Hello all. I know it’s been a while since I last wrote a report. My life has been a whirlwind this year, and between work and foul weather, I have not been fishing much. However, on Tuesday, I was able to take my wife and daughter fishing. Even though the bite was slow, it was a great fishing trip as I had my two favorite women in the world. This was also the first time I had the opportunity to take my daughter Mia fishing, showing her how we fish here in Florida, as she was born and raised in Australia. That is a long story for another time; the important thing is she is now in our lives.

Since my daughter was still recovering from jet lag, we decided to let her sleep in a bit, and we didn’t head to the dock until 8:00 am. With the forecasted winds being 10-15 kts from the east, we decided to stay in the river, as I didn’t want my first daughter’s experience on the boat to be a bad one if it got sloppy offshore, and I was concerned about the possibility of her getting seasick.

We started off drifting south of the South Causeway bridge. Tania and Mia were both using 25g slow-pitch jigs, while I was throwing a power prawn with a 1/4 oz 4/0 football jig head. Mia broke the ice with the first fish, a grunt. Tania followed suit; however, she caught a catfish. We made several drifts, catching several fish between Mia and Tania. I had a few nice bites, but nothing was committing. Tania and Mia caught mutton snapper, grunts, and catfish. Tania even caught a small goliath grouper.

The last drift in this area was one of the better ones. I hooked up to a decent jack and let Mia reel it in. She really enjoyed the three-minute fight. She told me it was the longest and hardest-fighting fish she had ever caught. It was a proud dad moment when she landed it. Not long after that, I landed my first fish, which was a small red grouper.

Since the bite was slow, I decided to make a run to the turn basin to see if we could put Mia on anything to brag about. Unfortunately, that plan did not pan out for us, so we ended up heading to the area south of Harbor Isle. This worked out well for us as we ended up catching quite a few fish.

We headed back to the dock at about noon with eight lane snappers. The snapper were not the biggest of fish, but I wanted to make sure we had some snapper for fish tacos, as I wanted our daughter to try them. It wasn’t the best of days fishing, but our daughter enjoyed fishing with us and learning how we fish in Florida versus Australia. We are going back out again on Saturday with Captain Bo Samual of Pullin Drag Chater. I can’t wait to see what he puts us on.

Tania and I send our best wishes to all fellow anglers. May your fishing adventures be safe, blessed, and filled with 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 at Islamorada Brewery and Distillery on the 4th Tuesday of each month. These meetings offer members a range of benefits, including guest speakers and fellowship with local anglers who share their knowledge and help one another catch fish. Membership to Salt Strong includes a 20% discount on tackle, access to Smart Fishing spots, and insider information on local trends. To learn more about Salt Strong, click the links below for a FREE pack of Slam Shady or a 30-day test drive.