Stuart Area Offshore and Inshore

The dolphin bite has finally taken off as expected. The fish are widespread and are being caught by just about everyone. We had two the other day while bottom fishing with one dolphin taking the top bait on a chicken rig with a snapper hooked up on the bottom bait. It was a banner day for us in seventy five feet of water off of the Loran Tower. We limited out on vermillion snapper and caught a bunch of lanes, porgies, and trigger fish. Several grouper were also released but the bonus was a twenty five pound cobia that took a squid bait. The fish came to the boat with another cobia that would not take a sardine pitched in front of him. We cleaned fish for two hours after our trip. Big jacks are roaming the beaches and tearing into any bait they find. The spring mullet run has begun and should make surf fishermen happy. Look for kings in thirty to fifty feet chasing the bait schools. Amberjacks are holding on the wrecks and the jiggers are doing well with them. The only downside is in the rivers where discharges from Lake O brown up the water and drop salinity to dangerous levels. More later.{%image_id=15045%}