Reporting from Fort Pierce

This little redfish smacked the Z-Man Curly Tailz so hard we thought it was a much bigger fish!

The best bite from Fort Pierce right now is offshore. The Mangrove snapper and Mutton snapper have been chewing. Live and cut bait is catching plenty of them along with most other bottom fish. The Dolphin bite is especially good and I think every boat in the area was chasing them this past Friday!

I stayed inshore as I typically do and we caught a hodgepodge of mostly small fish. Though the trout bite was sluggish, other fish were eager. I can always tell when the hardhead catfish are nearing their spawn as they aggressively eat everything including our Z-Man three and four inch soft-plastics. The Minnowz and Diezel Minnowz were quite effective on all species this week; including a toothy barracuda and redfish hiding in the backend of a shallow cove.

Friday morning Kim, my wife, joined me on a very short scouting trip. We headed into a deep sheltered cove bordered by residential housing on one side and mangrove jungle on the other. We caught very little, but saw lots of action as the last hour or so of the falling tide exposed many oyster bars.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this much mullet in one confined area. The chance of a fish finding your lure in the swarm of the real thing was small; very small indeed. The activity stopped almost like a switch being thrown to the off position once the sun raised enough to see the bottom features of the cove.

I’ll be going back when the tides are more favorable and I’m betting we slay them. This place was holding snook, tarpon and trout in good numbers and at least one large Bonnethead shark. I’d expect a redfish or two and maybe some flounder holding near the oyster mounds. I hope to report a successful return trip here soon!