EPIC spring time fishing out of the St. Lucie Inlet
Capt. Nick Cremasco
May 16, 2011
Stuart - Saltwater Fishing Report
DayMaker charters has been having some great fishing as have many other fisherman who have been able to get out to fish offshore of the St. Lucie Inlet in Stuart. Trolling for Dolphin and Sails remains pretty EPIC for any standards. We have been averaging 2-3 sail bites a day
on the troll while catching any where between 10-30 dolphin a day. Average size on the dolphin has been around 18lbs. INCREDIBLE! Best action has been between 180-330ft in the blue water with scattered grass. Green/Chartreuse sea witches and Blue/White Illanders and sail lures combined with ballyhoo have worked best. On Saturday we jumped off two Sails and caught 25 Mahi that we kept and the smallest fish was 14lbs and the biggest was 31lbs. We let go 4 10-12 pounders.
COBIA COBIA COBIA. I cant say enough about the excellent cobia fishing we have had for the past 8 weeks out of Stuart. When we focus on these fish for 1-3hrs a day we are catching anywhere from 5-25 cobia in the 15-45lb class. Inshore reefs and wrecks along with the beach have been most consistent. Live sardines and Cobia slayers white or pink work best. Friday on an afternoon 1/2 in just under 2 hrs of focusing on the cobia we caught 8 to 35lbs.
Tuna fishing remains strong 35-60miles North of the corner on Thursday we caught 15 tunas to 30lbs and a dozen mahis from 15-40lbs with 7 fish over 25lbs. Great fishing. Ballyhoo with pink sea witches, cedar plugs and dolphin colored marauders are working best.
Bottom fishing is good to great when conditions allow. If the current is right and tide is not terrible you can get on the fish. If the bottom is marking good but the fish are not biting live bait try butterfly baits or head plugs. Sometimes the bottom is dirty and we have no way of knowing this from the surface. So experiment and this will be your end result
Stuart Fishing Forecast:
Fishing should continue to be red hot preceeding the full moon despite the West winds. Look for fishing to taper off slightly on the back side of the full moon but regain full throttle strength 3-4 days after the moon. Dolphin, Tuna, Grouper and Cobia fishing should remain epic. Sailfishing should remain good to great for this time of year for the coming 3-5 weeks
Target Species:
Tuna, Dolphin, Grouper, Cobia, Sailfish, Amberjack
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