October 9, 2008

INSHORE - There has been a lot of rain this week along with all the dirty water from the freshwater run off making the inshore fishing tough. I did have reports of some trout action around Bear Point. The bite was first thing in the morning and most of the fish have been caught on soft plastic baits like a D.O.A. Shrimp or Bait Buster. As far as the redfish this week try the high tide when the water is the cleanest. The area up around Queen's Cove or the docks along North Indian River Drive have been the best places to try and a gold spoon or a live finger mullet are working the best. The only snook reports I had this week were about Taylor Creek and the docks along the Ft. Pierce Inlet. Most of the fish were taken on a live mullet and most were under slot size. The bottom fishing has been Ok for snapper, sheepshead and even some croaker that have been showing up the last few days. The bait of choice has been a small live shrimp. And, as usual there are plenty of jacks and ladyfish hanging out around the schools of mullet.

OFFSHORE - Again, the weather this week hasn't been that great with a lot of storms offshore. The reports on dolphin are that they have been scattered in 300 to 400 feet of water and they have been to the north of the Ft. Pierce Inlet and were caught on both skirted and naked ballyhoo. I am still getting reports of kingfish action in 70 to 80 feet of water along the Offshore Bar. Either a live bait like a mullet or a blue runner or a rigged ribbonfish and even a few were caught on a naked ballyhoo. The bottom fishing over the reefs and wrecks has been producing a good numbers of snapper, seabass and triggerfish as well as plenty of small sharks. Along the beaches look for the schools of mullet and the fish will be close by. It has been hard to tell what you might with all the bait in the water. There has been everything from sharks to tarpon to jacks and even a kingfish.

TEEN ANGLERS - The next inshore tournament for the Treasure Coast Teen Anglers will be held on Sunday -- Oct. 19th at Jaycee Park in Ft. Pierce. There is a mandatory meeting on Saturday -- Oct. 18th. If you would like more info on joining Teen Anglers just go to the web at www.teenanglers.org

If you would like to report a catch you can e-mail me at cward11605@aol.com or you can call me at 772-201-5770. You can also reach me on the web at www.captjoeward.com

Capt. Joe Ward
Capt. Joe's River Charters