|
John's Journal... Entry 157, Day 5 ENDLESS INSHORE FISHING St. Lucie Estuary -- Fishing For The Rest Of The Year EDITOR'S NOTE: Captain Ed Zyak of Jensen Beach, Florida, chose the St. Lucie Estuary on central Florida's Atlantic Coast to set up his Local Color Guide Service for two reasons. One, he's lived and fished in this region all his life. Two, he can produce speckled trout, redfish, flounder, tarpon and snook year-round. This area homes a phenomenal fishery, and if you like variety, you must consider fishing there. But rather than tell you about my experience fishing the St. Lucie Estuary, let's let Captain Zyak tell you his story. QUESTION: Tell me about fishing the St. Lucie area in
September and October. My favorite area to fish at this time of the year is the Indian River Lagoon between Jensen Beach and Fort Pierce, Florida. The fish usually will hold on some type of structure in this region. I'll fish a DOA Glow Shrimp on light tackle with braided line 90 percent of the time because I can make a long cast. The shrimp land so lightly on the water, they don't spook the reds I'm trying to catch. I've learned that when redfish are in shallow water and you throw a heavy lead-headed jig, the noise the jig makes when it hits the water often will spook the reds you're trying to catch. However, because the DOA shrimp is a rubber bait, it lands lighter on the water and doesn't spook the fish. I try to cast the shrimp ahead of the fish and move the fish right in front of the fish's nose. When the reds see the shrimp, they usually inhale it. Since the redfish root along the bottom and have their heads down, you generally have to get that shrimp right in front of their noses for them to eat the bait. The redfish we try to catch usually will weigh from 7 to 10 pounds and will swim in 1 foot or less of water. We have to sneak up on the fish with the trolling motor so we don't spook them. Many times we park the boat, put on wading shoes and wade to the fish so we can approach them even quieter. When we wade to the fish, we use a shuffle step along the bottom. There are plenty of stingrays in our area, so you want to make sure you don't step on the stingrays as you approach the fish. But wading is an excellent method of catching speckled trout and redfish in this part of the coast. Early in the morning, you have a chance to catch speckled trout and redfish in shallow water. Once the sun comes up, the trout will leave the shallows, but the redfish will remain there. Once you've caught all the redfish you want to catch, you can get back into the boat and go after trout, tarpon or snook. When the sun comes up and we leave the shallows, I like to fish docks. The docks will hold large schools of baitfish, and we usually can catch trout, snook and redfish under the docks. When I go out to fish in the morning -- regardless of the time of year -- I usually have five different game plans. My five game plans for the fall are: 1) Fish with top-water baits in shallow water at first
light for snook, redfish and trout. QUESTION: What can you expect when fishing the St. Lucie
Estuary during November and December? QUESTION: What are the most dependable fish, regardless
of the time of year? QUESTION:
What are the seasonal fish in this region? For more information, call Captain Ed Zyak with Local Color Guide Service at (772) 485-FISH or e-mail him at localcolorgs@aol.com. Mrs. Peters' SmokeHouse is located at 1500 North East Dixie Hwy, Jensen Beach, Florida. For more information, call (772) 334-2184. You can reach DOA Lures by calling 877-DOA-LURE or going to the Web site www.doalures.com Learn more about Minn Kota trolling motors by going to www.johnsonoutdoors.com or calling 800-227-6433.
|
|||||||||
Check back each day this week for more ENDLESS INSHORE FISHING ... Day 1 - Fishing St. Lucie
in January and February
|