Unusual Week of Fishing

Live shrimp, Z-Man Minnowz and top-water plugs all worked well on average sized jack crevalle this past week.

It’s been a rather unusual week of fishing in and around Fort Pierce for me. Weather conditions varied greatly as air temps ranged from almost cold to almost hot. Water temps plummeted into the mid-sixty degree range one morning then rebounded nicely, topping out at 71 degrees in the inlet on the incoming tide. The very next day water temps dropped again into the lower sixties.

Wind directions spun like the hands on a clock and wind velocity also ran the gamut from way too much to dead calm. Even with the twists and turns of whacky weather the bite was good as we targeted pompano in the inlet and Intracoastal Waterway.

Using a multi-hook rig similar to what surf anglers use and adorned with sand fleas we caught more species of fish than I can recall. Thankfully, the tasty pompano we targeted were plentiful, though we also caught plenty of sheepshead too! Other catches include mutton snapper, jack crevalle, ladyfish, croaker and other less desirable critters.

On trips where artificial lures were tossed along the mangrove shorelines we caught plenty of jacks. Strangely enough we caught no trout this past week though we did see a few laid-up outside of the mangrove roots sunning themselves along with juvenile snook. While the water was certainly too cold to expect much activity from the line-siders I was surprised the trout refused to play.