Inshore Fishing Report
Our late spring Snook fishing has been heating up for anglers in our area! We are beginning to get into the best time of the year for Snook fishing as they prepare for the summer spawn. Not only do we have a chance to catch a good number of fish, this is the time of year where you tend to see a lot of the bigger breeder Snook caught. When you are targeting or catch the breeder fish, please remember to treat them with care when caught as they will be providing us with our future Snook population. Using circle hooks and reducing their time out of the water are helpful to ensure a strong release of the fish. Snook season remains open until June 1st if you are still looking to harvest a slot. A lot of Snook are starting to move around and are starting to stack up around the bridges as they inch their way closer to the inlet. The Jensen Causeway, Stuart Causeway and 10 cent bridge have produced steady action for those Snook fishing. Fishing live Croakers underneath the concrete blocks or along the fenders will give you a good chance at getting bit. We should begin to see better numbers of Snook in and around the inlet in May. There have already been a few fish showing up in that area as Hole in the Wall has been productive as of late. Anglers will find a lot of success live baiting this time of year with either Croakers, Pilchards, Threadfins or Mullet. If you’re looking for live bait, we have had a steady supply of Croakers available at the shop. Bryan and Mike with Stuart Live Bait have also had a steady supply of Pilchards and Threadfins, give them a call or text the day before your trip to reserve your baits, 772-985-0425. There has been some bait scattered throughout the river over the past few weeks if you’re looking to catch your own bait as well. If you are planning on going out for an evening or night trip, the dock lights have been very productive and there have been a few Trout mixed in with the Snook in certain areas. Live Pilchards, live shrimp, small paddle tails or artificial shrimp will be some of your best bait choices if you’re looking to hit the lights. Those fishing by land have found success at the Jensen Causeway, Indian Riverside Park, wading on the east and west side of the river north of the Jensen Causeway also look for the Snook bite to improve at the Ft. Pierce jetty. With the temperatures heating up, if you are planning on fishing in the afternoon or later in the morning on some of our warmer days, try to fish in areas with either deeper water, flowing current or shaded areas as the Snook will head to these areas as the water heats up. If you are looking to fish artificials, mornings, evenings and at night will be your best bet.
The Pompano fishing at the Jensen Causeway east side relief bridge has been really good throughout the month of April and has once again been the best month of the year for those targeting Pompano inshore. A lot of the Pompano have been caught directly at your feet up to 10ft away from the bridge so be sure to work your jig through that zone. The best action has been on the second half of the incoming tide and throughout the outgoing tide. You’ll definitely want some current flowing as it really slows down during slack tide. The three hottest jigs have been pink with a chartreuse teaser, chartreuse with a pink teaser and chartreuse/pink with a white teaser. 3/8oz and 1/2oz jigs have been the most popular sizes. Some guys have been picking off a few Pompano on the Thumper Shrimp as well. A few fish have been picked off at the Stuart Causeway east side relief bridge as well as off the Sailfish Flats, but the majority of the action has been coming from the Jensen Causeway. Over the past few years April has provided us with the hottest Pompano bite there and that action has carried over into May so we can hope for the same this year. Along with the Pompano, bycatch has consisted of Spanish Mackerel, Croaker, Jacks and lady fish on the Pompano jigs.
Our Tarpon fishing has been on the slower side so far. We’ve seen a few picked off in some of the deeper channels, there have been some up around the power plant and some in the 30-40lb class around some of the docks in the St. Lucie River. Last year around this time the Tarpon bite was better around the bridges due to crabs flushing through on outgoing tides, but the crabs have been late this year. We’ve heard reports of crabs starting to trickle through the bridges so hopefully the numbers of crabs increase and the Tarpon bite improves.
Those fishing shrimp around structure have been able to stay busy with Triple Tail, Sheepshead, Snappers, Croakers and a variety of other species.
Offshore Fishing Report
The Blackfin Tuna bite has been hot once again out at Pushbutton Hill with some big ones in the mix. They have been caught by those drifting live baits, kite fishing, trolling and on jigs. If you’re looking to troll for them with artificials; cedar plugs, small squid chains and tuna feathers have been very popular choices. If you’re planning on trolling for them, you will want to get out there early as the Tunas typically go down deeper when more boats start showing up and as the sun gets higher. Throwing big poppers will also get their attention when you see them busting on the surface which makes for a really cool bite. If you are live baiting for them, you should have a rod or two rigged with some leads, you can mark the Tunas on the screen and drop your live baits or jigs down to the depth they are at. Some days they will cooperate and stay up on the surface, but it is always good to be prepared! Along with the Blackfins, there have been a few Skipjacks and true Atlantic Bonitos in the mix.
Historically May provides us with some of our best Mahi fishing of the year. Over the past few years we also have seen some of the biggest Mahis of the year caught in May. The Mahi fishing was pretty slow throughout April, but they started showing up in much better numbers to close out the month with some bigger ones in the mix. Over the next few weeks, schools should become more prevalent. Last April’s Mahi fishing was very slow and it really turned on in May so we can hope for the same this year as it looks like we are on the right track. Keep a pitch rod ready with either a bucktail jig or rigged with a hook ready for cut bait. If you get into a school, keep one fish in the water to keep the school around. Look for weedlines, floating structure, color or temperature changes, birds, bait or signs of life to increase your odds of finding some fish. Focusing on depth isn’t always the key, but finding the right condition definitely is as the fish could be in 140’ one day and out in 350’ the next day. You will see boats both trolling ballyhoo and fishing live baits this time of year, both of which can be effective strategies. It isn’t a bad idea to run a planer rod with all the Mahi around, there could be a Wahoo nearby. Sails and Kings have been frequenting the wrecks and reefs out front of our inlet in 90’-110’ and to the south of us around the Loran Tower.
