August 30, 2007
INSHORE - There has been plenty of action on the flats from daylight until about 8:00am. Look for the schools of bait and you will find the fish. There has been catch and release snook, trout, jacks and ladyfish around the bait schools. Most of the fish have been caught in 3 to 6 feet of water and the bite has been pretty much anywhere you fished from The Moorings Flats to the north down to the Jensen Beach Causeway to the south. Try throwing a top water bait or fish a live shrimp under a popping cork. After about 8:00am try the channel edges with a live shrimp or a small white bait for snapper in the 1 & 1/2 to 2 & 1/2 pound range. Also, this week I had a few nice tripletail reported coming from between the power lines and the Jensen Beach Causeway. Try a big live shrimp and fish it on a jig head around the channel markers. Remember that snook season is not open until September 1st and the new slot size is 28 to 32 inches and you are only allowed one fish per person per day.
OFFSHORE - The dolphin bite has picked back up again with fish from 12 to 25 pounds being reported. The fish have been in 150 to 300 feet of water and hitting on rigged ballyhoo. Also, the kingfish bite remains good when fishing in 60 to 80 feet of water. Most of the kings have been between 15 and 30 pounds. Slow trolling a live bait has been hard to beat but on Sunday several fish were caught on a rigged ribbonfish. I did have a few nice cobia come into the docks this past weekend. The fish were from 25 to 38 pounds and were caught by anglers who were bottom fishing for snapper and grouper. The snapper and grouper bite over the wrecks and reefs in 50 to 80 feet of water has been good. The snapper have been from 4 to 10 pounds and the grouper have been from 15 to 30 pounds. Most of the were caught on live bait but a piece of cut bait has been hard to beat. Still plenty of spanish mackerel along the beaches. Try using a small silver spoon. Also, along the beaches there has been plenty of big tarpon rolling, sharks and jacks to keep you busy.
JUNIOR TEEN ANGLERS - The first from shore tournament for the Junior Teen Anglers was held on Saturday -- August 25th at Harbour Pointe Park in Ft. Pierce. The Juniors caught a wide variety of fish. In the 5 to 8 age group -- 1st place - Mackenzie Tessier - age 5, 2nd place - Robert Williams - age 8 and 3rd place Savannah Ward - age 7. In the 9 to 11 age group 1st place was Dylora Kohler - age 10, 2nd place Brennen Tessier - age 9 and 3rd place was Justin Roe - age 10. The next from shore tournament for the Junior Teen Anglers will be on October 13th. For more info you can go to the web a www.teenanglers.org or you can call 772-201-5773.
BRAGGING BOARD - Congrats to Capt. Rob Ward & Team Pursuit for their win this past weekend. They were fishing the Salty Marine's Mac Attack out of Port Canaveral. On the 1st day Eric Hess caught a 27 pounder and it put them way down on the leader board. On the 2nd day Eric caught a 32.50 pounder that was good enough for 11th place. Not bad out of a field of 101 boats. They caught the big fish on a rigged ribbonfish in 28 feet of water on the beach to the north of Sebastian. Other team members were Kevin Allen, Bruce Thompson, Jay Sizemore and Joe Carter. Jay & Joe traded off and each fished one day. Their newest team member Savannah Ward had a Junior Teen Angler tournament and was unable to fish with the team Savannah did get a 3rd place trophy for the 1lb. 8oz. sandperch she caught.
If you would like to report a catch call me at 772-201-5770 or e-mail me at cward11605@aol.com. You can always reach me on the web at www.captjoeward.com.
Capt. Joe Ward
Capt. Joe's River Charters
