Saturday morning, Tania and I went fishing. The weather buoy showed the seas to be 4 ft at 11 seconds. Even though I had an offshore boat, neither of us wanted to go offshore. You could say we are fair-weather fishermen, as we generally don’t go offshore if it is over three feet. The wind was forecasted to be east at 5-10 knots, increasing to 10-15 in the afternoon, so I planned to monitor the conditions all morning.

We stopped at the Fishing Center to get ice and shrimp before heading to the dock. We arrived around 6:30 am, even though sunrise wasn’t until 7:15 am. I like arriving early on Saturday to ensure we can get a parking spot and that we do not have to wait in too long of a line for our boat.

The dock hands arrived at about 6:50 am and immediately brought us our boat. Once the boat was loaded and checked out, it was 7:15 am, so we headed out. It has been a few weeks since we fished our area, so I wasn’t sure where to start, so we started where we usually do in the winter months, drifting south of South Causeway bridge.

With the low tide being 7:23 am, I knew we would have an outgoing current for another few hours, so I started to head to the waste treatment plant. While we were pulling up to the spot where we were going to start drifting, my buddy Captain Bill Briggs pulled up next to us, and we had a good chat for a little bit before we wished each other tight lines and went our separate ways.

Shortly after we said our goodbyes, we started drifting. Tania started fishing with a pink pompano jig with a chartreuse teaser, and I started with a yellow pompano jig with a white teaser. The first drift was decent; neither of us got stuck on the bottom, and we both caught multiple fish. I was hopeful that the first drift would be an indicator of how the day would be.

The next few drifts, we caught fish, but they were much slower than the first drift, so we decided to try a different spot. We ran the channel south of Harbor Isle and decided to fish the area just south of the entrance to Harbor Isle Marina. After about 15 minutes without a bite, I finally hooked up and reeled in a catfish. Due to the slow bite and only catching a catfish, we moved on to our third spot, the Smithsonian Dock.

The bite at the dock was slow, but it was consistent. We were mostly catching short mutton snapper, but Tania and I hooked up with something much larger, breaking us off after short-lived fights. Tania thinks they were larger mutton snappers, but we will never know.

With the current slowing down, I decided to move back to the drifting South Causeway bridge. Shortly into our first drift, I looked up, and Tania’s rod was doubled over. She didn’t say she had a fish, so I asked if she was stuck on the bottom. As I finished asking her, the fish must have realized it was hooked as it took off running. We had to chase down the fish in hopes of her not getting spooled. We were both positive she had a stingray on.

After about five minutes, she finally got the fish off the bottom and to the boat. Once Tania saw what it was, she started to scream that it was a goliath grouper. I grabbed the net, and we both looked in disbelief. This was the largest goliath grouper we have actually landed. Due to its size, we did not take it out of the water. I unhooked it, and then Tania filmed it as I released it out of the net. We did not measure it, but my net is 26 inches, so we are guessing it was about 30 inches. Tania landed this fish on her lite rod with a 10lb test and a 20lb leader. She never ceases to amaze me with her fishing prowess.

At this point, the tide was slack, so I decided to head over to the turn basin to try a few drifts. Unfortunately, we only caught a bunch of catfish, so Tania gave me a hard time leaving the area where she caught the grouper.

When we returned to the drift south of the bridge, the current shifted from outgoing to incoming. We made our first drift and caught a couple of catfish. I have a rule that if we catch two catfish, we move, so we went back to the west side of the Smithsonian dock due to the shift in current.

This was a great way to end the day. We finished off our shrimp, catching lots of fish. We caught a small black grouper, a short sheepshead, a mutton snapper, a lane snapper, and a mangrove snapper.

We ended up back at the dock at about 12:30 pm. Although we didn’t catch anything to bring home, we had a wonderful day on the water. Tania was supper excited about the goliath grouper as well as seeing dolphins and sea turtles near the boat.

Tania and I send our best wishes to all fellow anglers, hoping your 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 hosts monthly meetings in Fort Pierce on the 4th Thursday of each month. These meetings offer a range of benefits to members, including a 20% discount on tackle, access to Smart Fishing spots, and insider information on local trends. Additionally, there will be monthly tournaments and guest speakers featured. If you’re interested in learning more about Salt Strong, click the links below to receive a FREE pack of Slam Shady or a 30-day test drive.