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. It doesn’t hurt to try fishing dead baits around the inlet such as a dead Threadfin when the fish aren’t eating the live baits as some of the lazier fish tend to be more inclined to eat those. 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! 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.
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.
We typically will begin to see more opportunities for catching a Tarpon as we get into July. We are starting to see some crabs flowing through the bridges on the outgoing tide, it hasn’t been nearly as many crabs as last year or years past, but definitely a good sign. If you are fishing around the bridges, you will want to focus on that outgoing tide, 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. We also usually start seeing more Tarpon showing up in the inlet and cruising the beaches in the mornings and evenings in July. Fishing live Threadfins or mullet will give you a good shot at them if you see them around.
Surf Fishing Report
Whiting fishing has been pretty good for anglers fishing from the surf all month, the main issue anglers have had to deal with is some slime weed. If there is slime weed or an abundance of weeds in the water at the beach you choose, it is best to try a different beach as there may not be any weed at the next beach access and the fish have been spread out along the island. Over the past week, the best of the Whiting fishing has come from beach accesses north of Jensen public beach. The majority of your bites will come close to the shoreline in the 5 to 15 yard range. There have been some nice sized Croakers caught from the surf too. Pieces of shrimp and either bloodworm or shrimp Fish Bites have been the ticket to putting these fish in the cooler. You will also want to focus your fishing around the high tide for both the Whiting and Croakers.
The Snook are starting to show up in better numbers on the beaches for those looking to get in on that action. Typically your better fishing for them will be around the high tides too and in the morning or evening. The morning and evening windows will give you a better chance to get a bite using artificials. White paddle tails, Yozuri Crystal Minnows and twitch baits are all solid choices if you’re going the artificial route. It’s always a good idea to have a rod with a sabiki tied on in the event of some bait moving down the beach. You can catch the threadfins or pilchards with the sabiki and free line them right in the first trough, live Croakers are also a great choice to free line. There have been some Tarpon cruising the beaches, but the majority of them have been out of casting range. We do tend to start seeing them come a little closer when the bait schools get up close to the beach.
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