July 2010 - I recently had the pleasure to take the Parrish Family out fishing for a 3/4 day trip inshore trip. We started off heading south to the St. Lucie Inlet fishing the outgoing tide. After an assortment of snapper, ladyfish, black margates ect, Ryne Parish caught and safely released a nice 37" snook. Moving over to the ten cent bridge, Lezli landed a nice black drum along with her mom Sandra's snook. Also at the dime bridge were some small mangrove snapper and croakers. We did hook into a large jack crevelle which broke us off on the structure.  Moving up north on the Indian River, Ryne caught his first ever tripletail, a nice ten pounder while fishing channel markers and crabtrap floats. All fish today were caught on ten pound test line while fishing a mixture of live and frozen shrimp along with live pinfish. June 2010 - Stuart, Florida Fishing Report. No doubt we are into the summer mode. Water temps in the Indian River are up to 86 degrees. For all you shallow water fans, you need to start early before the sun rises. 4 AM is a great departure time for fishing the shallow grassflats. Look for spotted sea trout, snook, redfish, jacks, ladyfish and still a few stray pompano. Top water plugs, soft rubber and live shrimp all work great. Also take advantage of shadow lines around area bridges and lighted docks. Summertime also allows small boats to head outside with normally flat sea conditions. I like to run along the shoreline looking for monster jacks, tarpon and cobia. We have seen a big increase the past few weeks in baitfish along the Treasure Coast which in turn will draw in the larger fish. Also I like to run outside to the sandpile livebaiting for barracuda, bonita, kingfish, cobia and snapper. On my most recent trip I had the pleasure to fish with locals Ed Delani and friends. With an outgoing tide and a stiff east wind, I elected to run north on the Indian River towards the power plant. I try to avoid wind against current as much as possible. This condition will slow your drift down to almost zero and makes it difficult to get your baits down to the bottom. This trip we had a mixture of ladyfish, spanish mackerel, flounder, jack crevelles, sheephead and tripletail. A bit earlier I again had the pleasure to fish with the Hess Family. While drifting the St. Lucie Inlet we managed a mixed bag of black margates, 4 pompano, jacks, snook, bluefish, spanish mackerel, and snapper.That morning I noticed about 20 boats off Rocky Point in the St. Lucie Inlet jigging for live baits (greenies). This normally happens each year lasting about a week or so but is always a welcome sight. May 2010 - The inshore fishing in our area has been pretty decent lately despite increased water releases from Lake Okeechobee. We are still hooking some stray pompano, blues and Spanish Mackerel. In the St. Lucie River from the 10 cent bridge to the inlet, focus on incoming tide where water will be much cleaner compared to outgoing. There is an increase of baitfish in the Indian River north of the Jensen Beach Causeway which is always a welcome sight. The west side of the river starting around Walton Road north to Fort Pierce is a great place to fish early in 2-3 feet for a mixture of ladyfish, jacks, snook and trout. Topwater near the docks along Indian River Drive till about 9:00am then drop off to 3-4 feet after that. The water temps are on the rise running around 83 degrees. With the increase of baitfish around, it's also a great time to run along the beach with large jacks, sharks,permit and tarpon cruising the area. I believe this is the first year I did not fish Peck's Lake for the annual Mack Attack. It seemed this season either the wind was cranking 25mph or the water was too cold pushing the mackerel south towards Jupiter.  Last week I had locals Les Applegate and Don Cook aboard fishing the St. Lucie around Hell's Gate to the 10 cent bridge with a mix of pompano to 3 lbs, croaker, ladyfish, jacks, mangrove snapper and a nice 7 lb trippletail. Fish were caught on shrimp and trollrites along with Capt. Joes "The Jig". A few days later Henry Abbott and family from Silver Lake, Wis. teamed up for a mix of mangrove snapper, jacks, ladyfish, trout and a very nice 16.3 lb trippletail. Fishing 10 lb test line this fish made several runs to 100 yards before tiring out. Awesome job from Henry who by the way caught 2 tripletail on his last trip aboard Catch 22. Yesterday, I took my wife and friend Charlie Fabiano out for a little inshore action. We departed around 9:30 am fishing both the St. Lucie and Indian Rivers. Our goal was to catch dinner. My wife is the ultimate "meat monger". If it's not edible, she's upset so we targeted tripletail again. Fishing structures and crab trap floats we ended the day with a 3 pound pompano, 2 trout, jacks and mangrove snapper, a 3 foot black tip shark but what really made the meat monger's day was this Cheryl Bushholz 18.5 tripletail caught on a live shrimp and trollrite jig. Fishing 10 lb test this fight lasted the better part of 20 minutes. Great catch, great dinner and a happy meat monger !!!!!
March 2010 - The past few months have been the coldest weather for the longest period of time that I can remember. Early in the year we had morning temps around freezing for several days which dropped the water in the Indian River to a frigid 48 degrees resulting in a major fishkill in our area. Snook seemed to get hit the hardest who require 57 degrees or more just to survive. This event forced the snook season to be postponed which would normally open February 1st and set it back to September 1st. The water temps are beginning to creep back up to normal which is a welcome sight for myself and most anglers. When the water drops below 60, it not only makes fish sluggish but we seem to get invaded with a motherload of bluefish who really don't care how cold it gets. This year I had several charters with bluefish totals over 100 for half day trips. I like the non-stop action but I also like to see variety. When the blues dominate, they seem to drive away the pompano both in the river and along the beach. With things warming up, look for an increase in the pompano action.
Another species that will pick up is the Spanish Mackerel. Normally I run several trips this time of year along the beach southward towards Peck's Lake for the annual "MAC ATTACK". This year the hi-seas have prevented us from heading out on the ocean. Another factor is the cold water. Mackerel will head south towards the Jupiter Inlet searching for warmer water. The weather now is starting to level. Yesterday it reached 80 and I'm really looking forward to the remainder of the pompano and mackerel run that normally tapers off in late April. This is also the time of year I begin my assault on on of my favorites "TRIPLETAIL". I would like to congratulate 9 year old Hayden Fiske from Port St. Lucie with his very first sheepshead while his sister Kaitlyn watches on in horror!!!

