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.
No comments:
Post a Comment