To the angler who loves to fish the beaches, shores, jetties, bridges and piers of Florida.
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Friday, December 18, 2020
From Todd, Trey & Nick @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
SURF/PIER: The change in weather this week helped kick off a really good Spanish Mackerel bite. The Macs have bounced around location wise, with fish being caught from Peck's Lake to south of the Juno Beach Pier. If your fishing for them from the boat a block of chum and some glass minnows, along with assortment of clack spoons and jigs should do the trick. From the beach a diamond style jig or casting bobber w/ a Clark Spoon is a solid choice. From the Pier it's hard to beat a white crappie jig, just keep the tackle light with it for best results. A lot of people going pompano fishing over the past week, not so many going pompano catching. Scattered reports on the pompano, but overall it still remains pretty hit or miss on them. Sandfleas, fresh cut shrimp, clams, and FishBItes will give you the best chance at the pompano. Bluefish action has been pretty good at Hobe Sound Beach. Whiting/Croakers are also biting pretty good in the first trough on pieces of shrimp.
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
Friday, December 11, 2020
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Monday, December 7, 2020
Saturday, December 5, 2020
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
I hope everyone is getting ready for the huge Fishbites promotions that are coming to our area . “Buy 2 bags get one free” sale is the biggest event Fishbites holds every year and you will have 2 dates to stock up on the number 1 selling artificial bait in the country . Saturday, December 12 , they will be at Bass Pro Shops on Gatlin Blvd in Port St Lucie from 10 to 2 . I will be there with the guys and be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding Fishbites baits, tackle, locations , or just general information you may be looking for as we head into this years pompano season . Saturday, December 19, they will be back at their normal spot in the parking lot of the Snook Nook on Indian River Dr in Jensen Beach . “ Buy 2 bags, get one free” sale will be going on along with The Snook Nooks annual tent sale . This is the sale of the year and I will do a post this week with more details . If you have never attended Freddy’s Annual Tent Sale Event , do yourself a favor this year and plan on stopping by . There is no sale like it in Southeast Florida so plan on attending . Huge discounts on tackle, giveaways and raffle prizes, and representatives from a long list of sponsors will all be part of this sale .
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
If you're hoping for some late-season snook, a trip up to Sebastian Inlet is not a bad call. The cold front has brought fish in from the ocean and there are plenty of slot-size being caught. Flarehawk jigs are working best. Snook season closes Dec. 15.
There has been a really good pompano bite on the Sailfish Flats in Stuart and on the beaches in Martin County this week. Though not massive numbers there have been plenty of nice-size fish caught. They are mostly being taken on white crab- and sandflea-flavored Fishbites.
Also on the beaches in Martin and St. Lucie County there has been some good action for bluefish and Spanish mackerel. Walk the beach and throw spoons or flash minnows.
The bridges spanning the St. Lucie and Indian Rivers around Jensen and Stuart have had good bites for black drum, sheepshead and tripletail this week. Use shrimp on a jighead or shrimp fished on the bottom. For the black drum the last half of the outgoing tide has been best.
The Indian River up in Fort Pierce is still holding a nice seatrout bite. Try D.O.A. jerkbaits, topwater plugs or Rapala X-Rap Slashbait in the smaller sizes.
Anglers fishing the Lantana Bridge have been catching sheepshead, black drum, jack crevalle, ladyfish and a few snook at night.
Shrimp, crab and clams have been working well for the sheepshead and black drum.
For the snook, an angler using Bomber Wind-Cheaters managed to get three slot-size fish in three days, plus several under- and over-slot fish.
Lake Okeechobee:
Though the cold weather has slowed things down, the spec bite was fantastic last weekend and should pick right back up. The cooler weather should also start bringing them in and getting them more congregated along the shore. The King's Bar, Buckhead Ridge and Third Point areas have been good using white, chartreuse and blue jigs. Jigs have been better than minnows, but that should start to even out after this cool snap.
The bass bite has also slowed down with the cooler weather, but, like the specs, should pick back up in a day or so. Shiners are definitely working better than artificials right now. If you're going to use an artificial though, work them a little slower and try flippin' and crankbaits in the Kissimmee River and rim canals.
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
It is nice to report a positive surf report and include some encouraging news about catching some pompano . Randy and I were able to put a recreational limit of 6 nice pompano and we released another 5 that will probably be keepers in another month. There were reports of pompano catches from Bob Graham Beach south to Santa Lucea today and although there were no huge concentrations ,they seem to be spread out in the the nice water that was on the south end of the Island. EZ Flea, Yellow Crab, and Powerlime Fishbites were the baits that produced for us this morning. The bite was best from 730 to 10 am and look for the early mornings to be the time you want to target these fish as we head into the winter season. The one factor that kept our catch to 6 keepers was the appearance of sharks that took our last 4 pompano. This fishing will only get better as we near the end of the month and the front that we are forecast to get on Tuesday should push more fish into the area.
