Captain Bob Bushholz
Jensen Beach, Florida
(772) 225-6436
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ALL YEAR LONG!!!!' | | Fishing Report for
March 25th, 2002
"Big Jacks Come And Gone"
Starting in the St. Lucie Inlet area, the large schools of jacks
that were running up to 30 lbs have moved north near the power plant and
Fort Pierce. On Thursday morning I ran a trip with the Ginn party who were
interested in a jack attack. We covered the beaches all the way to the
Holiday Inn not spotting a single jack. Switching to plan "B" we
moved inside the inlet and Sailfish Flats. Ladyfish action the past few
weeks in the flats has been great. Prior to Thursday I have spotted large
jack schools with over 1000 fish running on the surface. There are still
plenty of Spanish mac's just outside our inlet to keep you busy. It looks
like next weeks weather will allow us to wander along the beaches for
mackerel and hoping the jacks will reappear.
On the drift in the inlet a mixed bag last week with mangrove snapper,
grouper, jacks, ladyfish, black margate, pompano and a few snook. We are
throwing a combination of live shrimp, DOA CAL lures and glo shrimp along
with several other soft rubber baits. Bottom fishing near slack tide
remains good with sheephead to 4 lbs along with spots, snapper, black
margates and an occasional pompano and permit. Same deal as always. Small
trollrites with a small piece of shrimp on the bottom.
Working our way north in the Indian River, quick drifts under the
drawspan at the 25 cent bridge along the fenders have hooked up snook,
jacks and lookdowns. Depending on the boat traffic I try to get in a
couple of drifts under the bridges. When a boat approaches I clear the
area to allow him to pass. Back in the seventies you could fish this
method all day, but with the increase in boat traffic you need to time
your drifts. Depth along the fenders runs 15 feet . We pitch a bait as
close to the fenders as possible feeding out 20 feet or so. Very
productive down there.
In the grass flats on both sides of the Indian River from the Stuart
Causeway north to the power lines are holding some nice size trout. I
believe last week 3 trout over 5 lbs were boated along with plenty in the
14-18 inch range. No reds last week but did see scattered pompano darting
around the surface. I also noticed an increase in porpoise up and down the
river last week. With baitfish population on the rise these guys know
where to feed.
On Sunday morning we fished north starting for trout near Herman's Bay
on the west side. After 20 minutes I elected to hit a few channel markers
north . On the fourth cast, Jeff Tideman hooked into a estimated 10 lb
tripletail. After fighting the fish for about 10 minutes and 3 jumps later
he spit the hook and said adios. This doesn't happen often but that's
fishing. Twenty minutes later his 13 year old son hooked into a big one.
After fighting this fish for a solid half hour it happened again. I never
saw this fish but if it was a tripletail, he was over 20 lbs judging by
the fight. This would have meant a Junior IGFA World Record. It bugs me
not knowing what species that fish was. After those two misses we headed
to the Sailfish Flats for some ladyfish action. In a half hour about a
dozen were released. Casting far downwind with a brisk retrieve seems to
work best. Both live shrimp and DOA shrimp will hook you up. On our return
to Anchor's Aweigh Marina while looking for the manatee residents, Jeff's
son spotted something quite unusual along the south wall. It was a 75 lb
tarpon just hanging out!! It won't be long before these brutes will make
their annual appearance. Year after year, the tarpon action has improved
and anglers along the treasure coast should be treated to another banner
tarpon season.
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