# Florida Treasure Coast "season"



## fin&scale (May 7, 2008)

I am new to this forum and just returning to surf fishing after a rather long hiatus. I now reside in the Treasure Coast area of Florida sandwiched in between Fort Pierce and Stuart Florida and have been living here for a little over a year. My question is what would locals consider the approximate "season" dates for some of the more popular fish targeted by surfcasters in this general area. I know by asking a few of the locals on the beach recently that the pompano run is coming to an end or at least slowing from it's peak which I was told were the winter to early spring months of Dec-April. I am not a picky angler and would be just as happy catching whiting, bluefish or anything else that makes a good showing in my new home waters. If anyone has any insight, pointers or opinions please respond. Thanks in advance for your help.


----------



## fin&scale (May 7, 2008)

PS I am also keen on catching anything for the sport aspect more so than targeting edible fish. This includes sharks and the like. It is not that I do not eat fish just that I already get more fish than I can eat through my other piscatory pursuit freedive spearfishing. So if anyone has any knowledge when the best time and technique would be to target sharks from the surf here please elaborate. 


I want to attach a picture of a recent catch made freeedive spearfishing out of Stuart. It is the best cubera snapper I have managed out of my new home waters. How do you go about attaching pictures to your posts here? Thanks in advance


----------



## OtterPop (Oct 24, 2006)

fin&scale said:


> PS I am also keen on catching anything for the sport aspect more so than targeting edible fish. This includes sharks and the like. It is not that I do not eat fish just that I already get more fish than I can eat through my other piscatory pursuit freedive spearfishing. So if anyone has any knowledge when the best time and technique would be to target sharks from the surf here please elaborate.
> 
> 
> I want to attach a picture of a recent catch made freeedive spearfishing out of Stuart. It is the best cubera snapper I have managed out of my new home waters. How do you go about attaching pictures to your posts here? Thanks in advance


Hi and welcome , Set up a photobucket account www.photobucket.com .


----------



## Cerberus (Nov 1, 2007)

fin&scale said:


> I am new to this forum and just returning to surf fishing after a rather long hiatus. I now reside in the Treasure Coast area of Florida sandwiched in between Fort Pierce and Stuart Florida and have been living here for a little over a year. My question is what would locals consider the approximate "season" dates for some of the more popular fish targeted by surfcasters in this general area. I know by asking a few of the locals on the beach recently that the pompano run is coming to an end or at least slowing from it's peak which I was told were the winter to early spring months of Dec-April. I am not a picky angler and would be just as happy catching whiting, bluefish or anything else that makes a good showing in my new home waters. If anyone has any insight, pointers or opinions please respond. Thanks in advance for your help.


Welcome to the Boards, and to the Treasure Coast. it sounds like you have landed very close to where I am (Jensen Beach), so my comments might be worth a minute or two of your time, but certainly not more than that...

Now, bluefish, spanish mackerel, jacks, tarpon & snook, whiting and croakers on the beach. Sharks are always somewhere near the beach, too. When the baitfish come in close to the beach, as they do throughout the summer, all of these fish get more common and easier to find. Later in the summer and fall when the mullet run back south you will have more and bigger blues and spanish following them. The Jensen Beach Causeway and Ten Cent Bridges will produce snapper, grouper, flounder, black drum and sheepshead, and all of the other fish listed above throughout the year. The river is great for redfish and trout.


Go check with the guys at Snook Nook to see what's "in" today, and where they are. That's your best bet for the up to the minute reports.


----------



## SnookMook (Jan 7, 2004)

Welcome aboard. My Pop live over in Port St. Lucie. Good fishing over there. I love the causeway bridges for those big snook.

Photobucket is the best picture hosting site that I've found and it's free, unless you want or have to go pro. 

Unforunately, I had to. LOL


----------



## fin&scale (May 7, 2008)

Thanks for the welcome and the tip on how to share images. Here is my first attempt at posting an image hosted at photobucket. It is the picture I mentioned above of the cubera I landed out of Stuart recently.

