Warm, relatively stable weather this past week sparked some snook action on the beach, in the inlet and the backwaters. If a steady supply of baitfish would suddenly appear I’m sure the bite would become awesome.

I don’t know who turned the switch to the off position on the wind machine, but I’d like to thank you! I was beginning to think I’d never see calm water again.

We have lots happening in Fort Pierce as we speak; at least between the wind storms. The inlet has been active, as has the Intracoastal basin (the waters adjacent to the north/south marked channel) and so have the shallow water flats.

Longtime clients, this father and son team made the drive from Cape Canaveral to Fort Pierce to see my new office. Jim and Ryan had to put up with a lot of wind (no surprise here), but caught a boat-load!

Monday I was joined once again by Topwater Tony and true to form he came rigged and ready with his bone colored Skitterwalk. Though Tony worked hard and covered lots of prime mangrove shoreline the fish had no interest in feeding on top.

Jetty anglers have been catching their usual mix of sheepshead, snappers, drum, pompano and even a few snook. Live shrimp have accounted for most catches.

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.

We’ve had so much wind on the Treasure Coast this winter I was ecstatic when the forecast for Tuesday promised light winds. As I was already booked to take the Ancient Mariner and his friend JT out I was nearly giddy with excitement over the prospect of catching lots of fish.

So, what do you do when the pompano show up unexpectedly and you only have one small jig on the boat? You improvise, that’s what you do!
Larry joined me again for a morning trip. The tide was a few minutes shy of high as I slowly worked the boat over the flats near Jack Island.

Strong winds have again kept us off the water with one exception. Topwater Tony braved the NNW winds on the last day of the year 2019. While we expected winds less than ten miles per hour at sunrise and did indeed have that, things quickly changed.

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!

After being snubbed by the trout in one of my favorite spots then being continuously flipped-off (yep, they were tailing) by a finicky school of black drum Matt made contact with this 40 inch redfish.

Bill caught a bunch of redfish this morning on the Mosquito Lagoon and finished up with an average-sized trout.