About six months ago, I meet Captain Billy Briggs of Old Florida Guide Service. He had asked me to go fishing with him sometime. Due to my busy work schedule and him being a charter captain, I didn’t want to bother him, so we never hooked up. Back in December I meet his neighbor Brad at church. We got to talking and he put me in contact with Captain Billy and today was the day we finally met up to go fishing. I was really excited to go fishing and not captain the boat. I had absolutely no pressure to put anyone on fish.

Captain Billy picked me up at the dock about 7:00am. I was there early and while I waited, I tossed the Moonwalker. I had two big blow ups and then finally hooked into something large, which broke me off. To me, this was a great start to the day. I ended up tying on a 1/4oz trout eye jig head and put on a slam shady.

Before we headed out, we pulled up to the Ft Pierce City Marina to get shrimp. While the dock hand was getting us shrimp, we had dolphins swimming all around us and fish jumping everywhere. Captain Billy tossed out a topwater bait and as soon as it hit the water he hooked up and the dock hand hollered at him telling him he can’t fish there. Captain Billy released the small Jack Crevalle, we got our bait, and headed out.

We started off fishing the wall by the waste treatment plant. Captain Billy had me throw out first in hopes of putting me on the first Snook. Unfortunately, it was not my day as Captain Billy casted out and within 30 seconds he hooked up with a 24in snook. In this first spot I got caught on the bottom about three times and did not catch anything, while Captain Billy landed three Snook.

Next, we ran over to Stan Blum to get bait from JW Live Baits. Once we loaded up with baits, we ran to the mangroves south of Stan Blum. The first spot we lost two baits but didn’t stay long as the no-see-ums were horrible.

Next spot was at the entrance to the mangroves near the inlet. Captain Billy once again was on fire and started catching the Snook. He caught two Snook and a Barracuda before I finally got on the board with a small Jack Crevalle. Right before we moved again, I landed a 25in Snook. It was nice for me to finally put a targeted species in the boat.

At this point we went to the jetty and fished the rocks. It was a bit rough in the wind and the chop. And with the incoming current the baits weren’t holding near the rocks. The conditions were not conducive to fish the jetty, so we moved back into the river.

We hit a point along the mangroves as we moved further into the river. My first bait was blown up as soon as it hit the water. It was as if the fish was waiting to be fed by us. We fished this spot about 10 minutes without any other hits, so we decided to go into Taylor Creek.

When we went into Taylor Creek, due to the current, we went straight back to the train bridge. If I recall correctly, Captain Billy’s bait got blown up but didn’t catch the fish. Shortly after I had a bump on my bait and then my line started screaming.  I fought the fish for a few minutes, and it took me for a lap around the boat before we landed it. The fish turned out to be a nice size, Jack Crevalle. I was happy as not only did I have a nice fight, but I now have fish dip in my near future!

Next, we headed north to a set of docks on the west side of the river. Captain Billy told me where to cast. It didn’t take long for me to land a 24in Snook. Unfortunately, that was the only action we had in this spot.

At this time we headed north to bottom fish. We were looking for Sheepshead, but we only found short Mutton Snappers, a Puffer Fish and a Catfish. After about 30 minutes fishing bottom and finally catching the catfish we decided to head back south and try one last spot for a slot snook.

Once again, we fished the wall near the waste treatment plant. We both were getting snapper bites but the snook didn’t want to come out and play. We fished for about 20 minutes before we called it a day. We made it back to the dock about noon. All in all, I had a great day fishing with Captain Billy. He taught me a few tricks to help increase my chances of catching a slot Snook, and I am excited to try them out with Tania. If you are looking for a charter Captain, click the his logo below and book Captain Billy! I highly recommend going fishing with him. Great guide, very professional, and he put me on fish!

Tania and I pray all who make it out this week have a blessed and safe trip. May you have tight lines and good times.