Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County

INSHORE FISHING

Along the beaches in the Jensen area, the pompano bite has been a bit hit or miss.

The key has been finding the beaches with clear water with a nice green tint. Sandflea Fishbites, sandfleas and clam strips are working best. Around Bathtub Beach there have been snook and tarpon chasing the schools of mullet. Use live mullet for both.

Up around the power plant there is still a good bite on redfish. Fish live pinfish or mullet on the bottom. drum around the Roosevelt Bridge while the Jensen Causeway has been mostly a snook affair.

The beaches in Jupiter have been fantastic the past few days.

Anglers fishing that hour just as the sun is coming up have been catching jack crevalle, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, ladyfish and pompano.

One Wednesday, one angler caught 13 jack crevalle and two bluefish from 7 to 8 a.m. He was using a Berkley PowerBait Power Minnow, throwing just past the break and working the inside trough.

From Gulfstream Park to Phipps Ocean Park there has been a nice pompano bite in the surf. Live sandfleas, blanched sandfleas, fresh cut live shrimp and goofy jigs have been producing fish up to four pounds.

Boynton Inlet has been rather quiet this past week. Blue runners, spots, small mangrove snapper and ladyfish have been hitting cut mullet and live shrimp.

Anglers working the Intracoastal Waterway around the Boynton spillway, the flats and the docks from Ocean Ridge up to Lake Worth are catching a mixed bag including snook, redfish, flounder, jack crevalle, ladyfish, small grouper and various snapper. They are using live mullet and live shrimp on one-eighth to half-ounce jig heads.

At the Lantana Bridge anglers using both live and cut mullet, crabs and live shrimp have caught a few pompano, sheepshead, small redfish, croaker and sand perch.

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Though the action has been excellent, the bigger bass have been a bit hard to come by the past week.

On the west side of the lake, from Buckhead Ridge to Indian Prairie the early morning bite is good. Using white swim jigs and spinner baits and working the outside grasslines has been the key. When that slows down, try switching over to a black and blue Senko and start working the buggy whip reeds.

There has also been a good bass bite along the shell bars at the mouth of the Kissimmee River. Use a Carolina Rig.

The crappie bite has been good as well. Anglers using yellow and white and some pink and white jigs are having a blast working the Little Grassy and King’s Bar area in the round reeds.