fishing the St. Lucie River with
Capt. Greg Scherer. PHOTO PROVIDED BY: Capt. John Young.
This month the snook will be moving to the inlets and near-shore reefs in big numbers preparing for the summer spawn. On the Sailfish Point Flats we have seen hundreds of snook in the cuts and running the edges. The snook are all big females with many well over 40 inches. To actually get a keeper is hard. Most fish are all over 32 inches, the maximum size. Topwater plugs like the old reliable Zara Spook, Rapala Skitter Walk and the D.O.A. Bait Busters fished up on the bars and along the channel edges and mangroves edges on the last two hours of the outgoing tide or first two hours of the incoming tide will get the big girls fired up.
Live bait has an upper hand during the middle of the day. Check out the docks and bridges in the St. Lucie and Indian River for snook holding on structure. A jig and live shrimp combo or live crab on a jig head flipped near the pilings will be another way to go. If locked down 50 pound test doesn’t turn the snook, it was probably a Goliath grouper, which are showing a strong presence around local bridges.
Tarpon should be showing up this month so run the beaches at first light with some live bait. Shut your engines down early and anticipate the swim pattern. On the grass flats there has been some big gator trout caught on the west side of the Indian River. Gator trout go crazy over topwater plugs so stick with the walk dog style at first light. Anytime you are trout fishing you are also red fishing. Redfish will eat a big topwater plug twitched across the grass flat just with a little more roll on the plug. Live pig or pinfish on a bobber fished up near the mangroves on the higher tides will draw strikes. D.O.A. CAL jigs bounced in and around sandy potholes, docks (older the better) allows you to work the area faster for trout and reds whether you are wading or fishing from a boat. Practice catch and release for our future fishery. Wear your Bullfrog.
FORECAST BY: Capt. John Young
Bites On Guide Service
Snook, Trout, Redfish, Tarpon, Kingfish
Phone: (772) 708-3593
Email: snoooky12@yahoo.com