September 6, 2007
INSHORE - Everyone is looking for that slot size snook since the season opened on the 1st. Just another reminder the new slot size is 28 to 32 inches and the bag limit is 1 per day. Most of the slot size fish are coming from around the North Bridge or the docks along the Ft. Pierce Inlet. The bait of choice seems to be the few finger mullet that have started to show up. The trout fishing remains steady along the flats in the early morning when using a top water bait. Try fishing in 2 to 5 feet of water. After dark try fishing around the lighted docks along Indian River Drive. Try using a live shrimp. I am still getting a few reports of redfish up on the Moorings Flats. The bite has been early in the morning and use a soft plastic bait like a D.O.A. shrimp or a C.A.L. in the rootbeer color. There are still plenty of keeper size snapper along the channel edges and they have been feeding on small live shrimp.
OFFSHORE - Over the weekend the fishing was good for some and not so much for others. The lucky ones brought in dolphin to 30 pounds. The only problem they had was having to go to 1000 plus feet of water to find them. All of the dolphin were caught on a trolled ballyhoo. There are still plenty of kingfish in the 12 to 18 pound range when fishing in 60 to 80 feet of water. The kings have been taking live baits. I also got good reports from the anglers over the holiday weekend about the sailfish bite. It seems like the fish were in 100 to 135 feet of water and they were to the south of the Ft. Pierce Inlet. A ballyhoo was working just fine. Good reports from the night anglers about the snapper and grouper bite over the reefs and wrecks in 80 to 150 feet of water. There has been plenty of snapper in the 8 pound range and grouper to 25 pounds. The only draw back was you had to put up with the sharks. Along the beaches there are still some big tarpon, big jacks and a few kingfish following the schools of bait.
TEEN ANGLERS - The next inshore fishing tournament for the local chapter of Teen Anglers will be held on Sunday -- September 23 at Jaycee Park in Ft. Pierce. There is a mandatory meeting on Saturday -- September 22nd. The End of the Year Banquet will be held on Saturday -- September 22nd at the Pelican Yacht Club in Ft. Pierce. Also, we are in dire need of boat volunteers for these events. Please let us know if you can donate one Sunday morning a month to take a few Teen Anglers fishing. For more info go to the web at www.teenanglers.org.
If you would like to report a catch you can call me at 772-201-5770 or e-mail me at cward11605@aol.com. You can also reach me on the web at www.captjoeward.com.
Capt. Joe Ward
Capt. Joe's River Charters
