December 22, 2006
INSHORE - The wind this week has made it somewhat difficult to find a spot to fish. If you did fish along the East shoreline you probably found a few nice size trout which are still catch and release for a few more days. On Sunday afternoon I took the wife out for a short trip to see if we could catch her a snook to measure and release for the Ft. Pierce Sportfishing Club. We didn't get a snook but she did catch an 11 lb. 8 oz. tripletail. This is her all time favorite fish to catch and she has never caught one this time of year. We usually run the channel markers starting the end of February. She was using a trol-rite hook with a nice fat hand picked shrimp on it. The East catwalk of the South Bridge has been one spot for anglers to try and get out of the wind. They have been reporting catches of sheepshead, croakers, sandperch, snapper, black drum and a few small flounder. I am still getting a few reports of catch and release snook in the Turning Basin but most are under the slot size.
OFFSHORE - There is really nothing to report baout the offshore except that the seas are big. There are several sailfish tournaments starting next week and we hope the weather will lay down some for that. When the wind finally lays the bite should be a good one.
TEEN ANGLERS - Last Sunday was the monthly inshore fishing tournament for the local chapter of Teen Anglers. As usual the teen's made a good showing with their fish. In the middle school division 1st place and biggest fish of the tournament went to Dillion Roberts-Louria of Forest Grove for the 4lb. 12oz. redfish he caught. In 2nd place was David Bradshear of Oslo Middle with a 2lb. 9oz. sheepshead and 3rd place was Kassidy Guettler of Lincoln Park Academy with an 11oz. snapper. In the high school division 1st place went to R. J. Swinford of Westwood High for a 3lb. 6oz. sheepshead. 2nd place went o Bryce Doughtery and 3rd was Jordan Martinez both of Westwood High. The next scheduled inshore tournament will be held on Jan. 14 at Jaycee Park in Ft. Pierce. If you would like info on volunteering or joining Teen Anglers go to the web at www.teenanglers.org. We also have a program for the 5 to 11 age group and the info is on the web.
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.
We hope that everyone has a great holiday season.
Capt. Joe Ward
Capt. Joe's River Charters