Ft. Pierce - Stuart - PSL

[Phil]

OK Guys,

I am almost organized. I want to get out fishing next week sometime.

Maybe I will take a party boat. Any suggestions on areas and which boat ?

Thanks for your help.

[OkeeArt]

Out of Ft. Pierce there is a boat I have taken and was a nice trip
Capt. Lew
A friend of mine and myself went out and had a great day.
A cooler full of fish went back home to Okeechobee with us that day.
http://www.captlew.com/

Get there early for position on the boat and make sure you make a resevation.
Also print the coupon that they have on the website.

[Jon]

OkeeArt or anyone,

I was looking at taking this boat or the Lady Stuart (Jensen Beach) out while I'm Ft. Pierce at the end of the month. Is it crowded during weekdays too? Did you bring your own bait and tackle or did you use theirs? And what did you catch?

At this time, I still haven't made up my mind whether to do the boat or not. I'll probably fish the jetties and the river and keep an eye on the catches being brought in off the boat. If they're whacking them, I'll toss my $$ in and If not, I'll keep walking or wading the shore. Are their any good places to wade the river for the reds off of Hutchison Is.??

Phil,

Keep us posted on your catch!!

Jon

[OkeeArt]

If you check the site he gives a daily report on what they catch.
I used thier bait and they stopped to catch live bait as well.
it was a slow day when I did go there were a few gags and some smalls caught but mainly alot of snapper.
I might go to the jetty this weekend in ft. pierce and catch the tide going out and try for some Shark.

[Jon]

Thanks OkeeArt, Let us know how you do from the jetty. Good, bad, or ugly!

Jon

[Phil]

Checked with 2 different tackle shops about a party boat in the area.

As there are almost NO party boats in this area, I chose one that one of the shops had a brochure on. The Lady Stuart.

Went yesterday (Sunday), arrived in the morning and checked in for the 1/2 day am trip. They said they had plenty of squid on board, but the fish seemed to be hitting Shrimp (which was available, frozen for $4.00 a bag).

I was packin a rod good for up to 35lbs. line with a reel loaded with 25 lb. test.

Off we went out to some rock plie (underwater) after about a 30 - 40 minute ride. I was trying to thaw out my Shrimp on the way out.

They gave me a hook with 50 lb. test on it a swivel and a 6 oz. sliding sinker. As the current did not seem too strong, I thought this was a bit heavy. I changed to a 3 oz. slider.

We dropped in and I got hit right away. A small Snapper, about 1 1/2 to 2 lbs.. I thought that was pretty neat ! Well, after that, it was pretty bleak.

No one caught very much. They said the water was pretty dirty (sandy), but it looked fairly clear to me. We moved 3 or 4 times before they called off the misery and we headed back in.

Jackpot fish was a 3 lb. Porgy (?) I think thats what they called it.

It was pretty slim pickins yesterday. On the way back in they said anyone that wanted to go out in the afternoon would be discounted to 1/2 price. So, "What the Hey", I wanted to catch fish, so I went back out.

Yes, I hear you . . . . . . . . . . . mistake.

It was worse than the am.

One good thing for you Sharker's. There was a guy that was fishing for Nerf Sharks. He caught about 8 of them (4 in the am, 4 in the pm, yes he went on both trips as well), I would say the smallest Shark he caught was about 120 lbs. and the largers looked to be about 220 or so.

I got to thinking later, maybe the fishing sucked because of the Sharks in the area. He was using fish for bait. I don't know, never fished for Nerf's before.

Well, I was hot to go fishing, now less hot.

Where I used to live, there were 5 to 6 party boats in each harbor.

They would advertise that one of them was going for bottom fish, another was going after Albacore or Tuna etc.. You had your choice of what you wanted to target.

I just wanted to catch some fish. Looks like I either need to find another place, or something. Not sure what to do next. Also, don't have much time left to do research, as we are off for Tanzania in another 5 weeks, soooooo. I probably only have a chance to make 1 maybe 2 trips before I will be too busy to go again.

It seems that unless you can fill up a Charter, you really can't target many fish.

As crappy as the trip was, I would go again IF, I knew for sure they were catching fish (I don't know how to find that out, unless yoou stand at the dock and look to see what is coming off the boat). The crew was quite nice and helpfull even though the fish were less than active.

[BoatlessFisherman]

Good try, it is sometimes like that slow and yes i am aware that there is few boats your way if you come back south a little ways, you will find more and the same goes for going further north.

Fishing from the beach right now may produce some fish up your way.

[Jon]

Thanks for the report Phil. It was very helpful since I was considering this boat. I was looking at Capt. Lew's website and they appeared to have a much better day Sunday. Maybe that's why they charge a few more bucks??? I've all but made up my mind to stick with the jetty, surf, and inshore stuff while I'm in town.

OkeeArt, Did you get out to the Ft. Pierce jetty this weekend?? Has anyone else been?

[OkeeArt]

Sorry
I didn't make it out to the jetty.
I went to Port Myaca as my son-in-law wanted to get a mess of fresh water catfish. I have the report on that trip in the freshwater section here.
Not a very good report though.

[Phil]

OK Guys,

After getting pretty much skunked on the Lady Sturat, I still had the fishing bug.


Thought about what OkeeArt said about Capt. Lew.

Wed. night, looked at Capt. Lew's site for his daily report.
He reported finding the fish. After watching the weather report for Thurs. (they said it would be beautiful, and they were correct), I decided to go fishing again. Too late to call for reservations, so I planned to just 'show up', and if there was room, OK, if not, OK.

Counting me there were 13 fishing. Off we went at about 8:25, to maybe 10 to 15 miles.

I was looking at some of the gear the others had brought, some serious looking equipment.

Well, we stopped and I grabbed the heaviest thing I had. With my biggest rod and reel, I looked over and everyone had wimpy rigs !

I asked what was going on . . . . they said we were catching bait.

I changed set ups and got with it.

The Bass, Grunts and Trigger fish were plentiful and in no time, we had about 40 or so in the barrel. Then everyone switched tackle (almost at the same time) to their heavy stuff. Brought out big hooks and put on big baits.

OK, maybe I should switch as well. I put on some heavy stuff and a big piece of the bait fish.

After about 3 minutes I got hit hard enough to bend my rod over pretty far. It was almost a stalemate for a few minutes, I was gaining, but not very fast. Then . . . . poof, he got off. Well, that was my last real hook up.

But I had a very good time with the Bass, Grunts and Triggers. I caught and released about 40 or so.

I want to go back after reading his report today. Maybe I will get lucky and catch that big boy I missed the other day.

I am hot to trot again.

I want to wait for Capt. Lew's Marathon Sat. trip. But may find it too hard to wait.

If anyone wants to go fishing any place within an hours drive of PSL and wants some company, send me a PM.

[OkeeArt]

Yea I forgot to tell you that he has a pretty regular bunch of guys that go out.
I sure wish you had gotten that one though sounds like he won the tug-o-war this round but maybe next time.
I do want to get out that way fishing again soon.
You know any good bank, bridge, piers in that area?
Maybe next weekend?

[Phil]

OkeeArt,

Only lived in Florida about 3 weeks or so.

I don't know anything ! ! !

But if you want to go, shoot me a PM and we will meet up where ever you think might be fun.

I need to learn and have a good time.

I had a ball catching the smaller fish on Capt. Lew's boat. As I said, I want to go again, but if you have a plan for some place, let me know.