Posts Tagged ‘indian river lagoon’

I was wrong. It looks like the FWC will reopen snook on the East Coast of Florida on September 17th. The rest of the state will remain catch and release only.

Atlantic snook harvest season to reopen soon; other areas stay

catch-and-release

I have to say this is a pleasant surprise. After the harsh winter we had and the subsequent fish kills, many anglers (myself included) assumed that the harvest of snook would not resume until next year. With the fall mullet run on the verge of going into full swing, I am excited to get out and bend a rod. Keep an eye out for new pictures and videos coming soon.

I’m not surprised that the FWC has added to the closure of snook season.

On September 2nd, there will be a meeting to discuss the rest of the year regarding the harvesting of snook.

Take a look at the whole press release fro FWC here:

FWC extends emergency snook-fishing closure

We filmed this last Saturday and Sunday on the beach in Fort Pierce, Fl. It really doesn’t get too much better than this-calm, clear and warm. Saturday was the Surfrider Foundation Beach Clean up at Pepper Park. We spent a couple of hours picking up trash, but I couldn’t resist the chance to get in the water.

I have discovered something much harder than catching fish. Getting those little buggers to sit still long enough for you to film them is a pain. They are totally uncooperative. Sadly, a pair of snook swam down the beach, but I couldn’t get close enough to capture them with the camera. I was bummed, but the underwater stuff came out ok for our first try.

My friend Doug from Floridafishandhunt.com called Saturday afternoon and wanted to know if I was free for a little afternoon fishing action. Well, YEAH!!

He had a new super secret spot in Sebastian that he wanted to try, but “it is a bit of a pain to get to”. I was surprised because Doug is not a fan of wading, but I’m always up for a challenge so away we went.

It turned out to be about a mile from where the truck was parked to where we could get in the water through a mangrove swamp. Did I mention it was very hot, but we hit the water and I hooked up a nice redfish in just a few minutes.

A little while later, Doug hooked up to another red. I have to apologize for the video on this one, I nearly fell on my face in the mud.

While we were fishing, we had a couple of Bonnethead Sharks that kept getting to within 10 ft of us or so.  They don’t really worry me, but we were both vigilant for any other species.

We spent a couple of hours in the water and managed to work our way about 1/2 mile from shore, so we decided to head back to the truck before it got dark that’s when it got tough. I was pretty sure I was going to die while wading back through the soft mud to shore.

This pretty much sums it up.

I always have a good time when Doug and I hang out. I laugh a lot at the dumb stuff we do chasing fish. Actually catching fish is a bonus. In the end, Doug was right though, it was a beautiful flat. Lots of clean grass, plenty of potholes and all kinds of bait. I think if we get the tide wired, it could be very productive.

That is my fishing report for today. It also happens to be what I caught. To say it was slow would be an understatement. The tide was really low, the wind was blowing,it’s a full moon, yada, yada, yada.

Truth is that the fish just weren’t biting for me. I didn’t even see anything. I hit the water about 5:30 after waiting nearly 30 minutes at the boat ramp. I put the boat back on the trailer at 9:00 pm. I fished from North Bridge to Torpey Road on the east side of the river.

My buddy Doug and I fished Thursday afternoon with very similar results. The only thing that was active were the bluefish, which is odd because I have always thought of bluefish as a winter species here. I have spoken with several other anglers that feel the same way.

On a positive note, the family and I went for a walk on the beach Friday afternoon. We went to Fredrick Douglas beach south on A1A. We were out about 7:00pm and the beach was empty. We did see several turtles just off the beach and a lot of new nests in the sand. I’m guessing the turtles in the surf were waiting for dark to come up and lay eggs.

We left just as the moon was starting to rise. It was a beautiful night.

Well that is all I have to report for now. Hopefully more soon.