The mangrove snapper are hungry!

The mangrove bite is on!  Both charters last weekend limited out on mangrove snapper between 10 and 13 inches, both were morning trips in the ICW near St. Lucie inlet with about half incoming and outgoing tide.  We started out with live shrimp and whatever I could catch in my cast net (a few pinfish, a few sand perch, etc) and had to switch over to frozen shrimp because the fish were so hungry.  There were plenty of smalls in the mix along with a few lane snapper, jack crevalle, and ladyfish... typical by-catch.  Saturday's trip lasted until 1pm and even though it was a scorcher the bite was steady, we just had to move to deeper water.  Both trips ended with fillets in the cooler and smiling customers, there isn't much that makes me happier.