Newbie looking to catch fish in Jensen Beach

Help on different Boatless Fishing locations.
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Roll Tide
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Newbie looking to catch fish in Jensen Beach

Post by Roll Tide »

I moved to Jensen Beach last March and have tried my hand at saltwater fishing along the Indian River a number of times without much success. I've mainly been using artificial lures (spoons, DOA shrimp, etc).

I read this week that it's best to fish when the tide is coming in so I'm going to give it a go this Saturday, two hours before high tide and use live shrimp. Maybe my luck with change.

Do any of you veterans have any advice for catching fish along the Indian River? Or any other good places in Martin County? I keep hearing the Indian River is a great place to catch reds, snook, etc. but I'll be darned if I've really ever even had a good bite. Heck, just catching my first snook or red would be a monumental moment!

Any advice sure would be appreciated! Thanks!

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bolo
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Re: Newbie looking to catch fish in Jensen Beach

Post by bolo »

Welcome to the forum. Local guys in that area should chime in later.
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The prostitute replied (wiping away tears), "When the check bounced."

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rshields
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Re: Newbie looking to catch fish in Jensen Beach

Post by rshields »

Welcome to the forum. Post some of what you see do and catch up there

Roll Tide
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Re: Newbie looking to catch fish in Jensen Beach

Post by Roll Tide »

Will do. Thanks for the responses so far. Hope to get more feedback from people who fish in this area. So far I've not a lot to share. My luck with spoons, DOA shrimp and other lures has been nil. I did catch a pin fish once however. I'm going to try fishing the high tide with sand fleas tomorrow somewhere along the river and we'll see what happens. Maybe I'll luck up and catch something.

Last Saturday my wife and I tried a couple of spots on the river and all we caught were a ton of mosquito bites. Boy are they bad up here.

In any case, I enjoy reading this forum and will definitely continue to check it out daily. Even though I'm from Alabama, obviously, I grew up fishing with my grandfather in Arcadia and Placida, Florida, and loved catching trout and redfish by the boatload. Of course that was 30 years ago. We just used live shrimp and a bobber and it was easy. I hear the Treasure Coast has some great fishing but I just have to keep looking for the spots. I'm not about to give up yet.

Hope local readers will continue to post their ideas and advice. Thanks.

Harpmanr
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Re: Newbie looking to catch fish in Jensen Beach

Post by Harpmanr »

Welcome to the forum,
If other white baits are not availabe try using live pinfish or small croakers. You can catch these in the surf line on small gold hooks tipped with shrimp. I have caught a lot of snook & tarpon using them here and trout on them over on the west coast.
"Life is a gift from God. Fish it as much as possible." "The happier you are, the happier you become."

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fishnfool73
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Re: Newbie looking to catch fish in Jensen Beach

Post by fishnfool73 »

You have moved to a fishing paradise but it requires a little effort to figure it out.
As far as spots I used to fish up there a lot when my parents lived up there but they should all still be productive.

The Jensen Beach causeway Rosevelt and Mosquitto bridge ( the smaller bridge to the east of thr Jensen) First light or night esp around high tides for snook as far as baits try live shrimp ( if you can find any decent size) pinfish, mullet, or a small ladyfish . For lures try a lipped plug like a Wind Cheater , Rapala in the larger sizes, Mirrorlures or 1/2 - 2 oz buck tail jigs esp the Red Hawk. With the lures cast the the upcurrent side along the shadow line and allow the lure to be swept back to the bridge retrieving it along it. Hits will be hard and battles will be waged mostly under the briidge as the snook runs back to safety there. Not a lot of redfish in this area but they are around.

The Ft Pierce inlet holds loads of snook, flounder, snapper, sheepshead, redfish, jacks, blues, tarpon, you get the point. I like a 1/4 - 3/8 oz jig head with a live shrimp again if they are big enough. Bounce the rig off the bottom on a med action spinner. This is lots of fun as far as fishing goes. Doing this you target everything that swims in the area. Lacking good size live shrimp use the DOA shrimp or Gulp shrimp. Tide plays a huge role at the inlet but don't overlook the beach side along the outcroppings.

Surf fishing plain and simple learn how to do it. At the end of this month it is the most incredible and most realible fishing that exists up there. Mullet live or cut will produce bluefish, snook, tarpon, jacks, ladyfish, mackeral and sharks . Lures like a jig or silver spoon will produce pompano, blues, jacks, mackeral and ladyfish. Get some fresh cut shrimp or sand fleas and a limit of pompano and some croakers or whiting are all possible. The action will be best at sunrise or sunset but high tide will produce even in the middle of the day.

The east side and west side of the river up there will produce fish but be prepared to wade at sunrise or sunset. Learn the stingray shuffle. A 6 - 10 lb spinner with some 30 lb leader is all you need. A handful of DOA shrimp, 1/4 jigheads with some silver shad tails grubs and some topwaters and you are in business.
Dreaming the dream that one day I can be as good as some of the boatless pros and catch some 12 inch mangrove snapper.

Roll Tide
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Re: Newbie looking to catch fish in Jensen Beach

Post by Roll Tide »

thanks for the input. I went out Saturday to the Jensen Beach bridge and took a dozen shrimp and two nice minnows. No bites on the minnows but the shrimp was being stolen immediately. I finally managed to snag one of the little thieves. Puffer fish. I was careful in how I handled him and put him back in the water. But again, no good luck. I'll try the Fort Pierce inlet next weekend. That sounds like a hot spot. I did go there once and just used artifiicial lures. no hits, but I did see a lot of people fishing up there so obviously it's a good spot. This time I'll try like shrimp or minnows. Obviously I'm just going through the beginners learning period. Thanks for all the good feedback. I'll keep reading to learn as much as I can. I keep reading how people say to fish along the beach. Obviously you need to either do this where there aren't swimmers so I'd imagine early morning or late in the evening are best. I'll try some of these tips. thanks.

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