At the last minute I decided to go fishing this morning. I texted my buddies, Don and Chris, to see if they wanted to join me. They both agreed, so I told them to meet me at the dock about 7:00am.  I arrived at the dock at 6:30am, as I like to arrive early.

While I was waiting for the dock hand to bring boat to the dock, I tossed out my Moonwalker. The second twitch of my bait produced a nice bite. I love watching the fish blow up on the topwater, there is nothing quite like it. I fought the fish for a few minutes before it was close enough to identify. I pretty much knew it was a Jack Crevalle, but until you see it or land it, it’s a mystery. My hunch was correct, and it was a nice size Jack. I didn’t feel like making fish dip this weekend, so I let the fish go.

Shortly after I released the fish the boat arrived at the dock. Chris and I finished loading the boat about 6:45am, so we had a 15-minute wait for Don. Once Don arrived, we loaded him up and set out on our way.

With a stiff W/SW wind we started fishing the docks just south of Ft. Pierce Marina along the west bank of the ICW. The first dock produced a few bites, but nothing was landed. I love fishing topwater but the hook up rate is a bit lacking. It can be frustrating to see the fish blow up on your bait but not commit to take it.

As we were working around the second dock, Don hooked up and landed a short Mutton Snapper on a twitch bait. I was surprised at the size of the fish compared to the size of the bait. Those Mutton Snapper are pretty darn aggressive. Even though high tide was 7:45am the current didn’t shift until about 9:30am. This shift in the current started us drifting back north. Since the bite was slow, I decided to head North back to Ft Pierce area, but Don wanted to check further south so we trolled a mile south. While trolling Don caught two small Jack Crevalle.

About 10:00am I took us to the west bank to work the docks back north. At the first dock near shore in about a foot of water, I hooked up with what I believe to be a trout. It was silver with a dark top and it jumped several times. I lost the fish on the second jump and got a decent look at the dorsal fins. I am pretty sure it was a trout, but since I didn’t land it, I have no proof. I believe it was in this same area Chris had a pretty good hit, but the fish didn’t commit.

At the next dock I had a really nice hit and whatever it was it tore my Power Prawn in half. I was a bit sad as this morning I forgot a few things, one being my small tackle back with all my soft baits. Since I didn’t have any more soft plastics, I just put shrimp on my jig head.

It turned out to be a good thing as the bait of the day seemed to be live shrimp on the 1/4oz jig head.

My first cast with the shrimp produced a massive bite which unfortunately broke me off pretty quickly. I tied another jig back on and shortly after I landed a decent Sheepshead. I was excited to finally land a fish to take home.

As we drifted between docks, I landed a couple small Jack Crevalle. At this point, Don and Chris changed up to start fishing with shrimp. Each dock held fish, unfortunately most were just short Mutton Snapper. At the third dock, Don got broken off after a short fight. Don and I seemed to be having all the action and I felt a bit bad for Chris since he hadn’t caught anything.

While drifting past the third dock, I ended up landing a decent croaker. It was nice putting fish in the cooler. We continued our drift until 11:45am at which point I decided to start heading back towards the marina.

When I got to channel marker 192, I decided we would try for some sheepshead. A few weeks back my neighbor told me they had good luck there. We didn’t catch any Sheepshead, but we caught quite a few Mutton Snapper. About noon the wind picked up, so we continued back north.

We stopped at channel marker 190 to see if we could catch anything to bring home. We fished here until we ran out of bait. We mostly caught short Mutton Snapper; however, I did land a 14inch Spanish Mackerel.

We headed back to the marina about 1pm. The fishing was a bit slow, but we caught fish and came home with a mix bag of fish. I gave Chris the Spanish Mackerel as he has never tried it. Don did not want any fish, so I came home with the Crocker and the Sheepshead. Tania will be out with friends tomorrow so I will end up making fish tacos for lunch tomorrow. I can’t wait!

With the cold front coming though this weekend, Tania and I pray all who go fishing have a blessed and safe trip. With 20-25kt wind forecast I canceled our boat for tomorrow. I plan on getting some work done around the house. May you all have tight lines and good times the next time you go fishing!