Our summertime Snook fishing is in full swing here on the Treasure Coast. If you’re looking to try to catch a trophy sized Snook, this is a great time of the year to give it a shot! There have still been good numbers of Snook schooled up in the inlet. Look for the schools around the south detached jetty, along the beach by the Hole in the Wall, in the Crossroads as well as on the beaches to the north and south of the inlet. Fishing live baits such as Croakers, Pilchards and Threadfins have been the most effective baits in the inlet. Some of the schools haven’t been as cooperative when it comes to getting bites from them, but if you find yourself in that situation, it is best to move onto trying to find the next school. We’ve been getting a steady supply of Croakers here at the shop and should have a steady supply throughout the summer weather permitting. Don’t be afraid to shoot out the inlet to fish some of the nearshore wrecks and reefs this time of year as they will commonly be found out there. Fishing bridges and docks in both the St. Lucie and the Indian River should result in a few fish as well. The concrete blocks underneath the causeways have been holding some big Snook, be sure to have some heavy tackle if you plan on going to battle there! There are also a lot of Goliath Groupers and you will occasionally find a Black or Gag Grouper mixed in with the Goliaths underneath those concrete blocks (keep in mind Gag Grouper season closed On 6/14). When we get the high afternoon temperatures, the water will heat up a good bit as well. When that water heats up you will want to focus on areas with deeper water and moving current as the fish will tend to move to those areas. If you’re looking to fish in the evening into the night, the dock light fishing has been pretty good. You will see that the fish may feed more at night in the lights due to the water temperatures cooling down after the sun sets. Anglers fishing from shore can look to get in on some Snook action on the beaches, at the Jensen Causeway, at Indian Riverside Park, the Ft. Pierce jetty and wading north of the power plant in the mornings and evenings. At the causeway they have been feeding pretty consistently on shrimp and crabs that have been flowing through on the outgoing tides in the evenings. Free lining crabs or shrimp as well as fishing a shrimp on a jighead will give you a good shot at hooking up. If you are looking to fish artificials; NLBN paddle tails, Vudu or Thumper Shrimp and Yozuri Crystal Minnows have all been solid choices.
With the crabs starting to flow through at the causeways, the Tarpon bite has really started to turn on. You will want to focus on fishing the outgoing tides if you’re looking to find them there. The Tarpon have been around during the daytime, evening and night outgoing tides at both the Jensen and Stuart causeways. You can free line a crab or free line a larger live mullet to give you the best chance at hooking up. Adding a float on your line isn’t a bad idea either to keep your bait up on the surface where the Tarpon have been feeding. There has been some steady Tarpon fishing just north of the inlet, primarily on the stretch from Bathtub Beach to Stuart Beach in the mornings and evenings. Fishing live mullet or threadfins have been the best options there. The North Fork of the river has been holding some Tarpon as well, if you’re looking to throw artificials, they love to eat a DOA Terror Eyz up that way! If you’re just looking to hook into a drag screamer, there have been plenty of big Jacks around too!
There have been a few Redfish around mixed in with the schools of Snook at the inlet as well as at the causeways. Anglers fishing live shrimp have been able to pick away at Mangrove Snappers around structure here inshore. If you’re looking to weed through some of the smaller ones, fishing a small pilchard or pinfish on a jighead is a great strategy to catch some of the bigger ones mixed in when they’re around. We typically see our biggest Snapper here inshore during the summer months. Those fishing live shrimp have also run into Flounder, Sheepshead, Black Drum and a variety of other species. Keep in mind that July is typically the toughest time of the year to get live shrimp. The water heats up in the gulf and the shrimp will bury themselves in the mud to stay cool, when that happens our shrimpers aren’t able to catch them. The few shrimp that are caught are very small and face higher chances of die off on the ride over due to the warm water. Please be patient with us when it comes to the live shrimp as we are at the shrimper’s mercy, feel free to call the shop for updates when the shrimp supply becomes difficult.
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