Captain Bob Bushholz
Jensen Beach, Florida
(772) 225-6436
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E-mail Us at NIGHT TRIP SPECIAL - $200.00 PRIVATE CHARTERS.
ALL YEAR LONG!!!!' | | Fishing Report for
September 01, 2005
"Tis The Snook Season"
Water levels remain on the low side, running about 14” below normal.
Quality-wise, it’s in great shape.
Hopefully our buddies over in Okeechobee will refrain from water
releases, which will make for a great spring and summer fishery.
Around August last year we could see bottom clearly in 18’ of
water in the St. Lucie Inlet. I
know it’s asking a lot, but aren’t we entitled to the same conditions
year round?
Last week I ran six trips aboard Catch 22, mostly fishing the inside
from the St. Lucie Inlet north to the Power Plant.
Starting on Wednesday morning, the Grotz party of 5 fished the
Sailfish flats for an hour, hooking into pompano, jacks and a few croaker.
We were drifting in 5’ of water bouncing Gulfstream shrimp and
redfish jigs. Tipping the
jigs with a piece of shrimp seems to work the best.
By 9:00 a.m. it was approaching high tide in the Inlet, so we ran
there anchoring just south of the channel about 100 yards west of the
detached jetty. This area is
about 7 feet deep with scattered rocks.
I like to use #1-0 trollrites (round jigheads, wire hooks) on 11
lb. test with no leader. I
make the trollrite jigs myself and go through about 2,000 a year.
If snagged on the bottom, many times you can simply pull on the
line and the hook will straighten out saving a lot of tackle.
This area produced plenty of sheepshead to 3 lbs., with some
mangrove snapper and spots using pieces of shrimp as bait. I prefer to fish this area near high tide when the
current is minimized. I use
the same setup at the detached jetty.
You may lose some tackle here, but fishing light allows you to feel
those non-aggressive sheepshead. That
afternoon, the Smith family (party of 4) did about the same, catching
sheepshead, pompano and snapper.
Thursday morning, the Buckner family down from Maryland had a great
day, starting in the grass flats right outside the Anchors Aweigh Marina
where Catch 22 calls home. They
were fishing 6 lb. test (no leader) throwing a combination of DOA rootbeer
and glo-shrimp along with the new DOA C.A.L. series. You have
to work the shrimp slow, while the C.A.L. series shad (resembling a
cockaho minnow) can be retrieved at a steady pace with a little jerk here
and there. C.A.L. series
shads are “the” bait for trout when used with their 1/8 oz. jig.
Chartreuse heads and a combination of pearl and rainbow trout colors
worked well that day. Nine
trout to 21” were brought to the boat by 9:00 a.m.
The remainder of the trip was spent near Bird Island, fishing under
the Archipelago bridge where mangrove snapper were hitting the shrimp
non-stop. A 5 lb. goliath
grouper release ended the day.
Saturday morning I was greeted by Mr. Glasscort, a single who drove up
from Fort Lauderdale. He was
impressed with the jack action I had reported a few a few weeks ago and
wanted to experience some “jack attack” action himself.
We headed south right outside the north jetty, throwing a
combination of live shrimp on C.A.L. jigs and DOA rootbeer terrorize.
The first cast was all it took to get the attention of a nice 4 lb.
jack, quickly released. After
about 30 minutes of continuous jack action and a hefty 5 lb. sheepshead,
we headed out the Inlet on fairly calm seas to join more than 100 boats
jigging for live greenies just northeast of the inlet Whistle Buoy.
After filling the bait well we drifted greenies for an hour hoping
to hook up into a sailfish or cobia that
have been sighted all over the place inside of 60 feet.
We had one knockdown but the sailfish spit the hook.
With seemingly little activity on the outside we headed back north
up the Indian River, stopping at the channel leading into the new Indian
Riverside Park near marker 224.
Fishing the channel with DOA shrimp, he caught 4 weakfish to 15”. It’s not unusual this time of year to catch weakfish (trout
without spots) and they can provide some great fun. In Florida they max out about 2 lbs., but in New Jersey they
can reach up to 14 lbs.
Saturday night I ran my first night charter of the year with Mr.
Greenfield and his son, Mark, from Vero Beach.
Departing at 10 p.m. we started out fishing ultralight tackle for
trout at a few of my favorite “secret” lighted docks. (Sorry, I
can’t tell you everything.) DOA glo-shrimp on 6 lb. test with no leader
resulted in 23 trout in an hour. No
big ones, all running between 14’ and 18”, but continuous
“catching”. From there I
ran south to give the snook a try. Drifting
shrimp on one rod and bouncing a rootbeer DOA terrorize along the bottom
on another resulted in 2 snook, one a keeper at 31”.
We were fishing the south side of the Inlet near “the hole in the
wall” and then proceeded up the St. Lucie River starting near Hell’s
Gate fishing lighted docks on the east side. We threw a combination of
mirrolures and yozuri plugs on top along with DOA baitbusters, terrorize
and 4”glo-shrimp on 11 lb. test with a 20 lb. leader on Penn 4500’s
which produced lots of action with 7 ladyfish and 3 more snook, one making
the slot at 27”. These
docks in the St. Lucie are great, having deeper water than those in the
Indian River. Not bad for the first snook trip of the season.
Don’t forget, I run a night trip special all year.
Any 4 hours, 3-person maximum for $200.00.
Give me call for some real angling action.
For those of you considering doing some sailfishing, now is the time!
I’ve heard of 3 boats reporting triple hookups.
Seas have been down plus the bite is a 15-minute run from the
Inlet. Most of the boats have
been around the 57 foot depth just a couple miles north of the St. Lucie
Inlet. This has truly been a
banner year for both sailfish and cobia.
Why not, isn’t Stuart the “Sailfish Capital of the World”?!?
I have an early morning departure at 5:00 am with regulars Eddie and
the Cruisers driving up from Boyton Beach. I plan on fishing a few lighted
docks till dawn and later heading to the inlet. It’s 8:00 pm and
bedtime, wakeup at 3:45am. See ya !!!
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