Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area

                            
Lots of pompano, many that had to be released, whiting, croaker, and blue runner have been bending the rods this President's Day Weekend along Hutchinson Island. My personal fishing time has been limited to a couple of hours the last couple of days due to work obligations but the catch-and-release pompano bite was non-stop at Blue Heron Beach on Saturday morning. The good news was that 40 or so fish bit constantly for a couple of hours but the bad news is there were only a few keepers in the mix. EZ Flea and Orange Clam Fishbites tipped with salted clam strips were the baits that produced the majority of the action. I received a call from friends Chuck Frith and Marty Barlow who were fishing at Tiger Shores and the were experiencing the same type of undersized pompano action along with putting a few nice croakers in the cooler. They did speak to an angler who reported some larger pompano being taken in the afternoon at the Normandy Beach the previous day. Yesterday morning I met my son Randy at Blue Heron and although the pompano had thinned out, the whiting were still biting on the long rods. We made a return trip to Tiger Shores in the late afternoon where the whiting action was excellent. I got some help from my granddaughter Ashley, who reeled in the whiting on the long rod we were fishing. This was a team effort as I held the rod and she cranked them in. These fish were caught both on the long rods fished in the second trough 70 to 90 yards off the beach and on the short rods right in the first trough. Cut shrimp tipped with Shrimp Fishbites was the hot bait for the near shore action. Randy's father in law, Barry Rashkin, put a nice keeper pompano in the cooler during the afternoon. The stars of the afternoon were the schools of the spinner sharks leaping out of the water 150 to 200 yards off of the beach for the entire afternoon. They were there in huge numbers and there were times when 3 or 4 would go airborne at once. Hopefully some larger pompano will show up this week, so our keeper numbers should increase. Nice conditions and lots of action made for a great Weekend surf bite.