Snook-Nook Fishing Report

 Inshore Fishing Report 

August was sure a hot one for us, both the temperature and the fishing here inshore. Anglers have found success in recent weeks catching Snook, Tarpon, plenty of Jacks, Trout, Redfish, Permit, Pompano & more. September is one of the best months to fish inshore here in our area! Our mullet run seems to be getting ready to start as we have already begun to see schools of both finger mullet and large mullet throughout the river. The run isn’t in full swing yet and it will only continue to get better as the month goes on. Fishing the mullet run can be a bit frustrating at times due to the amount of bait around, you really need to make your bait stand out to increase your chances of getting bit. If you are fishing with artificials, don’t be afraid to use bigger profiles as well as surface baits that make commotion on the surface to make your presentation stand out. Fishing your lure on the edge of the bait pods can result in more bites too. You will have plenty of opportunities for an artificial bite throughout the day if you are able to stay with the bait pods. If you are fishing with live mullet, one of the best techniques you can try out to make your bait stand out while maintaining a natural presentation would be to use a small float on your line. The float will provide enough resistance for your bait to slow it down and give it more of an injured presentation making it a much easier target to get hit. You can also fish a bait on the bottom with a lead or even a dead bait underneath a pod of mullet as a lot of times you will see lazier Snook and Tarpon cleaning up on the bottom.

Snook

• Snook season reopened on September 1st for our area, one fish per person per day in the 28”-32” slot size. The Snook fishing has been pretty steady too!  

• There have still been a few schools of Snook in the inlet, around the detached jetty, on some of the local inshore wrecks and reefs, on the beaches and at Hole in the Wall. A good bit of the schools have started to push out of those areas and move back up river as their annual summer spawn is coming to a close. Look to find them staging up on docks in both the St. Lucie & Indian River as well as around the bridges. Sea walls and canals can also be excellent areas to fish during the mullet run as the predators will push the mullet up against the seawalls to ambush them. Fishing top waters as well as swimbaits along the seawalls can both be very effective this time of year for those who are looking to throw artificials. If you are fishing the seawalls and are getting a lot of Jack bites, sometimes you will either have to get your baits up closer to the wall or go through a few Jacks before you start getting your Snook bites. For those looking to fish with live baits, mullet, croakers, threadfins and pilchards can all be effective. You will see that the bigger Snook will tend to key in a bit more on the larger mullet, typically 6” and larger. There has also been a good showing of Snook north of the power plant along the mangroves on the east side of the river as well as on the grass flats. Casting topwaters in the morning and transitioning to soft plastics when the sun gets higher such as DOA Cals, or 3” paddle tails should do the trick. 

Tarpon

• The mullet run typically provides us with some of our best Tarpon fishing of the year and they can be a great show to watch when feeding on schools of mullet. Over the past week, some of the best Tarpon reports have come from those fishing around the Roosevelt bridge with live mullet. As we start seeing more and more mullet in the river, you can look to find Tarpon in a number of areas, hot spots include all the bridges when the mullet are in the area, the crossroads, the inlet, cruising the beaches, as well as around Bear Point and Little Mud in the mornings and evenings. You should be able to see them rolling or airing out on mullet. You will see that sometimes your window of opportunity with the Tarpon can be short at times with their feeding on a school lasting only 15 minutes, but sometimes you can also stick with them and get on a really good Tarpon bite. Timing the tides can also be the key as one day, you might find that the mullet push through at a spot at a certain point in the tide, if you go back and fish the same window of the tide the next day, there’s a good chance that the action will be there again. The larger live mullet will be one of your best baits to use, if you are seeing a good flush of crabs on an outgoing tide, you can switch over to crabs. You can either free line the crab or mullet or fish it with a float. There have been plenty of the big triple digit fish around so be ready for a battle!

Jacks

• For those just looking for some action, there have been and will be plenty of Jacks cruising the river ready to feed on mullet. Look for them cruising the channel edges and sea walls as well as up on the flats. Pretty much this time of year, if you find a good school of mullet around, there’s a good chance that there will be some jacks nearby and they won’t be too picky. 

Trout 

• Surprisingly the Trout bite north of the power plant and around the power plant on the east side of the river has been really good. We’ve been seeing consistent Trout fishing in the cooler months, but with the amount of sea grass we are starting to see come back, it has really started to revive the Trout fishing. Typically if you find one Trout, you will start finding more bites as they have been found in schools. They have been caught along the mangrove edges as well as on the grass flats. Top waters in the morning and evening, MirrOlures as well as soft plastics such as 3” paddle tails and artificial shrimp have all produced for those searching for Trout. 
• We haven’t started seeing many Redfish on the flats yet, the best reports have come from the Ft. Pierce area, but there are typically a few to be found up that way. We do tend to see some Reds show up scattered around the river with the mullet run and occasionally we can find a good bite for them at the Stuart Causeway this time of year. 

Permit

• We know it sounds crazy, but there was a really good Permit bite on the east side Mosquito bridge at the Jensen Causeway for a few days to close out the month. They weren’t massive Permit, but definitely something cool to see. As of now, it seems the Permit bite has shut down, but we definitely hope these fish come back! Those who were able to get in on the action were catching them on shrimp with either a 1/8oz or 1/4oz pink jig head depending on the current. A few Pompano were caught mixed in with them and all the jacks you could want. 

Surf Fishing Report 

Whiting/Croaker/Pompano

• The swell from Hurricane Erin definitely made it tough for those looking to fish the beach with the high surf and dirty water, but it appears the ground swell is finally going away. Those who have been hitting the beach have been able to pick away at some nice sized Whiting past the breaks so we can hope for some good Whiting fishing once the surf calms down. Target your Whiting on pieces of shrimp paired with either shrimp or bloodworm Fishbites. You may expect to see some Croakers mixed in with the Whiting. Prior to the swell, Capt. Paul Sperco actually was able to pick away at some nice Pompano and even Permit from the beach. The majority of his action was 60-70yds from the shoreline and his hot bait was the Fishbites EZ Flea Electric Chicken. Surf fishing should start heating back up with nicer conditions ahead of us. 

Mullet Run

• The beach can turn into a National Geographic like scene during the mullet run and it is truly a sight to see. Tarpon, Snook, Sharks, Jacks and a variety of other predators will be feeding on schools of mullet as they work their way down the beaches. It is always wise to check the beach before hauling all your equipment because a half a mile of distance can be the difference from a lifeless beach to that National Geographic feeding frenzy. If you are able to locate the schools of mullet you will typically find the fish. Live mullet, NLBN paddle tails and straight tails, JYG Pro SWYM and Y-Tails, Hogy swimbaits, Rapala X-Raps, Yozuri Crystal Minnows and spoons are all some of the top choices for those looking to get in on the surf mullet run action. We have started to see some schools on the beaches already so it will only continue to pick up!