# 1 fish, 2 fish, redfish....black drum? What a day...St Lucie River



## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

OK, so we decided to brave the 40mph winds today and do some fishing. Put in at Sandsprit, made the run to the fishing spots, all in crosswinds so we got hammered and soaked the whole way. After a couple hours we wound up with 6 reds, 7 black drum, 2 snook and assorted jacks and trash fish. We even caught a porcupine fish oh yay!

This is where it started to go downhill.....

We left that whole area because A) Mother nature was calling and the only place to go was all the way back to Sandsprit and B) we figured we had plenty of fish on ice so we should go exploring a bit. 

So....we leave and drive all the way back down to sandsprit, getting absolutely freaking soaked and pummeled by crosswinds and whitecaps. On the way there I thought if felt like I was running out of gas for one instant, but we had the boat so turned up on the gunnel with one tab all the way down trying to stay dry it was hard to tell. After a nature break we hopped back in the boat and decided to hit a new area, get soaked again on the run there and first 3 casts were 2 reds and a jack. Jackpot, we thought. Nope. Not another fish for 2 hours. So we pack it in, start heading back to the dock and sure enough, we run out of gas. Here's where the ribbing starts...

Now to make matters worse, I actually had the boat hooked to the truck yesterday afternoon to go fill it, but I thought the non-ethanol station was closed so I unhooked and crossed my fingers for today. 

Not a good idea. 

Well after about an hour on the trolling motor that too died, seeing as how we were using it to fish with for about 5 hours prior. It dies within 200 yards of sandsprit. Called seatow and they were there pretty quick with 5 gallons (thank God I'm a member or it would've been painful) and off we went. 

So, score one for the fish, one for mother nature, and one for my stupidity. But hey, it makes good stories, right?! 

Will post some photos later. I've got an hour to get showered, dressed and head to my buddy's 40th birthday party. 

-T


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## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

Good eats! We all had a good laugh about yesterday. Just glad it didn't happen offshore in that wind....










-T


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## Frank_Sebastian (Oct 15, 2007)

Thanks for the report Tom. Believe me when I say I have had much worse and still enjoyed it.

I will be casting (lead furnace/jig mold) some jigs a little later and we can swap a few. I finish mine with powder coat and an air bed, but my oven expired last time so may be a delay.

Best regards,
Frank_S


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## Megalops (Oct 23, 2011)

TomFL, did you also catch your pompano's (from a previous thread a way's back) on your jigs?


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## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

> TomFL, did you also catch your pompano's (from a previous thread a way's back) on your jigs?


We've been catching pomps over the years on everything from dead bait on the bottom, to Doc's goofy jigs, and Gulfstream pompano jigs. But I got tired of paying $3++ for each jig when the ladyfish and blues tear them up so quick and also cut your leaders. 

So in an effort to have fun and save money and keep me out of my wife's hair at night, I started pouring, powdercoating and tying some jigs myself which enables me to use the hook size and style I want and have fun making fishing lures. 

The Gulfstream pompano jig is a sparky jig mold, plain and simple. I'm too lazy to take a pic of my sparkies, but this is a gulfstream pompano jig, in some of the colors we use:








My wife also likes to use bright colors like chartreuse or pink or pink and white and she does real well too. 

But basically a pompano is going to hit whatever they see that is moving on the bottom I think, and the extra time and effort to tie up a jig with a fancy tie and colors isn't worth it a lot of times.

The home made jigs that you see in the pics lately are the next step and have been working really good. I've been making them with an incredibly sharp and strong wide-gap mustad 32786BLN hook in them and they've really helped the hookup ratio using 10lb powerpro. You can't bend that hook with any light tackle, and a lot of the fish we catch are actually snagged under the mouth or in the side of the face which I think means they're just checking the bait out and we're still hooking them. They are sharp! 

The nice thing about the shape is that it sinks fast in the current and stays on the bottom better. If you get off the bottom you'll start catching a lot more ladyfish, blues and jacks. Sometimes we use them in colors, naked for pompano, and sometimes we put a bit of shrimp on them.

When fishing for the reds and sheephead and black drum around the bridges lately we use these jigs tipped with shrimp in any of the colors or plain lead. The last batch I powdercoated I only did pink as it seems that's the color we've been using more than anything lately. 

When we're trying for pomps on the flats in more still water like near the powerplant in St Lucie county, I usually use a really small jig head like 1/16 oz, and a 2" squirmin squirt tube from BPS in Watermelon or pumpkinseed color. I tie two jigs on the line, about 10" apart, from the same knot which allows them to bop around freely. Toss 'em out and swim/hop them back above the grass. Trout go nuts for them too. I think they represent small grass shrimp to the fish that eat them. 

The thing that stinks with those small 1/16oz jigs is that you can't really fish them effectively in the wind, and pompano fishing and wind usually go hand in hand, at least in my area it seems. 

The pompano fishing should be getting better and better over the next few months. We just haven't been targeting them too much yet because the redfish and drum bite has been so good. It's really hard to leave something consistant and go exploring for the unknown when you only have a few hours to fish. 

Or run out of gas and wait for seatow...

Megalops you have a PM..

-T


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## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

> Thanks for the report Tom. Believe me when I say I have had much worse and still enjoyed it.
> 
> I will be casting (lead furnace/jig mold) some jigs a little later and we can swap a few. I finish mine with powder coat and an air bed, but my oven expired last time so may be a delay.
> 
> ...


Frank, I'd love to swap a few. Shot you a PM with my address, kindly send me yours and I'll shoot you a care package. 

Glad to see things are going well up your way. 

-T


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## cutrunner (Jun 8, 2010)

Tom: i went out camping that night (sat), headed out around 11pm (late i know).. Anyways before i even got to the crossroads i submarined the bow 3 times, at night.. I said "f this" and went around the back way 6 mph trimmed super high bow in the air and still got drenched. Wind mush have been 40mph.. It was a gods honest 4 feet (sloppy too)by the crossroads. I'll never do that again.. I hate winter!!!!


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## Megalops (Oct 23, 2011)

TomFL, PM sent back to you!  

Thanks for posting such great info and what is working for you.  I've been throwing mostly Doc's Goofy jigs and only ended up with a couple lady fish and a blue runner of all things.  Visited my dad down in Venice last weekend and threw a Doc's with a stinger hook and Pro-Cure shrimp scent and got skunked (from the beach).  Anyways, thanks for the information.  Would love a link if you could provide showing how your making/molding your jigs if possible.


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## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

> Tom: i went out camping that night (sat), headed out around 11pm (late i know)..  Anyways before i even got to the crossroads i submarined the bow 3 times, at night.. I said "f this" and went around the back way 6 mph trimmed super high bow in the air and still got drenched. Wind mush have been 40mph.. It was a gods honest 4 feet (sloppy too)by the crossroads. I'll never do that again.. I hate winter!!!!


Welcome to wintertime, tides and wind in St Lucie river! Man have we been getting slammed lately or what?

I do not doubt it one bit. There have been some days lately that are so rough I've taken the sea vee to fish in the river. Crazy wind. The only nice thing about fishing on those days is that there's usually nobody else stupid enough to fish so you've got the joint to yourself

-T


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