Taking Advantage of Pre-front Conditions

Larry with one of many pompano he caught last year in the same spot where we ended this most recent trip.

We snuck out one day last week to see what was going on in the backwaters nearest the Fort Pierce inlet. This area has a heavy tidal exchange, is well sheltered from most winds and offers both deep water and shallow flats.

We certainly needed the shelter as the wind blew stiffly from the north and the incoming tide helped keep the water temps into the upper sixty degree range. The pre-front conditions we hoped to enjoy did not let us down!

Throwing four inch soft-plastic jigs Larry and I caught little snook and more small jacks and ladyfish than we could count; I also caught a slot trout that I think was lost as I haven’t caught one back here in two months.

While some of all species of fish were caught near the mangroves, the real hot bite came in the deep water runs where the tide flow was ripping through funneled or pinched areas. It was actually tough to make a cast without getting the jigs smacked!

Getting “bit” however did not always mean you’d hook-up. To really take advantage of the hot bite we would have needed to downsize our lures from the four inch Z-Man Diezel Minnowz Larry tossed and the four inch Curly Tailz I threw to either a three inch version of the same, a small spoon or a pompano jig.

We chose to NOT catch a fish on nearly every cast in hopes of maybe getting another decent trout or two with the “full-size” lures we had…

I’m certain if we’d have brought a supply of live shrimp our catch would have included sheepshead and possibly a black drum with mangrove snapper and other species being more than just a possibility. We opted to go without natural bait and still had a fine time!

BTW, if you find yourself fishing this area you’ll likely be shadowed by a dolphin missing most of its dorsal fin. It’s not really handicapped, it maneuvers perfectly fine. It has certainly learned the art of being patient and will do its best to eat every fish you release while mostly staying away from where you are casting. This critter followed us for well over a mile as we worked our way through the maze like area for the four plus hours we fished there!

Sorry, I never snapped a photo during this trip so I’m including a pic of Larry from last year in the same spot we finished this most recent outing!