Tania did an art class at Do-Over Décor on Saturday, so we reserved a boat for Sunday. Saturday evening, Tania told me she didn’t want to go on the boat, but she didn’t mind if I still went. I didn’t wish to go fishing alone, so I asked my friend Fritz. We were both concerned about the weather forecast but decided to go anyway.

I arrived at the dock at about 6:15 a.m. While waiting for our boat to arrive, I started tossing the Moonwalker. The fish were blowing up all around the marina and even hit the moonwalker multiple times. However, they were hitting it so hard it was pushing the moonwalker out of the water.

Just as Fritz arrived at the dock, something big blew up on my top water. Unfortunately, after a short fight, it broke my line. While I was putting on a rat-l-trap, Stephen tossed out a super spook. On his first cast, he hooked and landed a small jack crevalle. On my first cast with the rat-l-trap, I landed a small jack also. When I was ready to pull my jack out of the water, a massive snook followed it until I pulled it out of the water.

Our boat pulled to the dock about this time, so we loaded up and headed out. My goal today was to get a slot snook. I planned to start at Spoil Island 9 since I caught a few snook there last week; however, I took a slight detour and went to the Fort Pierce Yacht yard.

We worked the yacht yard wall from south to north. Fritz had a few fish follow his super spook, but nothing committed. I continued to throw the rat-l-trap, and just like Fritz, I had a few hits but didn’t catch anything. As we headed back to the channel to run north, we saw lots of tailing tarpon, so we threw the super spook and a topwater plug in hopes of hooking up. However, we moved on after a bit as nothing was biting what we were throwing, and we lost sight of them.

We pulled up to Spoil Island 9, and with the incoming tide and SE wind, we started to work the island’s west side. We didn’t see much life at this island, so we continued to work around the island. We moved to the next island once we got to the NE corner. By the time we reached this corner, Fritz and I had changed to artificial shrimp. I put on a Savage Gear Manic shrimp, and Fritz used a Vudu Shrimp. Changing our baits over proved a good choice as I had many bites, which I failed to get a good hook set, and Fritz caught a jack crevalle and a catfish. I know not prize fish, but it was action.

We continued to work the west side of all the islands, heading north to Harbor Branch. On the NE corner of Spoil Island 8, Stephen lost a small snook at the boat. Shortly after, I hooked what I thought was a stingray, but we saw it was a large flounder when I got it close to the boat. After a few minutes of fighting, we landed the 23-inch founder, which was promptly put in the cooler.

The further north we went, the more life we saw in the river. While working Spoil Island 6, we both cast in the same spot next to a fallen tree in the water and hooked up. Fritz landed a small mutton snapper, and I landed a baby Goliath grouper. Even though the grouper was small, it put up a good fight on light tackle. Towards the NW corner of this island, Fritz landed another flounder, 16 inches. After we finished working Spoil Island 6, we made a run for Harbor Branch.

We were amazed at all the life when we arrived at Harbor Branch. Bait was everywhere; fish were blowing up all around us in every direction. We were overwhelmed and didn’t know which way to start fishing, so with the conditions, we started working the northeast corner eastward. About a quarter of the way east, I hooked up with a nice snook for a short-lived fight. With its first jump, it shook the hook. Shortly after, we shifted our drift back to the west to follow the west bank south. We made this change due to the winds shifting directions on us and the fact we needed to start heading back towards the marina as we had to have the boat back by 1:00 p.m.

While working the west bank, I saw a flounder swim away from us. I was excited as in all the years Tania and I have fished in Florida, we have only ever caught four flounder, and today, we already had two and were seeing more. It wasn’t long after Fritz landed a slightly larger flounder than his first, 17 inches.

We returned to the dock at about 12:30 p.m. The bite was slow but consistent. We had a few heartbreaks when we lost fish, but we had a great day. I enjoyed having the time of fellowship with Stephen.

Tania and I pray all who made it out this weekend had blessed and safe trips. Those planning on hitting the water this week, may you have tight lines with 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!