Captain Bob Bushholz
Jensen Beach, Florida
(772) 225-6436
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ALL YEAR LONG!!!!' | | Fishing Report for
October 30th, 2002
"Murphy's Law"
Last week provided plenty of rod-bending
action. I started the morning trips in the grass flats north of Jensen
Causeway, hooking up trout to 3 lbs., and getting into jacks and ladyfish
chasing small mullet schools. DOA and live shrimp on 6-lb. test did the
damage. Moving under the Jensen Bridge produced several mangrove snapper
to 14" along with jacks to 5 lbs. and snook to 24". The black
drum that have been plentiful under the Bridge seem to have vacated for
the time being.
Tarpon have been harder to find south to the crossroads but there are
still some nice jacks and blue runners hanging out. Three permit to 8 lbs.
were caught and released while drifting this area. Near slack tide we
focused on bottom fishing and found some gafftop sailcats to 8 lbs. that
really tested the light tackle, but resulted in some great excitement and
big smiles.
The action in the Inlet was pretty slow for several days, but the
jetties were holding the normal mangroves, spots, porkfish and a variety
of other assorted "grubbers" looking for a hand-out. Just
outside the rocks of the Inlet, we found some "decent" jacks and
black margate. These guys know how to not only test your patience, but put
a strain on the tackle as well. You can't horse these guys. Patience and
constant, steady pressure pays big dividends.
Spanish Mackerel have been an afternoon event lately. Twice during the
past week, I ran to Peck's Lake on a "re-con" mission in the
morning only to find a dozen or so boats along the way that were fishing
hard but catching few. The afternoons were a complete turn-around with
several boats reporting hooking up 50-60 mackerel.
Offshore, weedlines have been forming in the afternoon, from about 44
feet, and holding tons of mackerel feeding on glass minnows. Small jigs or
silver spoons seem to be working the best. Most of the "macs"
are pretty small and running under 2 lbs. It's just a matter of time
(maybe hours) until these fish push in closer to shore.
Back to the River and to prove it can happen to anyone at anytime, I
ran a morning charter today with 6 anglers, departing at 8 a.m. With a
full boat I elected to fish deep, staying away from chasing trout in the
grass. Usually, with a full boat, it's counter-productive to attempt to
fish shallow since it is tough to be stealthy with 7 people on the boat.
By 9 a.m. I headed south for the Inlet. Once arriving at the Inlet and
running into a strong southwest wind, the executive decision was to remain
inside and drift the crossroads. Just about to hit the "secret"
sheephead hole, the steering cable on Catch 22 snapped! To add insult to
injury, while using my $80+ retractable landing net to maneuver the
engine, I managed to launch it off the boat to a watery death. Finally
managing, through great ingenuity and extreme intelligence (?!?), I
managed to get the boat back to the Stuart Causeway. Modern science (my
cell phone) allowed me to get in touch with my buddy, Hank, who met us at
the boat ramp and gallantly chauffeured my clients back to Anchor's
Aweigh. The boat is safely at Lindsey Marine who promised to get me back
in the water and running by Friday. Murphy's Law certainly prevailed
today.
Happy Halloween everybody, stay safe and take a kid fishing.
Capt. Bob
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