11-26-2002, 01:46 PM
Water conditions remain fantastic, which translates into great fishing. For the past few weeks the St. Lucie River has tints of green all the way up to the 10-cent bridge. Salinity levels that were almost non-existent are quickly bringing with it fish that vacated the area by late June. This “clean water” should stay here (hopefully) until next June. If we could just get the “powers that be” to recognize that Mother Nature takes good care of the inland waterways and if left to her own devices, could probably maintain excellent conditions all year long.
The trout bite has remained strong up and down the Indian River. The big question is “how do the trout know the season is closed?”. One trip during the past week resulted in releases of 17 trout up to 4 lbs., fishing the west side near Walton Road. Another trip, with a private one-person fare, produced 8 nice trout released fishing the east side near the bird platforms just south of the Power Plant. Both DOA’s root beer and glo shrimp were used, working them slowly in the grass on 6 lb. test with no leader. There’s nothing like hooking up a good fish on light tackle.
I’ve still done a bit of searching for the pompano. Only a half-hour or so in the grass flats, spoil islands and in the Hell’s Gate area. So far I haven’t spotted any serious concentration, but I’ve heard several reports about pompano in the Sailfish Point area, Power Plant and the “quarter bridge”. Many of the pompano being caught from the bridges are small, but the big guys should be arriving shortly. By December (next week), I expect the action to heat up and stay hot until March.
Snook have been deep near area bridges and seem to be attracted to live baits on the bottom and jigs like the Red Tail Hawks and Gulfstream Flair Hawks. Make sure you feel the bottom and you’re in the right zone. Ft. Pierce Inlet has been holding some nice snook, while the shallower St. Lucie Inlet has been a little slow for these fish.
Haven’t made it to Peck’s Lake lately since the surf conditions have been pretty nasty, but as soon as it flattens out, you can expect to see the Catch 22 doing some serious surf fishing. There’s been some scattered mackerel in the Inlet area and rivers, but nothing to brag about. Still plenty of mangrove snapper and black drum around area bridges, with sheephead starting to show up nicely. During the winter months aboard Catch 22, we spend time catching large numbers of sheephead right in the St. Lucie Inlet. In case you didn’t know, sheephead make great table fare (pure white and flaky), but the size limit is 12” to the fork and believe me, you’d rather have a 15-16 inch fish since they have a huge stomach to fillet around, but are well worth the effort. Keep the tackle light and fish slack tide with 6-lb. test, ¼ oz., 1/0 trollrite and a small piece of shrimp on the tip. It’s not unusual during the winter months to hook-up with 40-50 fish during a day, but remember not to keep more than you can eat in one sitting. Fresh fish is the best and when you get hungry again, go fishing again. We have just gotten a favorable decision from the Florida Wildlife Commission regarding the seine net issue, so let’s prove that recreational anglers are not “fish-mongers” and keep the stock healthy.
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone, and let’s go fishing!
Capt. Bob Bushholz
http://www.catch22fish.com
(772) 225-6436
[signature]
The trout bite has remained strong up and down the Indian River. The big question is “how do the trout know the season is closed?”. One trip during the past week resulted in releases of 17 trout up to 4 lbs., fishing the west side near Walton Road. Another trip, with a private one-person fare, produced 8 nice trout released fishing the east side near the bird platforms just south of the Power Plant. Both DOA’s root beer and glo shrimp were used, working them slowly in the grass on 6 lb. test with no leader. There’s nothing like hooking up a good fish on light tackle.
I’ve still done a bit of searching for the pompano. Only a half-hour or so in the grass flats, spoil islands and in the Hell’s Gate area. So far I haven’t spotted any serious concentration, but I’ve heard several reports about pompano in the Sailfish Point area, Power Plant and the “quarter bridge”. Many of the pompano being caught from the bridges are small, but the big guys should be arriving shortly. By December (next week), I expect the action to heat up and stay hot until March.
Snook have been deep near area bridges and seem to be attracted to live baits on the bottom and jigs like the Red Tail Hawks and Gulfstream Flair Hawks. Make sure you feel the bottom and you’re in the right zone. Ft. Pierce Inlet has been holding some nice snook, while the shallower St. Lucie Inlet has been a little slow for these fish.
Haven’t made it to Peck’s Lake lately since the surf conditions have been pretty nasty, but as soon as it flattens out, you can expect to see the Catch 22 doing some serious surf fishing. There’s been some scattered mackerel in the Inlet area and rivers, but nothing to brag about. Still plenty of mangrove snapper and black drum around area bridges, with sheephead starting to show up nicely. During the winter months aboard Catch 22, we spend time catching large numbers of sheephead right in the St. Lucie Inlet. In case you didn’t know, sheephead make great table fare (pure white and flaky), but the size limit is 12” to the fork and believe me, you’d rather have a 15-16 inch fish since they have a huge stomach to fillet around, but are well worth the effort. Keep the tackle light and fish slack tide with 6-lb. test, ¼ oz., 1/0 trollrite and a small piece of shrimp on the tip. It’s not unusual during the winter months to hook-up with 40-50 fish during a day, but remember not to keep more than you can eat in one sitting. Fresh fish is the best and when you get hungry again, go fishing again. We have just gotten a favorable decision from the Florida Wildlife Commission regarding the seine net issue, so let’s prove that recreational anglers are not “fish-mongers” and keep the stock healthy.
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone, and let’s go fishing!
Capt. Bob Bushholz
http://www.catch22fish.com
(772) 225-6436
[signature]