Thursday was the first day back to school with the students. With Tania teaching secondary PE at school as well as the car line in the afternoon, she is out in the sun most of the day. She was absolutely exhausted and was not wanting to spend more time in the sun so she chose not to go fishing on Saturday. We had invited our friends Tom and Amanda to go with us so I contacted Tom and let him know it would just be me. Amanda also canceled so I ended up taking Tom and his son Lee.

Tom and Amanda recently joined Freedom Boat Club so they were excited to join me to learn as much about fishing as they could. We all met up at the dock at 6:30 am, I did not forget my wallet today, so I was on time. We loaded the boat and started on our way. We were out of the inlet by 7:00 am and were heading to the boils.

With high tide at 6:30 am, I was hopeful the water would be clean, and we would catch a permit or two. Unfortunately, when we arrived the water was dirty. With the outgoing tide and the south wind, I figured our drift would be northeast, so I set up at the southwest corner of the boils. 

We all started fishing with jigs. Tom and Lee had 60g Nomad Gypsea jigs of different colors tipped with shrimp, and I was using the Nomad Squidtrex 95. The drift was slow, which translated to a slow bite. It took about 10 minutes for our first bite, shortly after I landed a hard head catfish. We all know me catching the first fish is bad luck for the boat, I was more concerned that the first fish was a catfish though. We continued the drift and had very few bites, so I repositioned us to continue to work the area.

We continued to work the boils until 9:00 am, with little luck. The boils produced seven catfish, a few short mutton snapper, and a couple of grass porgies. The number of catfish we caught was a testament to how dirty the water was. Due to a lack of action, I decided to move us to the shallow reefs about five miles offshore.

It didn’t take us long to get to the reefs and set up a drift. There was a ton of bait and within a few minutes, we spotted at least four barracuda. Both Tom and Lee dropped jigs and I set up a sabiki to see if I could get us some bait.

On the first drift, I managed to put a handful of threadfins in the live well and both Tom and Lee caught fish. In this area the current was moving a bit quicker, so we had to reposition more frequently. We ended up losing a few fish to the barracudas, so I put a wire leader on and targeted them specifically.

The first hit on the live line was spectacular, the barracuda went airborne as it took my bait. It was a short-lived fight and I only brought in a piece of the threadfin. I baited back up and tossed out again, this time to hook up. I passed the rod over to Lee to let him fight the larger fish. Lee did a great job landing the barracuda and the smile on his face for the picture said it all.  

We ended up fishing in this area until 12:30 pm. The bite was once again slow but consistent. I was glad Tom and Lee were able to see all the life in our oceans, between the barracudas swimming with the bait balls and a few sea turtles. Seeing God’s creations were amazing.

Tom and Lee had to pay the taxman today as both lost a few decent lane snappers to the barracuda. Tom’s experience was more exciting as he watched it all happen just under the surface of the water. We ended up at the dock with two 10-inch lane snapper.

We didn’t fill the cooler like I had hoped but I felt we had a great productive day. We caught fish and I was able to teach Tom and Lee many different methods of fishing. Tania and I pray all who head out the rest of the week have blessed and safe trips. May you all have tight lines and good times.

The Treasure Coast Chapter of Salt Strong now holds monthly meetings in Fort Pierce on the 4th Thursday of each month. These meetings are exclusive to inside members, who receive various perks, including 20% off tackle and access to Smart Fishing spots, and insider information on local trends. Monthly tournaments and guest speakers are also set to feature. To become an inside member, click the link below to receive 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 they ship you $35 worth of FREE Lures, an “Inshore Fishing Manifesto” Book (Physical copy) & Decals – Yours to Keep Even If You Cancel!