Stuart Area Offshore and Inshore

Brown, fresh water from Lake "O" is still pouring through the locks into the St. Lucie River and out the inlet into the ocean. This situation has made it very difficult to find live threadfins or sardines to fish with. Most offshore anglers are trolling ballyhoo which is not our preferred method. The dolphin bite is slowly beginning to pick up and a few gaffers are being taken in three hundred to six hundred feet. A few sailfish are being taken a little further in. One surprise has been yellow tail and mutton snapper caught near the sandpile last week. We were fortunate enough to land several there last week fishing squid strips and one ounce of weight. There were some lanes mixed in also. As we move closer to the inlet, schools of finger mullet and pilchards are being clobbered by jacks and tarpon near the beach. There still are some snook being taken near the inlet rocks but it is not as hot as it was before the brown water. The rivers are loaded with pilchards and small mullet and the jacks and ladyfish are having a feast. Look for the birds and the splashing below them and you will get a hit on just about anything you throw into the fray. Hopefully the discharges will stop and we will get the full effect of the mullet run and the return of live bait offshore. More later.