Eslie spent the week in town on business and he invited his brother David to join him for a day of fishing in Fort Pierce.
With gear rigged and the livewell full of pilchards and threadfins we made our way to the mouth of the inlet. Boat traffic was so active that David could barely stand on his recently replaced knee. We left the channel edges and concentrated on the jetty fish.
This turned out to be the place to be! Both anglers had solid hook-ups from big fish that we never saw, breaking the line on the sharp rocks. David’s rod bows up on what I’m guessing was a full grown nurse shark. The fish hugged and tugged on the bottom and any line he managed to gain simply melted away again. We parted company after five or six minutes of tug and war.
Finally, Eslie connects with a nice snook that agreed to a quick photo then was released. This was Eslie’s first snook, but not his last on this trip. David gets blasted again and the thirtyish pound tarpon makes several leaps before throwing the hook. Two baits later, Dave hooks a big snook that comes up to shake her huge head. Her second head shake was her last as a massive shark devours her, leaving a huge hole of foaming water in its wake!
Things petered out after that and we moved deep into the inlet to finish out our morning’s time. Docks and seawalls weren’t happening for us as the tide started to ebb, but we found more action in the trees. David stayed busy with the jacks and Eslie added a couple more snook to his tally.
