Tania and I woke up a bit late on Saturday, 5:45am, to go fishing. I usually wake up at 5:30am and we try to leave the house by 6:00am; however, Tania was exhausted from her long week at work so I let her sleep in a few extra minutes. I felt a little rushed as I hate being behind schedule but I sucked it up for Tania!

Once again, we had trouble finding shrimp, but DeBrooks Fishing Corner was able to scrounge up four dozen. While the one guy was trying to get me as much bait as he could, I got to chat with Lily, Captain Jason Muller’s daughter. She mated for us on our first outing with Captain Jason Muller of Muller Maritime Services Fishing Charters. She asked how Tania was doing while I asked how her dad was doing.

We made it to the dock about 6:45am and had to wait in line as we were about fourth in line to get our boat. I was grateful we had to wait as I was able to change the boat from a bay boat to the Cobia 220 so we could go offshore. While we waited, I texted War Daddy Baits to see if he had any extra bait I could pick up since I did not reserve any, and we were fortunate enough to be able to get some.

We left the marina about 7:10am and made our way to the bait boat. We picked up $20 worth of pilchards/greenies, and headed out the inlet. We arrived at the boils about 7:30am. The water was a bit rougher than we had expected so I had to go a little slower than we normally would have run. Once again this was a good thing as I burned less gas, it just took us a little bit longer to arrive.

Once we got close to the boils the sun was higher in the sky and we could see the water was dirty. I was a bit disappointed as I knew this meant we would not catch any Pompano or Permit; however, we made the run so we were going to see what we could catch. Before we pulled up to our first spot to drift, we passed our friends from the boat club who beat us out and had already started drifting. They signaled the bite was slow.

Tania was the first to drop her jig as I set up a free line for the pilchards. Once I was set up, I let the bait free line out the back of the boat and I started jigging also. It didn’t take long for Tania to hook up with her first fish. It was a Blue Runner. Not what we were hoping for but with the dirty water it was expected.

What we found during the first drift was the drift was going north east, and the fish were biting just south of the boils where the water turned muddy color. With that being said our drifts would be short. Also, since I did not get a bite on the live line, I decided to put a 2oz sinker on the line making a knocker rig and put the pilchard on the bottom.

Shortly after we started our second drift the pilchard on the bottom got hit hard and I had a fight on my hands. We wound up all the other rods as I fought whatever took the bait. It only took a few minutes to get the fish to the boat and for me to realize it was a decent size Jack Crevalle. I decided to keep the Jack to make fish dip so in the cooler this one went after I bleed out. Once I got the fish on ice, we repositioned for a third drift.

Because Tania had a long week and was tired, combined with the knowledge of afternoon storms, we decided we would head back in about 11:00am. From 7:30am to 11:00am the bite was slow but consistent. We lost track of the Blue Runners and Ladyfish we caught, and we had three Jack Crevalle in the cooler.

Just before 11:00am the pilchard rod went. I started fighting the fish, but it was pulling line out pretty quick and I couldn’t get it to turn, so I rushed Tania to get all the lines on board as I was about to chase the fish down. I was pretty sure it was a shark, but I didn’t want to lose all my line. Shortly after Tania took control of the rod the fish stopped fighting. Once we got it to the boat, we found out what had happened. I had a pretty good snook on, but unfortunately the tax man said I owed him, so all I got was the head. Tania felt bad as if it was her fault, we lost the Snook to the shark because she was holding the rod when it happened. I felt bad also but I knew it was no one’s fault. But if it anyone was to blame it would be me, as I could not get the snook to turn for me and get him in quicker.

We were getting ready to head in when we drifted past the yellow buoy and Tania spotted a snook near the surface. We spent 30 minutes live lining a pilchard near it but it would not take the bait! I am guessing it was spooked as I am sure it knew we were there not to mention there were definitely some sharks around.

At some point while we were drifting our buddy Perry showed up. Since we were heading in, I came up next to him to offer him the left-over bait we had. I gave him probably six pilchards and a dozen shrimp. He was pretty happy as the live well they had lost the cap on the drain tube and they lost most of their shrimp as the shrimp went down the tube. I gave him my small bait net and told him to put it over the opening so he didn’t lose any of the baits I gave him.

We made it back to the docks about 12:30pm.  All in all, it was a beautiful day on the water. The wind kicked up as we headed in but that was to be expected with the storms approaching. Tania and I pray all who made it out over the weekend had blessed and fruitful trips and made it home safely. We pray all who head out this week have tight lines and good times!

The Treasure Coast Chapter of Salt Strong held our first event will be April 27, 2023. We will meet the last Thursday of every month. The next meeting will be May 25^th. This club meeting are for inside members. Your insider membership will include access to the in-person meetings as well as all the other perks such as 20% off all tackle, Smart Fishing spots, and insider information on trends in your area. We will also have guest speakers at our meetings and we will be holding monthly tournaments. Click the link below to get a FREE pack of slam shady or a 10-Day Test-Drive of The Smart Fishing Spots App and The Salt Strong Insider Club . . . And We’ll Ship You $35 Worth of FREE Lures, an “Inshore Fishing Manifesto” Book (Physical copy) & Decals – Yours to Keep Even If You Cancel!