Stuart Area Offshore and Inshore

The red hot saifish bite in January has slowed to a trickle but dolphin are being caught in decent numbers when one can get off shore. The dolphin have been mainly caught in one hundred and twenty to a hundred and forty feet. There are some kings and sharks causing bite offs in the same area. Live bait has been on and off so bring along some ballyhoo just in case. When we were able to get out, The bottom fishing was red hot for porgy and catch and release sea bass along with some vermilions. The water has been crystal clear at Peck's Lake which makes it difficult to catch the Spanish mackerel that you can see all around the boat. Try a piece of shrimp on the jig to up the odds of catching some. We fished inside the inlet on a cold day last week and all that would bite that day were bluefish but it was fun anyway. There are plenty of mangrove snapper around the docks of the north fork of the St. Lucie River as well as an occasional snook. Look for black drum at the Roosevelt Bridge during the day and snook at night. Croaker and drum are also at the Ten Cent Bridge on shrimp tipped jigs. Pompano have been hard to find but look for them at the Crossroads and the Sailfish Flats. A few redfish are also being caught there. More later.