BTW I made it to the beach yesterday for a little exploratory casting and fishing and I landed my first pompano from the surf....actually my first three!! 
It felt like I re-discovered fire or something. I know this is no incredible fishing accomplishment but for me it was truly satisfying to see my efforts and research rewarded with success. I will upload a picture I took of the first one I landed yesterday when I have a chance to edit the picture for size.


----------



## fin&scale (May 7, 2008)

Cerberus thanks for the information. One of the first things I did was to track down most of the local bait and tackle shops so I am familiar with the snook nook. About the bridge and causeway fishing I have stopped and chatted with many folks fishing on them but it seems the majority of the people there know very little about what they are doing and their catch (or lack thereof) reflects this. I would love to fish these places with people who have a bit more experience angling than your average tourist or weekend warrior. If you or anyone else on this board are up to it I would love to put together and outing anywhere from Stuart to Ft Pierce...bridge, surf...whatever you like.


----------



## fin&scale (May 7, 2008)

Here is the picture of the first of the three pompano I caught off Jensen Beach yesterday.


----------



## Cerberus (Nov 1, 2007)

fin&scale said:


> Cerberus thanks for the information. One of the first things I did was to track down most of the local bait and tackle shops so I am familiar with the snook nook. About the bridge and causeway fishing I have stopped and chatted with many folks fishing on them but it seems the majority of the people there know very little about what they are doing and their catch (or lack thereof) reflects this. I would love to fish these places with people who have a bit more experience angling than your average tourist or weekend warrior. If you or anyone else on this board are up to it I would love to put together and outing anywhere from Stuart to Ft Pierce...bridge, surf...whatever you like.


Sadly, you are correct about the skill level of most of the bridge fishermen. Asking for advice on the catwalks is often futile. With that said, stay off the catwalks!

The best snook are found on the east end of the Jensen Beach Causeway, called the Mosquito Bridge. It's the last little bridge before you get onto Hutchinson Island. Hang a live pinfish over the rail, let him swim about a foot deep, struggling at the surface. If there are snook feeding they will hit it. If they don't , then drop the pin to the bottom on a fishfinder and see what happens.

The little two-hook "whiting rigs" baited with live or dead shrimp will also produce in the same spots. When the water is right lots of pomps hang out ther, as do blues and Spanish. I tie my own heavier versions of these in 20# or 30# mono

Roosevelt Bridge is also awesome snook and other fishing on the catwalks, but it can get kind of full of googans.

You can also fish the river from both sides by just wading in. Trout, reds and snook all available.

Where are you, in Jensen Beach or elsewhere?


----------



## fin&scale (May 7, 2008)

I live in Port Saint Lucie but I am a transplant from Miami. For me Ft Pierce, Jensen and Stuart are so close together that they don't even seem like different cities. Driving a half hour to get somewhere to fish is a small sacrifice for decent angling. BTW although I have lived in Florida the majority of my life (including several years further north when I studied at UF) I have never caught a redfish. When diving out of Stuart I have seen some absolute slob bull reds so I know they are here. I have access to a boat and would love to get out with anyone in the know about the inshore fishing to get my first red under my belt. To some here I know it must seem ridiculous that anyone could live in Florida for decades, be a self described avid outdoors person and never have laded a red.....I think so too...if anyone has any suggestions on how to remedy this situation please chime in

PS Cerberus thank you for your advise and recommendations on where to start....I know exactly where the spots you describe are as I have lurked on or very close to all of them in my search for fertile fishing grounds....if you ever want some company or a buddy on your outings I would be more than glad to tag along. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your fishing is to gather reinforcements....these are the same folks that help you convince yourself that you really DO want to quit your bed before sunrise. Getting motivated is half the battle....and most of the time it is even more than that,


----------



## VICIII (Apr 8, 2005)

Hit the out going tide at Sebastian Inlet with some 2-3oz red tail hawks or egg sinker with cut chunks of big mullet. Cast into the outgoing tide at the north pier at the end. Cast towards Miami and let it ride out with the out going tide.
You will get you well over slot Red....:beer:


----------

