Yesterday, Tania and I had the pleasure of taking out one of our friends’ daughters, Lizzy, who has been eager to fish with us for a few weeks now. Ever since her trip to the Keys, she’s been hooked on fishing, so we were excited to give her a taste of our local waters.

She arrived bright and early at our house on Saturday, August 23, at 5:50 a.m., full of energy and ready for the day. After a quick stop for ice and then bait at the Fishing Center, we loaded up with five dozen shrimp and made our way to the dock. The morning was beautiful, calm, and full of promise. I had planned to head north to a spot that’s been known to hold pompano, more often in the winter, but with reports of pompano showing up along the beaches and even a permit caught in the river, I wanted to give it a try.

Unfortunately, the spot didn’t produce much action. The only excitement was one quick hit as I reeled in to help Tania clean grass off her line. We did, however, see a pod of dolphins cruising by, which brought smiles to both Tania and Lizzy, making that stop worthwhile. With nothing else happening, we decided to change course and head back south toward the Turn Basin.

We set up for a few drifts, working with 30g slow-pitch jigs. Tania and Lizzy tipped theirs with shrimp, while I dropped mine plain. On the very first drift, we had a few tentative bites but nothing solid. The second drift brought Lizzy her first fish of the day, a small mutton snapper. Not long after, Tania hooked into a bonnethead shark, which gave her a fun little battle. Meanwhile, I was still sitting on a goose egg. The third drift was quiet, so we moved again, this time to the south side of the south causeway bridge.

That turned out to be the right call. Lizzy and Tania started catching steadily, and I finally got on the board myself. As we drifted further down, we noticed a commercial boat anchored up and pulling in fish, cast after cast. We knew they were jacks, but jack crevalle are a blast on light tackle, so we slid over to make a pass. Just like that, we were on them. Lizzy and Tania each landed around ten jacks, laughing the whole time, while I managed a mix of mutton snapper and even a catfish. Truth be told, all three of us tangled with catfish once the commercial boat ran out of bait and moved on.

We pushed a bit further north for a few more drifts and picked off more mutton snapper, though most were in that 14–16-inch range. It’s always hard to release them knowing the limit is 18 inches. Given the number of those fish we’ve been seeing lately, I can only hope that one day the size limit will be lowered to 14 inches.

By about 11 am, clouds began to stack up, and the storm threat became too real to ignore. We called it a day and made it back just in time, heading over to Wasabi’s in Downtown Fort Pierce for lunch. Sure enough, the skies opened up, and it poured while we sat inside, dry and enjoying a good meal. Perfect timing to wrap up what had been a great morning on the water.

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.