Ft. Pierce Inshore - Offshore Report by Capt. Joe Ward

April 17, 2008

INSHORE - The wind this week has continued to make the inshore fishing tough. Anglers are reporting a few trout at places like Round Island, Queen's Cove and at Jack Island. These are places where you can hide out from most of the wind. Most of the trout are coming from anglers fishing with a soft plastic baits like a D.O.A. shrimp or a Zoom Fluke in the darker colors. In that same area there have been some redfish spotted but they are not really eating. The snook action has been steady on the Ft. Pierce Inlet with most of the fish taking a live pinfish, pigfish or a greenie. The bite has been the best on the falling tide.

OFFSHORE - Before the sea conditions took a turn for the worst the dolphin bite was on. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday of last week we had numerous fish come into the docks and they ranged in size from 12 to 44 pounds. Almost every boat reported that they caught their fish on a skirted ballyhoo in anywhere from 200 to 1200 feet of water. Also, in that same area we had several wahoo come in to the docks and ranged from 25 to 40 pounds. On Friday we had one boat come in with 17 dolphin, 1 wahoo and 5 tripletail. The kingfish bite was a little slow but the fish reported were caught in 70 to 90 feet of water and caught on a live bait. For the bottom fishermen the wrecks and reefs to the north of the Ft. Pierce Inlet seemed to be the place to try your luck on some nice sized mangrove snapper to 6 pounds.. They were feeding on sardines and squid. And as always this time of year there are plenty of small sharks around the stretch your line.

CENTRAL FLORIDA OFFSHORE FISHING CLUB - The C.F.O.F.C. held their monthly offshore fishing tournament last weekend out of the Dockside Inn & Resort. The big winner was a 33.6 pound dolphin caught by club member - Clark Conner. Every boat had dolphin to weigh in.

The top seven winners were
Clark Conner - 33.6 pound dolphin
Dave Tindall - 32.4 pound dolphin
Guy Harrell - 27.2 pound dolphin
Charlie Huges - 26 pound dolphin
John Jennings - 24.7 pound dolphin
Barry Hankinson - 22.7 pound dolphin
Brian Boone - 12.2 pound dolphin




BRAGGING BOARD - David & Phillip Clark of Indian Harbor Beach were also staying at the Dockside Inn & Resort and really enjoyed their stay there. I guess I would have too if on 2 consecutive days I had brought back a big dolphin each day! On Friday they caught their fish in 250 feet of water on a red/black sea witch rigged with a ballyhoo. They also caught some other dolphin on a blue & silver Islander lure rigged with a ballyhoo. The bite was in the morning on Friday and the bull weighed 45 pounds and the cow weighed 25 pounds. On Saturday the bite as in the afternoon in around 450 feet of water and with the same set up. The bull that day also weighed in at 45 pounds!

TEEN ANGLERS - The local chapter of Teen Anglers will hold their last monthly inshore fishing tournament of the school year this Sunday at Jaycee Park in Ft. Pierce. The Teen's will fish from 7am until noon and then we will have a weigh in. After this tournament there will be a fish off with the top 5 middle school and the top 5 high school Teen Anglers for the Teen Angler of the Year. For more info 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 an 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