Captain Bob Bushholz
Jensen Beach, Florida
(772) 225-6436
Reservations requiredCall or E-mail for more Information.
E-mail Us at NIGHT TRIP SPECIAL - $200.00 PRIVATE CHARTERS.
ALL YEAR LONG!!!!' | | Fishing Report for
July 8th, 2002
"Fishing
Deeper"
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July and
got to see plenty of fireworks. The rain cooperated in Jensen so everybody
got a chance to let off some steam.
Fishing north of the Stuart Causeway has been the zone to be in
locally considering the water releases from the spillways and the Lake,
which have hampered the water quality in St. Lucie Inlet. Between the
coffee-like water and the dredging that's producing
"grease-balls", fishing is a challenge in the Inlet (to say the
least). There are plenty of spawning snook hanging around, but they're the
only fish that seem to tolerate these conditions. If you do choose to
target those snook, remember to take all precautions to release them
unharmed. Crimping the barbs on your hooks and using circle hooks goes a
long way in protecting these "girls". It's better to give the
"spawners" a break and try some other areas since there are
plenty of rod-bending species in the River this time of year.
Last week on Catch 22, I've been focusing on areas from the Stuart
Causeway north to Little Mud Creek. Trout have been spotty in the morning,
but we managed to hook up with 9 trout to 23" until about 9:00 a.m.
The water north of the Jensen Causeway is stained, but still only
slightly. A combination of live shrimp on jigheads or DOA rootbeer and Glo
shrimp have been working on the west side of the Indian River and around
the spoil islands just east of the ICW channel. Prior to 9:00 a.m, the
east side of the Indian River, near the entrance to the Power Plant, and a
mile north at Little Mud Creek have both been productive areas. There's
plenty of bait available to fill the bait well, but nothing much has seem
interested. Just outside of Little Mud Creek there are rolling tarpon in
the 40 lb. range. Last week my angler jumped 2 on a DOA Terrorize and Gags
Grabber mini-mambo. Unfortunately "jumping" doesn't necessarily
mean a "catch", but on light tackle it sure is fun watching
those guys break water and chasing them around. Gags mini-mambos are ¼
oz. lipped lures that resemble glass minnows and from my recent experience
with them, I can say they definitely attract attention. Check them out at
KQLures.com. They come in a variety of some awesome types and colors.
My main focus last week was bottom fishing under bridges, the power
line towers and around channel markers. Salt water stays below the
infringing fresh water so fishing deep is the place to be when the water
conditions deteriorate. Bryan McDowell and Dad had a mixed bag of snook to
21", trout to 3 lbs, sheephead and black margate and numerous lane
and mutton snapper which provided continuous action and some great photos.
Another trip last week with Mike Hurt and family from West Palm Beach
produced a 5 lb. tripletail, 6.2 lb. flounder and plenty of snapper. It's
a great time for those hard-fighting tripletail and to prove that, my
other charters for the week resulted in 9 tripletail, with the biggest one
credited to David Silverstein of Coral Springs. At this rate, I might just
reach my goal this year of 100 tripletail. Only 59 to go! Actually, David
caught two of them weighing 7 lb. and 22 lbs. It took David (and a chasing
pontoon boat) about 15 minutes to land the "big one". Both of
his tripletail hit on trollrites with live shrimp, 2/0 hook on 12 lb. test
with 20 lb. mono leader. The trick is to keep these guys off the pilings,
which can cut through the mono leader in a heartbeat. Once you get them
clear of the pilings, watch the action as they come to the surface
sideways, break the water and slap that strong body just to taunt the
angler. Once boated, the tripletail makes great table fare, but remember,
just keep enough for dinner. Fresh fish is always better than frozen and
if you release what you're not going to eat that day, they'll be there the
next time you want some delicious "fresh" fish. Of the 9
tripletail landed last week, I'm proud to say the anglers (from 5
different parties) released 4 of them.
Some other bottom fish landed last week included 3 flounder to 6.2
lbs., 9 black drum to 6 lbs, 5 sheephead to 3 lbs. and lots of lane,
mutton and mangrove snappers. Except for one flounder, destined to be
stuffed with crabmeat and topped with béarnaise sauce, all were gently
released. There hasn't been anything really big to brag about, but there's
been plenty of action and lots of rod pullers. The biggest surprise last
week were the schools of black tip sharks which we encountered 2 days in a
row on the south perimeter wall at Nettles Island. These sharks were
running about 10 lbs. and are a blast to hook up on light tackle. They
weren't too picky about what they were eating and chomped on some pieces
of frozen shrimp on trollrites. In that 2-day period we caught, and
released, 11 sharks.
I still haven't been able to run the shoreline of the beach for tarpon
yet. Mother Nature seems to have a different plan this year and hopefully
I'll be able to get out in the next few weeks. I had an 8:00 a.m. charter
this morning and he really wanted to search for those beach tarpon, but
the sea conditions were unfavorable to say the least. Hope to get out
there soon to pick up some live greenies and sardines so I can chase down
the "silver rocket". There are all kinds of fish roaming among
the bait schools in 30 ft. of water. Kingfish, bonita, cudas, with tarpon,
snook and permit inside close to shore. Just remember, when you're fishing
in close to shore, have respect for the swimmers, surfers and surf
fisherman.
That's all for now and until next week, hope everybody gets a chance
to wet a line.
|
