Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County

INSHORE FISHING:

In the Indian River and along the beaches in Jensen the pompano bite has been fantastic.

Anglers using Doc’s Goofy Jigs and small bucktails are catching their limits working the Hell’s Gate, Sailfish Flats and Crossroads areas of the Indian River.

On the beaches, clams combined with Fishbites have been working well.

There are still black drum being caught by anglers working the channel edges, docks and bridges along the Indian and St. Lucie Rivers.

Some good size snook are being caught along the seawalls up in the St. Lucie River or fishing at night.

The Spanish mackerel bite is still on fire in the Peck’s Lake area. Asked how the action was for them, one charter captain joked “as much as you want.” Using Gulfstream Flash Minnows or white and chartreuse mackerel tubes has been working well recently.

Along the beaches north of the Boynton Inlet large jack crevalle have been chasing bait schools. Surf fishermen using large blue/silver popping plugs are having a blast catching and releasing fish up to 20 pounds.

Sheepshead and mangrove snapper have been hitting live shrimp around both jetties at the inlet.

Lantana Bridge anglers have reported catches of sheepshead, mangrove snapper and a few sea trout using live shrimp.

                                             

                               photo courtesy of Hai Truong @ www.HaiTruongFishing.com

LAKE OKEECHOBEE:

With the cold weather the bass fishing has been a bit slow That should change as the temperatures come up over the next few days. The bite will be best from mid-day on as the water warms up a bit. For hot spots, fishing on the southern end of the lake was excellent for the Roland Martin Marine Center tournament last weekend. Anglers using white swim jigs were having the most success. Also, the Harney Pond area has been good recently flippin’ and pitchin’ creature baits.

The crappie bite in the Kissimmee River has been hit or miss the last week. Anglers fishing in depths of 4 to 8 feet are having the best luck.

LAKE IDA AND LAKE OSBOURNE:

There has been good action on largemouth and peacock bass, black crappie, bluegill and clown knifefish.

The bass bite has been good early in the morning using Storm top water popping plugs in blue/orange or green/yellow patterns. Switch the Gambler or Bass Assassin twicthbaits or swimming shad in gold shiner, pumpkinseed or cane toad colors later in the day.

Minnows or small shad fished on 1/8 to 1/4 oz jig heads have been producing crappie and clown knifefish in the deeper areas of the lakes.

Fly fishing for bluegill, stumpknockers and smaller bass has been fun using Bumble Bee poppers, gnat flies and 1/2″ long epoxy minnow flies around grassy shorelines.