHORE - Reports of good snook catches this week coming from around the local bridges of the Treasure Coast and in the Turning Basin in Ft. Pierce. Live shrimp, pinfish, pigfish and big feathers have all been working well. Most of the fish have been caught after dark.
Trout fishing has also been good all over the river when the wind wasn't a factor. Live shrimp fished under a popping cork has been hard to beat. The second choice has been an albino colored Zoom bait fished weedless in 2 to 4 feet of water and fished very slow.
There are still plenty of small snapper and under sized grouper around the structures and along the channel edges. For the snapper try a live shrimp and for the grouper try a pinfish. The sheepshead are here and there are plenty of them around the area's bridges and docks. Small crabs or small live shrimp have been working just fine.
The area bridges have been giving up a lot of sandperch and black drum. On Tuesday Cammie Ward caught an 8 pound black drum and Audrey Wilson caught a 7 & 1/2 pound black drum while fishing near the South Bridge in Ft. Pierce. They both caught a limit of snapper and were using a live shrimp for bait. To the South around the Stuart area there have been a lot of croakers and some pompano. The spanish mackerel and bluefish are starting to work their way inshore. Just look for the birds and you will find the fish. One place to try would be the area around Hell's Gate in Stuart.
The local chapter of the National Teen Anglers did manage to get their tournament in last Saturday despite the 15 to 20 minutes of rain that we had. The fishing was tough and neither the middle school or high school division had a third place winner. In the middle school division Ricky Willis of Northport Middle School took 2nd place and Justin Rader of Northport Middle School and Carlos Gonzalez of Forest grove Middle School tied for 1st place. In the high school division it was Chad Painter of Westwood High School for 2nd place and David Adams, also from Westwood took 2 trophies, one for 1st place and also biggest fish of the tournament. The Teen Anglers would like to thank all the people who volunteer their time to that these kids fishing. Without the volunteers the kids would not be able to fish! For more info on Teen Anglers or to make a donation just go to the website at www.teenanglers.org
OFFSHORE - With the sea conditions being up and down, the reports are spotty with good fish out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet one day and out of the St. Lucie Inlet the next. If you fish out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet try going to the North and look for the rays. They have been holding a lot of big cobia. The kingfish have been in 70 to 80 feet of water and taking live baits. A few dolphin and sailfish have been in 135 feet of water. Out of the St. Lucie Inlet try the Six Mile Reef for kingfish, snapper and grouper and south of the Inlet for sailfish starting in 100 feet of water.
I got an e-mail for Danny Markowski stating that he and the crew of the Goin Deep caught 3 dolphin in 120 to 150 feet of water. The fish weighed 42, 14 and 8 pounds and were caught trolling lures. They also released a sailfish. The crew consist of Danny, DJ Markowski and Scott Ellis. Danny said that they just had a great day of fishing.
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
Inshore Fishing Guide
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