Stuart Inshore Fishing Report & Forecast for February 2015

Fishing the backwaters of the St. Lucie river is always an adventure. Dana Blackburn and Drew Culton with drum, macs, and sheepshead while fishing with Capt. John Young. PHOTO CREDIT: Capt. John Young
Fishing the backwaters of the St. Lucie river is always an adventure. Dana Blackburn and Drew Culton with drum, macs, and sheepshead while fishing with Capt. John Young. PHOTO CREDIT: Capt. John Young

Snook season opens February 1st and they should be hungry. Find the bait and you will find the fish or be patient and they will come. Try snooking around the Sewall’s Point dock lights with Storm Swimbait or D.O.A. Shrimp #368 under the lighted docks. Use the current to push the lures along the pilings and deep under the docks. Don’t play with these snook or they will break you off. Tight drags and minimum #60 leader. Work the dark, unlit areas too for snook hanging off the shadow line. Big trout hang around the dock lights at night. Drifting a live shrimp through the same zone is good. Noise travels on the water, especially at night, so be quiet. There has been a good black drum and sheepshead bite at the Roosevelt and 25 Cent Bridge. Fish a 3/8 jig head with live or dead shrimp near the pilings and you should hook up. Jacks and ladyfish are everywhere and it’s been hard to get a bait past them. Try jigging a Doc Goofy Jig off the bottom with the incoming tide on the edge of the channel near the 25 Cent Bridge for pompano. The Indian River Lagoon grass flats seem to be rebounding with healthier sections that were struggling before. At first light, throw topwater plugs over the flats and near docks for trout and reds. A good skipping bait for under the docks is a D.O.A. Shrimp. The redfish numbers are increasing and they love dock pilings and mangroves. Live shrimp under a popping is a good technique for trout and reds. This is the month to stop by a couple channel markers and flip a shrimp on jighead for a triple tail. The wrecks and reefs are holding cobia right now and a live bait or cobia jig is a perfect offering.

Remember to keep the waterways clean and to wear your sunscreen!