From Todd @ Juno Bait Crew-Juno Beach

 

INSHORE-  Snook are around and continue to be the best bet for inshore fishing this weekend.  The seawall and bridges at night seem to be the most popular.  During the day a live mullet is top bait choice for a cruising snook or jack.   Flair Hawk Jigs and bigger swimbaits around the bridges remain your best bet for the Snook bite.  As we approach the second week in April the Snapper are replacing the Sheepshead.

SURF/PIER-  More and more pompano are showing up along the beach and pier. The croaker and whiting remain strong. Sandfleas, clams, and FishBites remain the baits of choice along the beach for the pomps.  Cut Bait and Docs Goofy Jigs are still the most popular tackle for them.  Bluefish continue to show at the pier, however; a long cast is needed.   Your best bet will be a Diamond jig, GT Ice Cream, or other long casting lure. Jacks have been showing up more and more as well.  The same lures bluefish like will generally get the jacks attention as well.  No real reports of Snook this week, however it's not impossible to see a few. 

Fishing LIVE BAIT on Florida Beach - Trying to Catch Dinner

Snook-Nook Fishing Report

 

Inshore Fishing Report 

April is a prime time for inshore fishing in Stuart, Florida! As we get greeted with warmer water temperatures, we begin to see an abundance of baitfish and migratory species. Expect a variety of species to be active and hungry as water temperatures rise, making for some great action in both the St. Lucie & Indian Rivers. 

Snook: As temperatures rise, the Snook fishing heats up! We are beginning to see the number of fish caught increase by the week along with some more quality sized over slot fish making an appearance. As the water temperatures rise, we are seeing that they are more willing to feed on live baits such as Croakers, Pilchards, Threadfins and Mullet. For those fishing from a boat, seawalls in both the Indian and St. Lucie River have been very productive. Those fishing around the bridge fenders of the causeways have had some luck too. If you are fishing the fenders with live bait, don’t be afraid to snap on a heavier split shot to hold your bait down there when the current is strong. The live Croakers around the bridges are pretty tough to beat. You will also occasionally run into some Grouper mixed in with them. We haven’t seen too many Snook show up in the St. Lucie inlet yet, we should start seeing a few more of them push that way towards the end of the month and going into May. Those fishing dock lights at night have also been able to pick off some good numbers of fish. For those fishing from land, the Jensen Causeway has provided some action for anglers in the evenings fishing artificial shrimp such as Thumper Shrimp and Vudu Shrimp, paddle tails and live shrimp focusing on the shadow lines. Indian Riverside Park, Joe’s Point and the Ft. Pierce Inlet are also typically productive for those looking to target Snook this time of year. The Snook fishing will continue to improve as we get into the spring and approach their summertime spawn. 

Tarpon: While tarpon are still a little early to be widespread inshore, some early arrivals can be found. If you’re looking for Tarpon, focusing on the channels around the Stuart and Jensen Causeways will be one of your best bets. We typically have a better flow of crabs flowing through the bridges on the outgoing tide this time of year, but we really haven’t seen a lot yet. If you can get your hands on some crabs, that will be your best bait option, larger live mullet will work as well. There have been a lot of big jacks cruising the channels and hitting the seawalls if you’re looking for some screaming drag action as well. There have been some smaller Tarpon caught around the power plant, live baits or DOA Terror Eyz will get the job done on them. 

Pompano: Over the past few years, April has provided us our best inshore Pompano action of the year, especially on the Jensen Causeway east side relief bridge. There have been some flurries of Pompano caught there over the past few weeks, but not really any big numbers of fish. We have been seeing a trend of things being a little bit later this year, partially due to the fact that we actually had a winter this year with some consistent cold temperatures. We hope to see that Pompano bite pick up at the bridge here in the coming days! The chartreuse/orange and chartreuse/pink jigs with a pink or gold teaser have been a favorite for anglers jigging the bridge over the past few weeks. There have been a good amount of Pompano caught on the Sailfish flats with some bigger schools around, anglers have even been catching them fly fishing. We’ve heard about a lot of fish that are still to the south of us that will be migrating back north over the next few weeks.

Trout: The Trout fishing has remained productive for those targeting them. The better numbers of fish have been caught north of the power plant on both the east and west sides of the river. There have been Trout caught as far south as Joe’s Point just south of the Jensen Causeway as well. Targeting them with soft plastics such as DOA Cals, artificial shrimp, top waters or twitch baits will get the job done when you find yourself around them. For those looking to fish live baits, live shrimp on a popping cork is an effective strategy too. 

Misc: There have been some Triple Tail around, you can look for them on the crab trap floats as well as channel markers. You can typically spot the fish as you are cruising down the line of crab trap buoys and turn back around when you spot one and pitch them a live shrimp. Anglers have still been able to pick away at some Black Drum and Sheepshead around the bridges using live shrimp or fiddler crabs. We’ve had some bigger Bluefish and a few Spanish Mackerel still around, look for them around the inlet as well as around both the Jensen and Stuart Causeways. 

Sebastian Inlet Report With The Snookman

 

Winds and high seas hamper fishing, but snook are possible 

“Good morning, Sebastian Inlet fishing fans. I hope everyone had a great weekend — it was a bit windy, but nice. This report is brief  once again thanks to several days of gusty ESE winds, and big 5 to 6-foot seas, which wasn’t conducive to fishing, although there were some fish biting. And another reminder: When fishing the north side around the bridge, you ARE NOT permitted to fish anywhere on the rocks east of the fencing marked with the three "NO TRESSPASSING" signs. Also, anywhere along the rocks all the way out to the jetty, and you ARE NOT permitted to climb under the jetty at the beach/jetty point either; it is also marked with signage stating that entire area is designated a construction area. FWC will cite you for trespassing. It is for your safety. Thank you.

Now on to the fishing. It has been a little slow, but while I was down over the weekend, there was a fairly good snook bite for a change: most were small undersized, but plenty of them, and I did see several mid-slots taken as well.  

The snook bite was decent on sides of the inlet, and during both tides. There were a lot of shorts, but I did see several slots kept, and some oversized released. South jetty incoming tide,  use shrimp and threadfins; in the back, south side, mojarras, thumper shrimp jigs, and threadfins. The mojarra were plentiful. The hot spot in the back was by the T-dock and cleaning table, both tides. At the north side I saw several snook caught in the back where the mangroves start, along the rocks, incoming tide. Boaters were catching quite a few snook west of the bridge along the shoreline, which is inaccessible to shoreline anglers due to construction. Saturday was active;  the best I have seen in a few weeks! The north side baits were live threadfins and mojarra. That's pretty much it — I didn't see much of anything else being caught except for a few kitty fish, jacks and a couple of small nurse sharks. On a good note, the water is gradually warming up, (73 degrees as of this writing). With the easterly flow of winds, the water will continue to warm. The winds need to calm down and clean back up. That's all I have for now, guys and gals. Expect a great week all week with more seasonal spring-like weather — two to three-foot seas and lighter winds (no more than 15 to 25). Grab your gear, water, sunscreen and catch some fish!” —Snookman.