StLucieInlet.com

We cleared the inlet at around 6:15 on Saturday and started trolling in about 60' of water heading towards Push Button Hill to see if we could catch a Blackfin or Wahoo. We did have a blackfin bite and almost got him in the boat but it got off. With no bites at Push Button and a lot of scattered weed, we headed into shallower water to see what was going on and caught a nice Wahoo in around 90'. I have never caught one in such shallow water, but you never know. Then we caught a Mahi and his friends were with him as we ended up catching 10 before a huge Hammerhead showed up and scared them all away. We ended up catching another 5 Mahi throughout the day and a few boneheads. It was a fantastic day fishing. The only thing I don't like about winter is that we were cleaning the fish and boat in the dark as we got back a little late due to the great fishing. I don't know what it is, but in the many years of fishing offshore here it appears that this year has been better than most or have I just been lucky! That's fishing!!!

Nice catching there. We are heading out in the morning and was wondering if there any bait around or did you use ballyhoo...

Good Evening Alwaysforward: I was using trolled ballyhoo(small ones). I troll two in the riggers one naked with a bird which I find very effective, and one with a colorful skirt of some kind, two flat lines off the transom with one or both in flat line clips and one Islander lure with a bally way back. I also try and troll a tuna lure down the middle if there is room. I have always been that kind of guy that likes to cover the area with those ballyhoo then try and sit in one area with live bait. Not to say that live bait is not good, but I feel losing valuable time in the morning trying to catch bait is not a good thing. I run out and start trolling in 60' straight out of the inlet and usually head towards push button to see about the wahoo or blackfin bite. I always look for rips, weeds or anything else that looks interesting on the way.

I must say that I started posting because of your very informative posts and pics I saw you posting a long time ago. Your posts were very helpful and I found myself checking them out before each fishing trip. I think our boats are similar as I have a 20' Century center console with a 150 Yamaha 4 stroke. I saw your boat a few times in your posts and offshore. I also see you like to create your own rigs as I do and spend many hours trying to come up with something interesting that will catch the "BIG ONE". I try and go out every weekend that I can, weather permitting and have found the last several weeks very good for fishing. A little rougher than I like some days, but I really think that with the bumpy seas comes better fishing.

I hope you do really well tomorrow and I only wish I was going too! I have caught two nice wahoo in the past two weekends and seem to get a lot of action in the 200' to push button hill range. I caught a 5' plus wahoo two weeks ago in 285'. I have found that the Mahi are where the birds are usually and not always on a weed line. GOOD LUCK!!

Thanks for the feedback. I have always found that the time spent locating live bait has always paid off but agree that losing those first few hours in the morning aren't good either. The best advise I ever received was to always look for those fishable conditions before dropping in a line. Locate a rip, weeds or debris. If you cannot locate any of those then go find a wreck or reef to fish around.

Thank You for your report. Looking forward to future reports. Keep those reports coming. Glad you enjoy my reports. I will be sure to post up a report tomorrow. I have sold my boat and am heading out with a buddy of mine this morning on his new ride. A nice Key West he had built. It's been 3+ months since I last wetted a line. Can't wait...

Good Luck! I was wondering what happened with your reports as you were very faithful in your posts and I had not seen anything in a while. I hope you can get another boat soon and keep on fishing. Looking forward to your report about todays fishing. I hope to get out on Thursday on a friends boat too and over the weekend on mine.

I will still be fishing. Just not on my boat anymore. I will continue to post up reports. There will just be fewer of them.