One Day in Stuart WHERE SHOULD I DIY FISH?

This is a phone call I receive pretty frequently, so I decided to write about it. Occasionally someone calls to book and I’m unavailable and if my back up guide is also unavailable, I give them the following run down so they can have a DIY fishing day.

This time of the year I recommend going and fishing the beaches if the ocean is fairly calm.

I prefer just before high tide, high tide, and beginning of the outgoing tide. Bring your 8- weight rod with an intermediate fly line and enough backing just in case. The flies I like to fish are mostly size 1 - 2/0 Clousers in white/brown, white/green or brown/chartreuse and baitfish flies in the same size in grey, white/green or black.

It shouldn’t be hard to find fishbaitfish should be easy. While feeding birds is sometimes an indicator you can’t count on that 100%. So many times birds are diving for bait but, since there is so much bait it doesn’t always mean that there are bigger fish on them as well. Typically, you’ll see snook, jacks, ladyfish, mackerels, and the like busting the baitfish. If that happens, good job, you found them!

If there is no baitfish, keep moving and drive to a different beach and so on. If the sun is high enough and you have good vision, you also can just keep walking the beaches and looking for cruising snook and you will find them mostly along the ledge from the beach where the wave breaks. Look and fish alongside the beach, not necessarily far out. There are very few things more fun than sight fishing the beaches for snook!

If the ocean is too bumpy, stay inshore and fish the inlet areas or the Indian River. Walton Road in Jensen is a nice area where you can wade in the river and sight fish snook in very shallow water. Fish the docks and the little drop offs. I prefer this area around high tide as well. The only thing to change is your floating line instead of an intermediate line. Good luck and enjoy your day fly fishing in Stuart, Florida. Capt.