Snook-Nook Fishing Report

 Inshore Fishing Report

Snook season reopened on February 1st and there have definitely been some around throughout the river. We can expect the Snook fishing to continue to improve as we get into the spring. In the St. Lucie River, they have been caught on the docks as well as around the bridges. If you are fishing in those areas, they have been catching them on live pilchards and pinfish as well as live shrimp on a jighead. There have been some reports of some larger fish caught up in the North Fork of the river fishing live mullet and top water plugs on the seawalls. The Jensen Causeway has been providing action for anglers in the evenings and at night fishing live and artificial shrimp such as Thumper Shrimp and Monster 3x shrimp around the shadow lines. For the wade fishing guys, the Snook fishing on the west side of the river up by the power plant has been quite productive on artificial shrimp and DOA Cals. 

The wade fishing on the east side of the river has been yielding Redfish, Trout and Snook. Areas to checkout have been Little Mud and Bear Point. DOA Cals, artificial shrimp and topwaters have been the go to presentations up there. Along with those species, there have been plenty of Jacks and Ladyfish to keep you busy. 

We’ve still been seeing Sheepshead inshore around the inlet, the bridges and docks. If you are fishing docks for them, look for the docks with the most growth on them as those docks provide more food for the Sheepshead. We’ve been getting Fiddler Crabs pretty consistently the past few weeks and that would be your best option for targeting them. Fishing them on a jighead or with a split shot would be the best presentation if you are using them. Fishing shrimp on a jighead around structure has been producing Black Drum, Sheepshead, Croakers, Mangrove Snapper and a variety of other species. 

The Pompano fishing inshore has been pretty quiet the past couple of weeks. A few fish have been picked off at the Jensen and Stuart Causeways for those targeting them from land. We haven’t seen too many of them directly on the Sailfish Flats as of late, but some have been caught fishing in some of the deeper cuts around the islands and off the ends of the docks off Macarthur Blvd. Last year the Pompano made a strong push inshore in April so we hope to see them pushing in soon! 

Surf Fishing Report

The Pompano fishing has remained steady as of late with the majority of the action coming on beaches south of Jensen Public Beach. Be sure to check the color of the water before setting up as if it is too cloudy, chances are the Pompano won’t be biting. As we get into the spring bite, historically the afternoon bite becomes more productive. FishBites have remained to be the most consistent bait this year if you are targeting Pompano. The hot flavors have consisted of Powerlime Crab, EZ Flea, Electric Chicken Crab, Purple Clam and Blue Crab. We have already even seen some Permit being caught on the new Blue Crab FishBites, this is going to be one of the best times of the year to hook into a  Permit from the surf. We can expect to see the Whiting and Croaker bite to improve as we get into the spring months as well. Pieces of shrimp as well as Bloodworm and Shrimp FishBites will get the job done for them.