I recently chartered locals Ed Delany and friends. These guys fish with me several times a year and always have a fun time with these guys. The weather was cold and windy but we managed some decent action with bluefish, sheepshead, black drum, and plenty of leaping ladyfish. Here is Ed Delany with one of several bluefish caught that day.

The blues were scattered in the St. Lucie Inlet and up the river towards Hell's Gate. Most Blues were running 2-3 lbs.

Here is Jeff Baker with a 4lb Black Drum caught up in the St. Lucie River. No, we are not fishing in Alaska, this is sunny Florida!!!

Here is Ed with a 5lb Black Drum caught under the 10 cent bridge. Normally we see more croaker and snook mixed in but cold water has a sluggish effect on many species.

Back to the floating dock at Four Fish Marina (HOME OF CATCH 22 FISHING CHARTERS). Left to right, Jeff Baker, Ed Delany, David Anderson and Stev

December 2009 - The winter bite is on with more pompano, bluefish and Spanish Mackerel scattered in both the Indian and St. Lucie Rivers. Pompano up to 3 pounds are being caught bouncing skimmer jigs tipped with shrimp along the bottom near the Stuart Causeway and in the crossroads area of the St. Lucie Inlet. No big numbers yet but some nice size pompano. Also some pompano off the mosquito bridge on the Jensen Beach Causeway mainly on outgoing tide. The bluefish and mackerel have been hanging out in the inlet eating shrimp on trollrites. Outside at Pecks Lake the mackerel will be there till the end of March or early April. An occasional cold front can drive the mackerel south towards the Jupiter Inlet where the water is a degree or two warmer but return shortly after.

As always I look forward to running as many mackerel trips as I can down to Peck's Lake in 2010. It's normally nonstop action and fishing 10 lb test it's a blast!! The only issue would be sea conditions.

The bridges have been offering a combination of snook (catch and release) till February 1st along with snapper, sheepshead, black drum, croaker and flounder. There have been more sheepshead around the Stuart Causeway while the 10 cent bridge had been holding more croaker and black drum.

North of the Jensen Beach Causeway, in the grassflats the trout bite remains strong (catch and release till the new year) with jacks, ladyfish and a few snook bending the rods. Scattered tripletail , flounder and sheepshead near structure on the bottom.