I went fishing with fellow Salt Strong insiders Ronald and Jeff on Friday. The weather was beautiful, not too hot, and the wind was pretty calm until the afternoon when it picked up. We started off the day a bit later than I usually do. I told the guys to meet me at the dock between 7:15 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.

On the way to the dock, I picked up bait at Jigz Bait and Tackle. They have great prices and a wide variety of bait. I picked up four dozen shrimp and Ice and headed to the dock. I got to the dock about 7:10 a.m., but I was the last of the group to show up. This was unusual as I was usually the first to arrive.

With the NE wind and the tide, I decided to run up to Round Island and then work our way south. We started fishing as we came to the slow zone just south of Harbor Branch. Since we had to go slow, we decided to troll a few baits. I had a donkey rig out with Slam Shady jerk baits, Jeff had the Slam Shady bomber on, and Ronald had a hard bait similar in size and color as the mullet. About halfway through the troll, Ronald hooked up and landed a small jack. Unfortunately, we had no more action until we resumed normal operation.

With the high tide, getting back to Round Island was easy. We started working the northwest corner of the island, heading south. I started working in this area with the Moonwalker, a topwater bait. Jeff tossed the slam shady bomber, and Ronald threw a donkey rig with shrimp.

Shortly into our drift south, Jeff hooked up with something that fought well. After a short fight, he landed a small goliath grouper. A short while later, I had a snook take my topwater. It’s so exciting watching the blowup on the top water. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good hook set, and the snook spit the bait.

We continued to work to the island’s south end with little action; at the south end, we saw lots of life in the flats. I ended up spot-locking us, and we all threw our baits. Some fish hitting the top of the water appeared to be trout, so I changed it to a cork popper with shrimp, as trout can’t resist bait under cork poppers.

My cork popper didn’t take long to go under, and I had a decent fight. It turned out to be a jack crevalle. We stayed in this spot for the next hour and had non-stop action. We caught some trout to come home, jack cravelles, and several other species. I got frustrated as I seemed to be having a bad day with my hook set, losing probably seven fish on the way to the boat. I was also broken off multiple times.

Next, we went over to Harbor Branch. We started fishing the channel markers just north of the channel. I switched to the power prawn while Jeff stuck with the bomber, and Ronald switched to flounder belly strips. It didn’t take long for me to hook up with something. After a short fight, I landed a small goliath grouper. Not long after, I landed another jack crevalle.

We continued to drift south around the south point of Harbor Branch. While we rounded the point, we saw a ton of mullet, so we threw a cast net to put some live bait in the live well. We continued working Harbor Branch with very little success. Even though bait was blowing up all around us and we saw boils everywhere, nothing was hitting our baits. Since it was getting later in the afternoon and we had mullet in the live well, I decided to try the Ft Pierce Yacht Yard.

 We got to the yacht yard at about 1:00 p.m. There were schools of mullet swimming around here, so I was hopeful we would get something nice. We fished the yacht yard until 2:30 p.m. with nothing to show for our efforts. We all had some decent fish on, but we could not seal the deal and land any of them.

We arrived back at the dock shortly before 3:00 p.m. It didn’t take me long to clean the trout, and Ronald took the jacks to the inlet to use as bait later in the evening. Overall, we had a great day on the water with lots of action and some fish to come home for supper.

Tania and I send our best wishes to all fellow anglers out there, hoping your own fishing adventures are safe, blessed, and full of tight lines and good times! Until next time, keep casting and chasing those dreams on the water.

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!