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Big Water, Big Fish

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By FRANK SARGEANT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 25, 2008

Big fish. It's what all who love angling dream of.

But oddly, most anglers who live on Florida's west coast never visit the east coast, where truly big fish are the norm rather than the exception.

It's simply a matter of geography.

Rather than the shallow, changeable waters of the Gulf of Mexico, east coast fisheries are fed by the rolling depths of the Atlantic - more consistent temperatures, more and larger bait, and more and bigger fish of many species.

Take snook, for example. The average snook caught in the Bay area is just less than 28 inches long, with good reason. That's the bottom of the slot limit, and fish that are longer frequently are caught and kept.

But on the east coast, it's rare to catch a fish less than 28 inches. In fact, the anglers there have a problem at the opposite end of the slot limit; most are too large to keep, because they exceed the 32-inch maximum size allowed on that coast. (The slot on the west coast is an inch longer, 33 inches, in an effort to produce more trophy-sized fish.)

Capitalizing On The Spawn

On a single trip during the summer spawn, it's common for anglers fishing Atlantic inlets from Canaveral southward to catch eight to 10 fish that exceed 30 inches. As on the west coast, this is entirely catch-and-release fishing, but any one of the fish you're likely to land would be a memorable trophy on our shores.

In fact, state biologists say Atlantic snook, though the same species as Gulf snook, are a slightly different strain that grows faster and is heavier at a given length than our fish. (The same is true with sea trout found on that shore, which is why 10-pounders are a frequent catch there, but rare here.)

The inlets are broad and deep on the east coast, and sometimes produce surprise species. A 52-pound king mackerel was caught a mile inside Fort Pierce Inlet a few weeks ago by a snook angler, and even sailfish occasionally show up within casting distance of jetty anglers.

Fishing the inlets is a matter of capturing good bait. Fortunately, there are tons of baitfish along the beaches, in the backwaters of the Indian River - which runs most of the distance between Canaveral and Stuart - and around the jetties of each major inlet. Most bait species can be caught on Sabiki rigs, available at area bait shops, though finger mullet must be captured with a cast net or snatch hook.

For snook, the best tide is usually an outflow, which adds a bit of color to the water and makes the fish less suspicious.

The outgoing water also pulls a lot of bait with it, turning on the bite. The ideal tide is falling water just after sunset or just at sunrise. Night fishing is also highly productive, and lures do just as well as bait in the low-light periods. The DOA Baitbuster, a plastic mullet, is one of the favorites here; the heavier model works best. The 52M and 65M MirrOlure are also successful, as are heavy swim baits.

Good Numbers Of Fish

One of the easier inlets to fish is Fort Pierce, where there are parks on the north and south sides.

On a recent visit, I found schools of snook swarming around the outside of the south jetty, including a few that would be keepers when the season reopens Sept. 1, but most were over the slot. There were also hundreds of Spanish mackerel and bonito within casting range of this jetty. It's an easy walk out to the fishing. Many anglers use wheeled carts to tote their tackle and ice chests, thanks to the paved walkways.

South of Fort Pierce is St. Lucie, which has outstanding fishing but is not as easy to access because there is no drive-up parking. However, a kayak will get you to the beach on the south side or to the mid-inlet sand bars, where you can wade to good fishing. (Careful in low-light periods; there are plenty of bull sharks!)

The rip-rap breakwater in the middle of the inlet often has stacks of snook, but if there's much wave action this is tough fishing in a flats boat.

At Jupiter Inlet, south of St. Lucie, there is a line of docks along the south shore where huge schools of over-the-slot snook stack up at this time of year. You can't fish the docks from shore because they are private property, but a kayak will get you to these fish. There usually are also fish around the jetties, which do have public access.

There are 11 inlets from Canaveral south to Government Cut in Miami, and every one is a fish magnet. For a shot at truly big fish, you can't do better than to head east this summer.

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