Captain Bob Bushholz
Jensen Beach, Florida
(772) 225-6436
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ALL YEAR LONG!!!!' | | Fishing Report for
May 1st, 2005
"May Forecast"
May is here and it just happens to be one of my two
favorite months for both inshore and offshore fishing. Starting
offshore, the big story in May will be the dolphin bite. Last year the
beginning of the month was a blowout with strong east winds, but the
remaining 3 weeks more than made up for it. Historically, dolphin show
up in the Keys the end of April in big numbers. By early May you can
find them in 80-200 feet as they migrate northward towards the Treasure
Coast. The good news is dolphin now have a 20 inch min which will help
the population. Remember, limit your keep, don't keep the limit! By far,
trolling is your best bet for dolphin; dragging ballyhoo, rigged squid
and mullet. Try to get at least two baits down using downriggers,
planers or 16 oz. cigar weights. Covering various water columns will
increase your odds drastically. I prefer red or purple with black skirts
on my downlines (good wahoo colors) while on top using naked baits or
yellow, green and pink skirts which work great. I suggest that you
forget wasting time catching greenies unless you want to target kings or
sailfish. Run out to 80 feet and start trolling. Keep an eye out for
color and temperature changes, weedlines, any floating debris and
working birds. Always have two spinning combos ready on standby. A 2 oz.
jig with squid or cut bait will come in handy if you stumble upon
dolphin schools or manta rays holding cobia. Usually you have about 30
seconds to react before they are gone, so be ready for them. Keeping
squid chunks or sardines nearby will often prove to be the difference
between a single fish in the box or multiple fish in the box. You can
hold a school near the boat by chumming them. A little at a time while
tossing those standby jigs will hook you up. Always leave at least one
hooked-up dolphin in the water if you are in a school. This keeps his
buddies around the boat.
Other species to target are kingfish, cobia, wahoo, sailfish and
summertime bonita and cudas. Live bait works best for kings in close from
40-80 feet. A short steel leader with a treblehook stinger attached to a 3/0
live bait produces excellent results. In close, keep your eyes peeled for
big manta rays and toss a jig about 30 feet in front of them for that cobia
hiding in their shadows. Sailfish can be anywhere. To increase your wahoo
odds, speed your troll up to 8-10 knots. I've caught most of my "hoos" in
250-350 feet, but you never know. I saw an 86 lb. wahoo caught in 60 feet of
water to win a tournament in the last 30 minutes before lines out.
Surf and bottom fishing is also great in May. From the surf, look for
bluefish and pompano still lurking about. Cutbait or spoons for blues,
sandfleas or crabs cast far out for the pompano. Look for plenty of whiting
and some croaker in close to shore. I almost forgot to mention the snook and
tarpon that will be cruising the shorelines. It's a great time to cast for
snook in the surf. Casting diagonally with top water mirrolures, spooks,
bombers, DOA Baitbusters & Terrorize, red tail hawks produces hook-ups. The
snook are feasting on whiting near shore. If you catch a whiting, re-hook it
and toss it out with a 3/0 live bait hook. It's a good bet it will catch the
eye of a hungry snook.
The tarpon will be cruising a bit deeper in 10-30 feet of water.
Drifting live mullet, pinfish or sight casting DOA Baitbusters and Terrorize
top the list. With the weather getting increasingly warmer, it's best to
fish very early or late before these guys head for the deep water to cool
off. Bottomfishing is strong this time of year on the outside, with larger
than average mangrove snapper and grouper. I prefer a long leader (30') for
the muttons using grunt heads for bait. They tap it a few times, but wait
until he grabs it and runs, then stick it to him! Always throw a flatline or
two out to increase productivity. You can catch dolphin, kings and sails
while you're bottom fishing. It's easy, it's maintenance free, and it makes
sense.
Inshore, the St. Lucie Inlet will start holding more snook showing up
early for their summer spawn. The detached jetty, the perimeter of Sailfish
Point (high-water best) and the south side of the Inlet, close to shore will
produce fish. The crossroads area from Marker #239 north to the "quarter"
bridge (east of the channel to the sand bar) holds early morning tarpon all
summer long. On Catch 22 we drift finger mullet in this area until bout 9:00
a.m. while ready to sight cast DOA Terrorize on standby rods. The water in
this area near high tide can get really clean and with a 10 foot depth
average, you can see bottom very well. I use 20-lb. spinning rigs with a 6-8
foot 60 lb. leader. You can fish lighter, but expect a long battle when that
hefty tarpon takes hold. Last year a 9 year old boy on one of my charters
hooked a 60 lb. tarpon on 10 lb. test. Forty minutes later and a mile up the
River the tarpon was brought to the boat and released. This fish made five
runs into the channel forcing me to play water-traffic cop trying to wave
boats off. Plenty of tarpon will appear in the St. Lucie River also. The
last three years were banner tarpon seasons here. Who needs to go to the
Keys to fish, we have it all right here!
Area bridges should hold mangrove snapper, sheephead, black drum and
croakers. Live or frozen shrimp on the bottom on light tackle seems to work
the best. The night-time snook hang out near structure and shadow lines
where the water is moving. May is the last month of open snook season until
September, so now's the time.
In the grass flats, big trout will dominate the scene. Start as early as
5 a.m. and fish until 7 a.m. with topwater lures in skinny water. Docks
along the west side from Walton Road north to Fort Pierce are hot. From 7-10
a.m., go to 3-5 ft. deep with soft rubber baits (DOA CAL series and glo
shrimp) or live shrimp on a popping cork. On windy days, fishing from a
boat, try drifting popping corks 100 ft. behind the boat and set them in the
rodholders. Cast your rubber baits downwind to increase your odds. Don't
forget the spoil islands either early or late. Look for diving birds and
there's sure to be trout around. Most trout in these areas will be under 18"
so fish as light as 6 lb. test with no leader. The redfish will be close to
shore on the west side or under the mangroves on the east side. Johnson's
gold spoons top the list as the lure of choice.
Channel markers in the Indian River have been pretty dormant the past 6
months with big sheephead and tripletail being noticeably scarce. Hopefully,
with the water clarity much improved, the river will come alive with the
snapper, flounder, tripletail and goliath grouper reappearing. Further
north, the Port Canaveral area (the tripletail capital of the world) has
shown a big increase in the tripletail numbers which means they should be
heading south soon. Around channel markers, start casting soft rubber baits
or live shrimp on a jig head from a distance and work a 30' radius around
the piling. Finish off on the bottom, no more than 5 feet from the marker.
Lift up an inch or two every 10 seconds. If you feel dead weight, count to 3
and set the hook. Tripletail are sure to run from the boat and towards the
piling. Keeping the line from brushing barnacles is difficult but a must if
you want to boat that fish. They are strong, ugly and ornery, but one of the
best tasting fish you will ever eat and well worth the battle!
Big and Little Mud Creeks are the hot spot for tarpon between 5-8 a.m.
Lots of unmolested tarpon lurk inside Big Mud with the yellow boom blocking
the entrance. If the Creek is still closed, try fishing the entrance and the
channel leading into Big Mud from the main channel. There's nothing like
seeing that giant silver fish leaping when he's attached to the end of your
line.
Good luck and tight lines!
Capt. Bob Bushholz
(772) 225-6436
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