November was a cool, windy month pushing some migratory fish down the coast, such as Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and pompano. This can be a fun fishing opportunity for all anglers fishing from the beach or by boat. The Spanish mackerel will school up a bunch down the coast from the St. Lucie Inlet to Peck Lake Beach. My favorite lures to cast with a fast retrieve are the Gulfstream Flash Minnows in chartreuse green. Some other options are #2 green Clarkspoons, Gotcha Plugs, and long-shank synthetic Clousers flies. Once you find the mackerel, you can chum them by tossing handfuls of glass minnows to keep them close to your boat.
Snook season ends December 15, but these last couple weeks can be a great opportunity to catch them by jigging the bridges with First Light Jigs and D.O.A. Deep Baitbusters. You can also find lots of snook back in the South Fork along the mangrove shorelines and seawalls. For them, we mostly use D.O.A. C.A.L. jigs and Giles~Jigs. Fishing back in the South Fork is a great way to hide from the windy conditions we typically have during the winter. The concrete seawalls back there often hold nice snook that love topwater lures and gurgler flies.
The pompano season has started for surf casting and jigging the flats. Surf casting is always best with an incoming tide using sandfleas on a double or triple hook rig. The flats between the House of Refuge and Boy Scout Island can be fun to look for “skipping pompano” jumping near your boat while cruising 5-to-10 miles-per-hour. Have some bait rods ready with sandfleas and a jigging rod rigged with a 3/8-ounce High Jinks jig. I usually drop the Power-Pole as soon as I find them skipping. If they don’t eat right away, be patient because it sometimes takes a minute for them to start eating after you spook them and make them “skip.”
Some deeper spots to try for the pompano are the Crossroads, the Stuart Causeway, and just inside the St. Lucie Inlet between the two channels. We also catch some big croakers, sheepshead, and snapper in these same areas using live shrimp. And sometimes get lucky with a Stuart bonefish.
FORECAST BY: Capt. Giles Murphy
Stuart Angler Bait & Tackle
(772) 288–1219
www.stuartangler.com
giles@stuartangler.com
Fishing Charters: (772) 475–4857