Bottom fishing has begun to really pick up for those looking to fill the cooler and Grouper season has reopened. Remember that if you are going bottom fishing, FWC requires that you have a venting tool and descending device onboard with you. If you need either of these tools we have them available at the shop. If you’re looking to go after some Grouper, fishing big cut baits, whole squids and larger live baits will weed out a lot of the smaller fish and isolate your catches to mainly Grouper and Amberjacks. You will want to fish heavy tackle to get these fish off the bottom, 80-125lb leader, heavy line, plenty of drag and leads heavy enough to keep your bait pinned to the bottom will help find the result that you are looking for. Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight when targeting Grouper! Methods such as slow pitch jigging are also extremely effective. If you’re looking to target Snowy Grouper, look for ledges out at Pushbutton and deeper and fire a deep drop rig down with whole squids to see if you can get a Snowy to cooperate. Mutton Snapper fishing has been picking up in the 70’-90’ range and they should continue to bite for the next few months. You will want to fish a long leader, typically about 40’ of 40lb and enough lead to hold the bottom as they do get line shy. Live baits along with larger dead baits such as grunt plugs, butterflied Ballyhoo and Bonito strips are some of the go to choices. Fishing a larger dead bait is very effective because it allows you to keep bait on your hook while the “pickers” such as grunts and smaller reef fish pick away at your bait. Those fish picking at the bait will also get the Mutton’s attention and they will come over to check out what they are feeding on and will eat the bait. The Mangrove Snapper bite has been picking up as well. Fishing live pilchards will typically get the job done and they can be found on a majority of our local wrecks and reefs. The Vermillion Snapper bite out at Pushbutton has remained consistent too.
Surf Fishing Report
April provided some steady Pompano action off our local beaches. The majority of the action ranged from 60-100yds off the beach and action has been found both in the mornings and in the afternoon. If you are fishing multiple rods, it is always wise to vary your casting distances to see where the fish are feeding that day. Hot baits have been FishBites EZ Flea, Powerlime, Electric Chicken and Flesh/Pink Crab. Anglers have also found success fishing with sand fleas. We are still hearing about schools of fish caught to the south of us which will have to work their way north so we should expect to see a little more Pompano action before the season is over.
With the Pompano season winding down, we should expect to see the Whiting and Croaker fishing start to improve by the end of the month. It is very important to not overcast when targeting them as most of the time the best action will be found right in the first trough. Pieces of shrimp, shrimp FishBites or bloodworm FishBites are going to be your best bait options for them. Along with the Whiting and Croakers, we should begin seeing some Snook head out to the beach by the end of the month. You will see a lot of anglers will have a spare rod rigged up with a sabiki rig in case any pilchards push through, they will free line the pilchards for the Snook. If you catch a smaller Whiting or Croaker, you can use that for bait as well.
Lake Okeechobee Fishing Report – Capt. Angie Douthit
What’s biting now fishing on Lake Okeechobee? Bass and Bluegill. The crappie bite ended just
a few weeks ago and was another stellar season for both quantity and quality specks and bass.
The bluegill are spawning in the shallows and will continue throughout the summer months
into early fall, so if you don’t want to fish in the heat and avoid afternoon rain showers, October
is a great time to book a trip for bluegill; crappie and bass. I provide all tackle for all variety of
species and my new fully-rigged Caymas bass boat can accommodate 1-3 Anglers. f you’re
waiting to book a trip for crappie “specks” I would suggest booking several months out to get
your preferred date(s). The crappie and bass spawn happen during the winter and early spring
months and it’s also the busiest time of year to fish the big O. Areas out on the lake to try now
are: Kissimmee River; Tin house; 2 nd to 4 th point; parts of Indian Praire; parts of Horse Island and
the Dyess Ditch area; some areas in the Monkey box and Shoal and the north/west side of
Dupree bar. If you’re fishing the east side try areas around Nub N Slough; Hendry Creek and
around J & S back in. Bass lures to consider are: worms; swim baits/swim jigs; shallow jerk baits
(hard/soft); some top water; flipping/pitching (isolated cover); shallow crank baits. Color
schemes are shad; bluegill; crawdad and tilapia and live crickets/worms when pan fishing. Boat
ramp to launch is Scott Driver located on the Kissimmee River in Okeechobee and Harney Pond
canal located in Lakeport and is closely located to the Big Water Bait & Tackle store for all your
fishing needs. To book your next exciting and fun day fishing Okeechobee call 863-228-7263 or
log onto www.southfloridabassfishing.com where you can find more trip information,
customer reviews, pics, rates and etc. A big thank you to my sponsors: Toho Marine; Mercury;
BnM Poles; Real Magic; Lews; Bullet Weights; Gene Larew; Pradco Brands; Mid-South Tackle;
Maui Jim; Gill and Rapala.
