Since work is slow and I had a friend in town from up north, I took the day off and got us a boat to fish inshore. With forecasted 10-15kt NE winds, I knew it would be an interesting day. I planned to run north towards Vero in search of some snook, redfish, and trout. I had heard of fishing being caught on the west bank of the ICW across from Round Island, so I wanted to explore the area.

I arrived at the dock at about 6:30 am but had told Joel to arrive at 7:00 am. I wanted to ensure the boat was ready before he arrived. While waiting for my boat to arrive, I tossed out a Slam Shady 2.0, and on my first cast, I had something chase it, but it spooked it when it got close to the dock. In the second cast, I had a decent fight on my hands with a decent-sized jack crevice. Once I released him, I tossed out and caught a second jack just as my boat arrived.

Even though the conditions were not the best for fishing on the west bank, I was hopeful we would find the wind pushed the bait against the west bank, and there would be feeding fish. I started throwing a Brazilian Power Prawn Jr., and my buddy Joel used a cork popper with life shrimp. Unfortunately, we did not see much life in one area. We did see a school of finger mullet, but that was the only life we saw, and we did not even get a bite.

Since we were not seeing birds, bait, or boils, I ran east and fished Round Island’s wind-protected side. Here, we saw more life, and we both were getting bites. I saw multiple fish chase my bait to the boat but did not take it. At this point, I changed up to a Prawn Jr. in gold digger color, and on my second cast, a puffer took the tail off. Luke Simonds always says to keep throwing the bait, but it will still work without the tail, so I did not change it out. Joe was written, and a short while later, I hooked up with a decent Jack Crevalle. My buddy Joel also caught a Jack just before I landed mine.

Once we finished working Round Island with little success, we moved further south to Harbor Branch. We worked from the mouth of the inlet into Harbor Branch on the south side to the west bank with very little action. We saw a lot of bait, but no birds or boils, and we each only had a few bites.

At this point, I continued to run south. Wanting to escape the wind, we headed to the area by Little Jim’s. We started working the east shoreline north. We saw lots of bait and boils, but once again, we were not getting any bites. I looked at the Salt Strong smart fishing app to see if they suggested anything in this area. According to the app, Snapper Cove should hold fish, so we moved to start working the cove.

While working our way to Snapper Cove, I continued working the Prawn Jr and got slammed. After a few minutes fight I finally saw the fish. With the way it was fighting, I thought I had a stingray on, but it turned out to be one of the largest Gafftopsail catfish I had caught. When I went to get it, my leader broke. I was sad to have lost my lure and could not get a picture, but I was happy I didn’t have to handle this beast!

Once we got into the cove, we started seeing more life. At the first point inside the cover, I hooked up with something decent, and after a short while, the pulling drag popped off. I saw the fish flash but wasn’t sure what it was. A few casts later, I landed a 20-inch snook. My guess is it was the same fish I had just lost.

About halfway through the cover, I got a nasty wind knot in my line. I am unsure what happened, but after 10 minutes of dealing with it, I decided to cut the line. However, right before I did, I got a big hit. Unfortunately, due to the knot, I lost the fish. It was about 1:30 pm when I finished dealing with the wind knot, so we decided to wrap up for the day.

Even though it was a tough day fishing, I was happy to get on the water with my buddy Joel. He is in town until Saturday, so that we will hit the water again on Friday. 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.