My buddy Joel was still in town, and it was my off Friday. I reserved another boat to take him fishing for a second time on this trip. On Wednesday, I had an inshore boat, but on this day, I had an offshore boat in hopes the weather would cooperate. The good Lord blessed us with 5-10kts S winds for the morning with 2.3ft seas at 13 seconds. This made for a perfect day to run to the boils.

I arrived at the dock at about 6:330 am but told Joel to arrive at 7:00 am. I wanted to ensure the boat was loaded and ready to go before he arrived so he would not have to wait at the docks. He arrived shortly before 7:00 am, and we got his cooler and gear on the boat and set out on our way.

While we were prepping to head out, he mentioned he wanted to get some live bait other than shrimp, so I texted War Daddy Baits and asked if he had any bait and was still in the inlet. He told me he had about a dozen pilchards left, so I told him I would be there shortly. I ended up taking all the pilchards he had. However, it was short of a dozen, so he tossed in some Crockers and told me to catch a big snook!

It was about 7:45 am when we arrived at the boils. There were already several boats there, including a couple of charter captains. My buddy Joel likes to catch snook, so we started at the boils’ west side to see if we had any takers. I started dropping the Nomad Design, The Buffalo Flash Fall Slow Pitch Jig in Fusiler color, and Joel was using the same lure in silver glow strip, both in 60G.

Within a minute of my first drop, I had a fish on. It was a heavy fish, but it was shooting to the surface pretty quickly on the other side of the boat. As I tried to get around the stern of the boat, the fish jumped and threw my hook. I was impressed as I had just lost a nice-sized tarpon, and we had just started fishing.

As soon as my jig hit the bottom on my second drop, I felt the thump and knew I had a big snook on. I told Joel he needed to get his line up, and I needed the net. It took me about five minutes to get the beast to the boat. I was happy to get the snook next to the boat and felt relieved when it was on the net. I hoped it would be an upper slot, but unfortunately, it was two inches too large and measured at 34 inches. I felt pretty pumped that this was going to be a great day.

On the next drift, Joel caught a small blue runner, a 16-button snapper, and porkfish. On the third drift, Joel hooked up with a big snook; unfortunately, after a few minutes of fighting, it wore through his leader, and he lost the fish. Shortly after losing the snook, the bite seemed to die off. We spent the next few hours making multiple drifts from the west to the buoy on the east side and were unsuccessful.

When we moved back to the boil’s west side, I changed my jig to a squidtrex. My first drop-down with it was when I caught a ladyfish. I kept getting bites on the next two drifts, but it wasn’t hooking up. At the end of the second drift, I looked closer at my bait and realized my hooks were gone from the bait. No wonder I wasn’t catching anything. At this point, I put a Vertrex Swim 95 on, which proved to be the hot bait.

On the next drift, I hooked up with a big fish, but I wasn’t sure what it was as I didn’t feel the thump. The fish was definitely large and was making my drag scream. After a few-minute fight, I had a decent redfish beside the boat. This turned out to be a 32-inch redfish, which is not my best bull red but is nice.

On the very next drift, I landed a 36-inch redfish. Once again, it’s not my PB, but I won’t complain. This was an epic day of fishing for me; however, I hoped Joel would catch these prize fish, so I let Joel have my rod, and I stopped fishing for the next few drifts.

On the first drift, Joel landed a decent Jack and then hooked into a large spinner shark. After the second jump, it broke him off, and that was the end of my Vibetrex. Unfortunately, that was the only one I had left in my box. I need to replenish my stocks soon.  

At about 11:30 am, I told Joel this would be our last drift. I was hoping to be back to the dock by noon. Not only did I need to get home to get stuff ready for a banquet Tania and I were attending, but I didn’t want to get stuck out on the open waters when the winds were forecasted to increase to 10-15kts and shift from South to East.

On this last drift, I dropped a pilchard to the bottom while Joel dropped the Nomad Buffalo jig. Something hit my live bait not long into the drift, and the 4000 reel started screaming. I told Joel to hand me the rod he was using, and I handed over the rod with the fish on. I hoped I had a big redfish on, but shortly after the fight began, it was obvious with the pinwheeling and the headshakes that he had a jack on.

It took Joel a bit to get the jack to the boat, but he was pretty happy when he did. He told me it was the largest jack he had ever caught. It was great to end the day on a high note for Joel. Overall, Joel and I had a blessed day on the water. The weather was good, we caught some nice fish, and we had a great morning of fellowship.

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.