This is a series of articles about fishing the South Indian River Lagoon -- part of which is the inter-coastal waterway that stretches from Vero Beach to Fort Pierce to Port St. Lucie where it merges with the St. Lucie River and down to the Jupiter inlet.
I recently moved to Port St. Lucie and my neighbor got me started fishing in December 2014 after I got some waders form my birthday in late November. I was an avid bass fisherman for a few years in North Carolina and caught a few bass in the lakes of Port St. Lucie but it wasn't until I tried wading in the lagoon that I became hooked.
First let me say I am new to fishing the Lagoon and by no means an expert of any kind. This is simply a way of documenting my experiences and hopefully others can benefit from me as I learn. I hope to document my fishing for a year beginning in April 2015.
The first few articles will recap my experiences from December 2014 until March 2015 and then I will do some daily blogs. The areas I am fishing stretch from Fort Pierce to Port St. Lucie and Stuart.
I do not keep many fish, throwing 99% of them back. Hopefully I'll get a camera for some pics since photos would better document the fish.
I am using artificial lures only and may dabble with live shrimp or mullet at some point but this will mostly be fishing with artificial lures. Right now I have experience fishing at limited amount of lures- mainly DOA plastics on a jig and DOA Shrimp. I'll be exploring different lures throughout the year but plan to limit the selection to about a half-dozen.
Here are the fish caught so far with some approximate numbers:
1) Jack (Crevalle Jack) hundreds with the largest around 8 lbs.
1b. Blue Runner (similar to Jack but smaller) I caught one today (3-29) about 2 1/2 lbs.
1c. Pampano (they are easier to catch in deeper water around the bridges) - I've caught one over 3 lbs on the grass flats
2) Trout (Spotted Seatrout- part of the drum family)- I've caught well over a hundred- probably 15 is my best for a day (3 hours or so). I caught one that was surely over 5 lbs and dozens in the 2 to 3 1/2 lb range. Most are small- between 12 and 16 inches. Their have been reports of boaters catching as many as 100 in a day- with 20-30 trout not uncommon.
3) Snook (Common Snook) over 40 with the largest around 9 lbs (this is a guess). For a while I was catching 5-10 snook a day and losing a good number as well. I've caught 4 that I guesstimate were over the slot (28-33 inches)
4) Redfish - I've caught 2 and lost 1 (the biggest being around 5-6 lbs) but I've never fished specifically for them.
5) Bluefish- I've caught 2 around 3 lbs and lost at least one more- never fished for them.
6) Ladyfish (part of the Tarpon family)- I've caught over 50 and lost as many. They are slimy and not much fun taking off the hook. They were in my area of the Lagoon in late December until early March. Have not caught them recently.
7) Spanish Mackerel - I have only caught two and they were caught within 10 minutes of each other. Both were small- less than two pounds.
Other fish: I've caught one flounder (15 inches), a 2 lb. catfish, a toadfish, a mullet and one thin round fish with brown markings that was similar to a walleye (not sure what it was).
The best fighters are snook and ladyfish- in my opinion. Jacks are tough also but they usually don't jump so they stay on longer.
Richard
No comments:
Post a Comment