As the weather gets colder, the fishing gets hotter! Following the reviews about fishing Inshore / Nearshore on the Treasure Coast, its seems to experience a lot of changes for fishing.
The snook have
moved back up river where they stay for the winter in more salty water. They
can be caught fishing bottom baits along the bridges and deep channels. Lots of
big snook are caught using First Light Jigs. The technique for using these
1-to-2-ounce jigs involves casting up-current and retrieving down-current at a
speed that keeps your jig very close to the bottom. These snook will sit
belly-down on the bottom where the water is usually warmer during the colder
months.
The
snook will usually be close to the bridge supports to get out of the current.
We also find snook sitting along seawalls that face the sun in the morning back
in the St. Lucie River. For those snook, we use top water traps and flies to
simply cast close parallel and pop down the wall.
Snook
season will soon end but you still have time to catch some big ones and
possibly a keeper or two. When it rains, the locks must open and this is the
place to be when they are opened. You can catch over 30 snook a trip. Just
being there at the right time is all the battle.
The pompano
has started showing up along the beaches for surf-casting using 9-to-12-foot
rods. For attraction, we use sand fleas, clam’s meat, shrimp, and flavored fish-bites
artificial bait strips.
Incoming
waves is much preferred with fishing from the beach for pompano. The pompano
will also come inshore and school up on the flats. Inshore, we use jigs, sand
fleas, and shrimp.
Pompano
guys, if the wind stays strong like it has been, look to the river and bridges.
Jigs will be your best bet. Jensen Beach and Little Jim bridge are hot spots.
You can’t miss where it is because everyone will be lined up jigging. Look for
Walton Rocks Beach to be the very best place if the wind lays down. River and
wading will be hot for trout and red fish. You also can’t beat the places north
of the power lines. Shrimp under a popping cork is the way to go but top water and plugs will work great.
The Spanish mackerel are also showing up along the beaches and the well-known
Peck Lake Reef where hundreds of anglers and commercial fishermen can be found
throwing jigs and gotcha lures. It’s a great type of fishing for family members
and inexperienced anglers to easily get hooked up!
When fishing from the coast, the fish hang out there when the water is flowing to eat all
the little baits that come over it. Look for pools of calm areas. I use plugs
that look like mullet to get best results. Swim attractions like storms work
well, but if water is running hard, it is better to use plastic to get the
bite.
Bridge
fishing will be good, but you must get deep to get where they are feeding. Skill
Hawks will help here. Waterfronts will also hold some snook.
Bluefish have
moved in and the best place to get these guys is Hobe Sound Public Beach on cut
bait like mullet and spoon lures. Tie a 50-pound mono leader on and then hold
on. There will be plenty of sharks in the area, so get the blues in quick.
December
is here and it’s not just the holidays that we have to look forward to. With
every cold front this month, a new body of fish should push down the beach in
search of warmer water and a constant food source. Blackfin tuna, sailfish, dolphin
and everything else will migrate south along our reef systems and current
edges.
Focus
around faint temperature breaks and color changes with both dead or live bait
for success. That being said, this is my favorite time of year to troll.
Naked ballyhoo
rigged on 6/0 mustad circle hooks are my bait of choice and I definitely like
to have a squid chain out there as well. A lighter set of poles will increase
your hook up ratio, which is key to a successful day of catching. Blackfin Rods
makes an off the chain sailfish rod that is great for both trolling and live
baiting.
When
weather permits, this is also a great time of year to go swordfishing. Over the
last 10 years, daytime swordfishing has become extremely popular and the
Treasure Coast offers great opportunities at catching these gladiators. Fishing
dead baits a quarter-mile below the surface can provide one of the most
exciting days of fishing you’ve ever had when it all comes together.
These
fish are sometimes more than 500 pounds and will test every aspect of your
fishing game. Whatever it is you decide to do this winter, I hope your trip is
off the chain. Enjoy this time for fishing and spoil yourself with stuffed
salty presents in the form of the many offshore species of fish that inhabit
the coastal waters of Martin County. Local anglers will be able to enjoy the
seasonal excitement of being able to intersect and catch an all-star lineup of
offshore game fish like sailfish, dolphin, king, spanish mackerel, grouper, and
snapper. Florida`s winter weather will be in full swing this month, hosting the
typical procession of cold fronts that will pass over our peninsula with fresh
breezes.
These
fronts and the winds associated with them, will directly determine offshore
conditions and force anglers to plan their ocean fishing trips around daily
weather forecasts and the sea states they encounter. While there will be many
rough ocean days this month, there will also be many favorable weather windows
for fishing in between the arrival of cold fronts.
Locating
bottom structure to employ one’s fishing strategies upon, will be the key
component to catching success during the month of December. Trolling, drifting,
and anchoring strategies for deploying baits is always enhanced when doing so
around and over top of some bottom (reef structures). Grouper will be at the
top of the holiday fish wish list, as December will be the last month of an
open catch and keep season that will close at midnight, December 31.
Lane,
mangrove, and mutton snapper will also be high on the wish list and will be
found in good numbers from 50 to 90 feet of water, especially around artificial
reefs just east and northeast of our St. Lucie Inlet. So, in December, make
your fish wishes come true by fishing around “bottom” and post up on one of the
many “honey holes” that make up the reef system, offshore of Stuart.
Whether by land, air or sea,
you can reach Whiticar Boat Yard for all of your boat repair, maintenance and
yachting needs. Stop by. See for yourself what Stuart, FL and Whiticar Boat
Yard can do for you.
We are conveniently located from I-95, only one-half mile from Witham Field Airport, and just west of the Intercoastal Waterway at marker 13A
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