Here Comes Summer

It looks like we are starting to transition from late spring to early summer along our beaches as schools of bait and the species that chase them have made an appearance. I fished from Hobe Sound to Stuart beach on Sunday looking for some late season pompano. Randy and I caught a dozen pompano at the Bridge Road access early Sunday morning but ten of those fish were undersized and were released. I am sure anyone who wants to catch a few more pompano for the freezer will find some in the upcoming weeks but the percentage of keepers will probably be dropping as early summer approaches. The activity at Stuart Beach was slow after we left Hobe Sound with only a few whiting and a couple of short pompano . The good news is I fished at Middle Cove on Monday morning and the bait schools stretched north and south with jacks, tarpon, ladyfish, mackerel, and snook all in hot pursuit. A couple of the commercial bait boats were loading up their cast nets as they chased the bait supply up and down that whole area. Birds could be seen everywhere chasing the schools as the splashes and white water from the bait being hammered extended from 20 to 200 yards off of the beach. I am sure the snook were in attendance as some of the boils along the shoreline were pretty impressive. I caught some ladyfish and mackerel on my pompano rigs and the tarpon were rolling up and down the entire beach. I shortened up on my casts on a couple of my poles and was able to catch whiting and croakers at the 50 yard mark from the beach. Reports I received from over the weekend told the same story of a few pompano along with some whiting. I haven't given up on chasing the pompano but I will certainly be adding some more whiting and croaker setups along with some gear to throw artificials and fish some live croakers to the snook, tarpon, and big jacks . Its time to start adding the Orange Clam and Pink Shrimp Fishbites to your bait supply along with some fresh or frozen shrimp as the big schools of whiting and croaker start showing in that first trough. I love changing baits, tackle, locations, and targeting different species as the seasons change and it is a great reminder to all of us that live and fish in our area of South Florida that we are pretty darn lucky to be living here and have this resource available.