On Friday morning, I went fishing with fellow Salt Strong Insider Ronald. With the weather forecast of 5-10kt east winds with 2-3ft seas, I tried to change my inshore boat to an offshore one; however, with the fair seas, everyone wanted to go offshore, so we stayed in the river.

I arrived at the dock at about 6:30 a.m. and loaded the boat. While waiting for Ronald to arrive, I tossed out a Mulligan and landed a Jack crevalle on my first cast. Ronald had a long drive and arrived shortly after me.

We departed the dock around 7:00 a.m., excited for what the day would hold. Ronald and I met at the Salt Strong Treasure Coast meeting last month, so we were excited to see what we could learn from each other. I decided we would run north to Old Inlet and try the area again. We were in search of a slot snook.

We started fishing on the south side of Spoil Island 11. I started fishing with the Moonwalker topwater bait, and Ronald went with swimbait. Our goal was to fish the island’s east side; however, when we got to this one cut, it looked very promising, so I followed it to the island’s west side. We had several decent hits, but nothing committed to taking our baits. I was slightly disappointed as we had bait blowing up all around us, the birds were diving, and I saw many large boils as we slowly drifted along.

We continued our northbound trek and worked the east side of Spoil Island 10. By this time, both Ronald and I had changed up our tactics. I switched to a 4in Mulligan on a 1/8oz Texas Eye Jig, and Ronald started fishing with brined frozen shrimp. We saw bait everywhere, but the bite was slow. I caught a jack, and I believe Ronald had two catfish and a few short snapper by now.

Since the bite was slow and we were in shallow waters, I decided to change it up and fish with live shrimp under a cork popper. I caught a nice mangrove snapper to the northeast point of Spoil Island 10. Since we weren’t having luck with our slot snook, I felt putting snapper in the cooler was a good consolation prize, so I spot-locked us and continued fishing.

I had only brought two dozen shrimp, and by the time we burned through them, we had four keeper mangrove snapper in the cooler. In this spot, I caught a surprise catch, a needlefish. I also caught a small jack, which Ronald wanted for bait. Ronald continued to fish with his brined shrimp but changed it after his fourth catfish. He also caught a decent-sized puffer fish before switching to a donkey rig with two shrimp. He even caught a catfish on that rig. I started calling him the catfish whisperer.

We moved on to Spoil Island 9 after we ran out of live shrimp. I switched back to the Mulligan, and Ronald continued with his rig. Although Ronald had to change his second shrimp out, a toothy critter bit his shrimp in half during one of his retrieves. We started to have more action at this location. Ronald caught a few snapper, and I had something bite my Mulligan in half multiple times.

When we hit the southeast corner of this island, Ronald caught himself a snook. After a slow morning, we were happy to have a targeted species on the boat. Not long after, I put a snook on the boat. As we continued around the island, we came into a school of ladyfish. We had fun catching them. At one point, Ronald caught two at once on the donkey rig. He thought he had a monster fish on until he pulled them out of the water.

Around noon, we called it a day and headed back to the dock. I had to finish getting stuff ready for Reel Blessed’s event being held on Saturday. I will post a full report on our event on Wednesday! Once we unloaded the boat, Ronald and I cleaned the snapper, and I watched as he cut up the jack. He filleted it and cut it into strip bait, which he says the flounder love.

All in all, we had a blessed day fishing. We caught fish, saw a manatee, and had great fellowship. It was nice getting to know my fellow insider better. This is what Salt Strong is genuinely about—making lifelong memories with family and friends!

Tania and I pray all who made it out this weekend had blessed and safe trips. We also pray for those going out this week. 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. They ship you $35 worth of FREE Lures, an “Inshore Fishing Manifesto” Book (Physical copy), and decals – Yours to Keep Even If You Cancel!