Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area

                                           April is here and so is some fantastic springtime surf fishing. The great news is for those of you that do not want to make the drive to Hobe Sound there are plenty of pompano, whiting, and bluefish right on our local beaches. Normandy, Bob Graham, Santa Lucea, and Middle Cove beaches all produced some excellent action over the weekend and this morning. The one factor that kept the catch rate down somewhat was the presence of weeds on South Hutchinson Island on Sunday. I fished at Middle Cove on Sunday with my son Randy, and in between removing all of the grass from our lines we managed to catch pompano, big whiting, bluefish, jacks, and a few croaker. The whiting bite at all of the area beaches was fantastic on Saturday with Fishbites and cut shrimp being the best baits. This morning I returned to Middle Cove and there was some weeds and the water had turned from the beautiful blue-green color to a dirtier green. As the tide got closer to the high stage the weeds lessened and the water cleaned up. The pompano started to bite around 8 am and by 9 I had my limit of with a couple of bluefish thrown into the mix. EZ Flea Fishbites and clam strips were the productive baits and almost every pompano was 80 to 90 yards off of the beach. I was joined by friend Chuck Frith from Jensen Beach around 9 am and by 11 Chuck also had a limit. The whiting started to bite just as we were getting ready to leave and local resident and angler Steve Potter, who was fishing just south of us, was getting steady action on that species. Look for the action to continue this week and the only questionable weather day may be Thursday as the wind is forecast to pick up to 20 knots from the northeast.