Stuart Area Offshore and Inshore

It has been a while since we fished in the Indian River but last week we had an enjoyable half day. We caught a variety of species including jacks, catfish, and lady fish. The highlight of the day was a permit that measured twenty one inches to the fork. It hit on a shrimp tipped jig and gave angler Josh Littman a run for his money on a light tackle rod. On another trip, we were chumming on the Sandpile for mutton snapper and hooked into two big nurse sharks on light tackle. My buddy's rod broke as he finally got one of them to the boat. We surprisingly hooked a couple of yellowtail snapper on the same spot and lost a couple to kings and cudas. Bottom fishing in fifty feet north of the St. Lucie Inlet, we loaded up on lane snapper and caught a lot of just undersized sea bass. We also hooked into a lot of Almaco jacks in the same area and boated a couple of amberjack. On Fathers Day we caught our limit of kings in fifty feet near the Sandpile along with a few lanes. The live bait has been hit and miss and so has the dolphin bite, so stay in close until the offshore improves. More later.{%image_id=15985%}