On Friday morning, my buddy Art asked me to go fishing with him. I told him I was only available until noon, but he said he wanted to return to the dock by noon, so it was perfect. I arrived at his house about 8:45 am, with two rods, one rigged with a rat-l-trap and the other with a power prawn. Art told me we were going out with his neighbor on his pontoon boat.

When I got on the boat, Art had a rat-l-trap and a spinner bait on his rods, and his neighbor, Gary, had just brought one rod with a rat-l-trap. Once we were all aboard, we set out. It was a beautiful, crisp morning. The wind was 7kts out of the south, but back in the North Fork area, we were completely protected from the wind.

The fishing was slow all morning. Spots, we usually would catch snook, but we didn’t even get a bite. We went through another canal, which I had not fished in before. We all started throwing the rat-l-trap as Art swears by them. About halfway through the canal, I changed to the power prawn, only to lose some structure under one of the docks. I replaced it with a slam shady 2.0, which I continued to fish for the rest of the day.

At one point in the canal, I saw a huge gar; if I had to guess, it was 30-36 inches. I tossed the slam shady right in front of it, and it hit nearly as soon as my bait hit the water. Unfortunately, they have very hard moths and it spit the hook pretty quickly. It was cool to site cast the fish.

By the time we headed back in, we only caught one fish. I landed a small jack crevalle on the slam shady 2.0. The lack of fish caught was not due to a lack of trying. We just had too many perfect casts unanswered by the fish. Overall, I had a great morning catching up with my buddy Art and meeting his neighbor Gary. Nothing is like a beautiful morning in fellowship with great company on 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.