Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area

The south end of Hutchinson Island was the place to be this weekend if you were looking to bend a rod along our local beaches. Bathtub, Fletcher, Santa Lucea, Stuart, and Tiger Shores beach accesses all produced pompano, bluefish, blue runners, ladyfish , and jacks on Saturday and Sunday, with Sunday producing a great pompano bite. The only downside to the great fishing was the challenge of finding a parking spot at most of those locations if you had decided to sleep in to take advantage of the mid morning high tide. Beautiful weather had beach goers out in big numbers up and down our St Lucie and Martin county beaches. I started at Bathtub on Saturday morning and managed to put seven nice pompano in the cooler and release some bluefish and blue runners before I left early in the afternoon. EZ Flea , Pink Shrimp, Yellow Crab, and Orange Clam Fishbites along with some frozen sandfleas all produced strikes during the day. The water color was green with some streaky brown areas but was improving during the afternoon tide . The key to making a big catch on Sunday was finding the right water and the current was moving to the north in the afternoon on Saturday when I packed it in. I fished with sons Paul Jr, who is visiting from up north, Randy, and my wife Deb on Sunday and what a great day we had. I took a brief look at Bathtub at dawn but as it got light it appeared the water had moved and with the north current I decided to go to Stuart and give it a shot. The hunch was correct and after we put together a recreational limit catch of eighteen pompano for the family, I stayed and filled another cooler with eighteen more before the falling tide shut off the bite. Mixed in with the pompano were bluefish, ladyfish, blue runners , and jacks that kept us hopping from pole to pole. The action was not just in one location either as local anglers Barry Rashkin and Barry Richards caught plenty of fish at spots just north and south of us. EZ Flea was the number one Fishbite scent for the pompano bites. Hopefully this school of pompano stays with us for the next few days and the key will be finding that nice water that holds them.