Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-03-27
Variety Is Spice Of Fishing in Florida;
CutIoss Fish Gives Angler a Surprise
BY CHARLES COvELL
Outdoor Editor

about Florida fishing. II
you can't catch one kind,
you usually can catch
another.
Picture a creature shaped
like a long. bright sword. It's
head, equipped with teeth long
and sharp enough to put q
barracuda to shame, would be
the handle. Its disposition
matches its sinister appearance.
That's the cutlass fish, our sur
prise catch.
Several were mixed in q bag
OF big sea trout, Jacks and lady
fish caught with artificials In
the inlet east Of this little town.
Stuart is known as the "safl.
fish capital" and q three-day
tournament is conducted every
January. Sponsored by the
Stuart Sailfish Club, 1t is an
individual, not a team tourna-
ment. There are daily awards
and captains prizes.
Winter Tourney Held
In addition, a winter-lone
tournament is conducted with
awards ranging from buttons
ito statuettes for sailfish and
plaques for the largest fish in
many other categories.
A sail and a half per boat is
the year-around average here,
but during late November and
December. the sailfish ball the
bait" OF Stuart. riding herd on
small fish like Indians sur
rounding a wagon train. In
such runs, 8 to 10 sailfish
per boat is not uncommon. jan
uary. February and March also
are good months.
If you can't afford to troll
the Gulf Stream for sailfish,
king mackerel or dolphin,
there's reef fishing for amber
jack, giant groupers, mutton
fish or barracuda. In the inlet
and up the rivers come tarpon,
sea trout. snook, pompano.
channel bass, jacks. bluefish.
snapper and sheepshead.
Even Catfish Gamy
Even the catfish are gamy. A
good guy with a bad name is
the gafftopsail catfish, who suf-
fefs because his cousin, the sea
catfish. is the bane Of bottom
fishermen. The gafftopsail. so
named because Of its peculiar
dorsal i'm, strikes on plugs and
puts up a good fight. Weighing
4 70 8 pounds, its flesh is pink
and good eating.
On the shore of Hutchinson
Island there is good to excellent
surf casting for kingflsh. Ia
to 3-pound blues and pompano.
The latter are the finest eating
of all Florida fishes. Try a
poinpano broiled with lemon
butter.
The rivers are f1Shed from
outboards, for rent at several
locations. There also are free
launching ramps and parking
space at the Chamber of Com
merce dock just of Route
and in Sandsprit Park, south
east of Stuart near Salerno.
Boats are unnecessary. Many /
snbOk are = being caught at
night on large plugs or live
shrimp from the bridges that
cross the st. Lucie River. Il
Bass in Canal
In the canal that leads to ,
Lake Okeechobee are large ,
mouth bass. bluegills and war;
mouth. Lake Okeechobee itself
has plenty of bass plus some
snook and other salt water fish
that have wandered through
the canal.
We literally blew into town
with a 35-mile wind and rain
that spoiled any hope of sail
fishing. While other disap-
pointed anglers played gin or
poker. we got acquainted with
Clint Campbell, night clerk at
the Pelican Hotel.
Clint owned a seafood mar
ket in New Jersey until he de-
cided that he'd rather catch
fish than sell 'em, so he moved
to Florida. He knows where to
troll for blues, where the snook
lurk and how to catch the
coveted pompano.
On the first clear morning
we hitched on his 15-foot out
board and trailed it to a
launching site near the juno
ton of the st. Lucie and In
dian Rivers and Manatee
Creek.
Troll River Mouth
Tying on Tony Accetta nylon
eelS. we trolled for blues in the
mouth Of the st. Lucie. Moth
ing happened, so we shifted to
yellow saran jigs and I caught
a small jack crevalle.
Then we ran to the inlet and
tried drifting for sea trout.
Here I decided to experiment,
tying on one Of Capt. Bert
Lambs all-yellow bucktails de-
signed for Chesapeake rockfish.
Clint stuck to his Florida Jig.
The Lamb lure caught the
first trout, a 212-pounder that
put up a good tussle on light
spin casting rod and Abumatic
reel. We continued to drift
and cast for an hour or two,
catching several more trout,
EnnHR Hhs.m~L