August 24, 2006
INSHORE - The inshore fishing around Ft. Pierce has been about the same as the last few weeks -- the same summer patterns. Plenty of trout early in the morning along the flats and the bait of choice has been either a top water bait or a live pigfish and fish these in 1 to 3 feet of water. The redfish have been shallow and a live shrimp has been hard to beat. Only a few more days until snook season opens on September 1st and it should be off to a good start with plenty of good sized fish being reported in the Ft. Pierce Inlet on the falling tide. The smaller snook have been around both the bridges in Ft. Pierce and also up on the flats. Look for good snapper action along the channel edges around the full moon. A live shrimp or a greenie will work the best. Still some tarpon rolling in the Ft. Pierce Inlet.
OFFSHORE - The offshore fishing has still been a little slow but is picking up with a few good reports coming in. On Saturday Matt Stamm, Mike Schatzberg and John Buorgiorno got the surprise of a life time. They were trolling a ballyhoo in 100 feet of water straight out of the Ft. Pierce Inlet and hooked into a blue marlin. The fish weighted about 175 pounds. The fight took 1 & 1/2 hours to get the fish to the boat but during that time his twin kept jumping out of the water. There is still plenty of kingfish around in 30 to 70 feet of water. I did have a 40 plus pound wahoo come into the docks and was caught in 135 feet of water to the north of the Ft. Pierce Inlet by the fishing team on the Giddy Up. The dolphin have been scattered with only a few coming in over the weekend. The best bite was in 130 to 170 feet of water and the biggest fish went 25 pounds. Most all the boats reported plenty of bonita and cuda's. The bottom fishing has been improving as the bottom temps are warming up. We had quite a few snapper, grouper and black seabass come in this past weekend. Also, the divers have been getting a good number of lobster with a few in the 11 to 13 pound range. The bottom visibility has been OK one day and not so great the next.
If you would like to report a catch, 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