Member since: March 10, 2018
Capt. Mark’s passion for inshore saltwater fishing began while living in Stuart, Florida at the southern reaches of the Indian River Lagoon. Here he learned the fine art of snook fishing from the area’s lighted bridges while fishing at night. Here too he learned how to catch trout by the hundreds on the expansive flats from Jensen Beach to Ft. Pier
The lackluster fishing in the jungles of Fort Pierce has finally improved. If I had to guess, I’d say the cooler water temperatures are having a positive effect on the local predators feeding activity. I’d also say the slowly declining water levels might be convincing more fish to leave the deep mangrove jungles and take up stations on the outer perimeters, where we can get to them.
The snook bite has been pretty good throughout the inlet area, including the south jetty. Live shrimp, finger mullet and pilchards are producing the best on both sides of the tidal current changes. Artificial lures mimicking these natural baits will catch too, especially at night and other low-light times.
Mullet, mullet (almost) everywhere both north and south of town! If you’ll look closely you’ll see black mullet already round bodied with roe beginning to group-up. You should also notice lots of large schools of silver mullet in the six to eight inch range from the deeper flats to the shorelines. Finally, there are still a fair number of fingerling silvers holding close to structures like docks and mangroves.
I’ve been hiding from the heat since the end of June. While I realize it’s now the peak of the summer’s heat I simply must get back out there and see what’s happening in real time and through my own experiences. To that end my wife (Kim) and I made it out twice this past week to scout a couple of favorite areas.
Not much has changed since my last report. The water is still low, warm and baitfish abound…
Hot and low is how I’d describe our water conditions at this time. This should be no surprise to those who fish the Indian River Lagoon the year around. It’s summer and the tides run low with water temps in the mid to upper eighty degree range. I’m sure we’ll see ninety-ish degrees soon.
After a bit of a lay-off due to the wind Kim and I were finally able to get out for a morning scouting trip. I decided to look south of town as we’ve not been this direction for well over a month. We hoped to find plenty of mullet and pilchards along the eastern shorelines and the predators which routinely feed upon them.
So ends another snook season on Florida’s Atlantic coast. If you’re not aware of this closure, I’ll remind you now; snook are catch and release starting June first and remain so through August!
As we near the end of this segment of snook season, I’m happy to report the bite is still good! The top-water bite is steady for snook, jacks and an occasional gator trout in the backwater jungles north of town.
The snook bite in the backwater, mangrove jungles of Fort Pierce has finally turned on. Top-water walking and popping plugs are getting blasted by linesiders, trout, jack crevalle and small barracuda (yes, barracuda). Look for lots-o-finger mullet in sheltered coves on an incoming tide for a starting point.
It’s good to be back on the platform! The knee injury is well behind me and looking forward to the cooler weather that’s in our near future!
Bill caught a bunch of redfish this morning on the Mosquito Lagoon and finished up with an average-sized trout.