From Todd, Trey & Nick @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
SURF/PIER- Spanish Mackerel showed up in good numbers this week, along with a nice little push of bluefish. Pompano action remains a bit slow, but a few reports of some keepers coming in. Blacktip sharks are on the beach in pretty solid numbers as well. Water got a little dirty at the time of report writing; but as it cleans up fishing should improve.
From Whites Tackle - Ft Pierce / Stuart / Vero Beach
The cooler weather and less rain has helped the Indian River clean up a bit, so hopefully that will lead to more sight fishing opportunities as we go forward. Redfish continue to be caught on soft plastics and live shrimp, particularly in the Round Island area. Seatrout are also being caught along spoil islands and shorelines on soft plastics, twitch baits, and live shrimp. There have been good numbers of Snook around, but these cooler temps might make them a bit less active for a few days. The surf has produced some good catches of Pompano here and there on sand fleas and clams, but it’s been hit and miss, while Whiting have been more consistent. Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel have also been falling for spoons and jigs. Snook fishing the bridges and inlets has been a bit slow, likely due to the recent full moon, so it should pick up as we get further into the week.
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Monday, November 30, 2020
Friday, November 27, 2020
From Todd, Trey & Nick @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
INSHORE- Still a little time to invite a snook home for dinner before the season closes. The shrimp jig bite at the bridges has really started to fire up over the past week. Look for outgoing tide to be the most productive. Other wintertime species (Sheepshead and Black Drum primarily) are beginning to show up inshore in fair numbers. Hard to beat live shrimp for them.
SURF/PIER- Conditions look right for the surf fishing to go off this weekend. Reports over the past week have been slow due to dirty water and rough conditions. The small window of nicer conditions earlier in the week (Largely a few hours of cleaner water) saw a decent little pompano bite, along with a fair number of Spanish Mackerel. Expect a good number of bluefish, Spanish Macs, and Pompano to be around. The blacktip sharks should also be in the mix.
From Whites Tackle - Ft Pierce / Stuart / Vero Beach
The Indian River is beginning to clear up, and patches of cleaner water are providing some sight fishing opportunities. Redfish and Snook have been available on the flats, and the still off color water has made them more cooperative, with soft plastics and live bait working the best. Seatrout have been pretty active along the shorelines and docks as well. The surf is beginning to calm down a bit, with some Bluefish being caught, but it may take a little more time before things really kick in. The calmer winds of the next several days should help.
Friday, November 20, 2020
Thursday, November 19, 2020
From Whites Tackle - Ft Pierce / Stuart / Vero Beach
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Inshore fishing
Looking for bonefish? The Sailfish Flats area (between Sewell's Point and Sailfish Point) has been good lately using shrimp on a jighead.
Most of the bridges along, and channel markers in, the St. Lucie and Indian Rivers have been holding black drum, tripletail and flounder. Shrimp on a jighead is working well for them too.
Looking for seatrout? Just north of Fort Pierce, anglers working the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway, during high tide, along the mangroves are having good luck using Gulp! shrimp as well as shrimp on a popping cork.
In the Lake Worth Inlet, anglers are still reporting a good snook bite.
Also in the Lake Worth Inlet and around the Blue Heron Bridge the mutton snapper bite remains sold.
Live shrimp and flarehawk jigs have been the top picks for both the past week.
From the Jupiter Inlet down to the Juno Pier, surf anglers are having a blast catching bluefish, Spanish mackerel and jack crevalle. They are being caught on spoons. The bite was so good on Wednesday several anglers said they were getting hits on every cast.
In the Loxahatchee River, there is still a decent snook bite. Working the bridges and dock lights at night and using shrimp on a jighead has been effective.
Along the beaches from the Lake Worth Pier down to the Boynton Inlet there has been good action for pompano and Spanish mackerel.
Though sandfleas are best, goofy jigs are also working for the pompano.
For the Spanish mackerel, cast a Krocodile spoon out as far as you can and reel it in fast.
In the ICW from Ocean Avenue in Boynton beach all the way up to the Lake Worth bridge there have been redfish around the docks on the west side. Jigs, gold spoons and top water lures are working. Gold colors have been tops.
In the same areas, around the bridge pilings there have been lots of sheepshead. Try Chasebait fiddler crabs or live shrimp.
Lake Okeechobee
There is still a good spec bite on jigs in front of the pier, around Buckhead Ridge and down towards Nubbin Slough.
The bass bite has been fantastic on shiners. If going with an artificial, though, speed worms have been good. With the high water level, the bite has been good a bit further back into the grass. Hot spots have been Tin House Cove and King's Bar.
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
This past weekend started out pretty promising on Friday with some clean water and a few pompano starting to show but unfortunately some off colored water made its way to our beaches. Some whiting, croaker, blue runners, and jacks were in a lot of anglers catch lists but the pompano were far and few between. I got a text from veteran surf angler Barry Richards Friday night and he managed to put a few nice pompano in the cooler late Friday afternoon . Barry was fishing at Tiger Shores and a couple of my commercial friends caught a few from the same spot on Friday morning. I decided to try the Normandy Beach area on Saturday morning and was greeted with some pretty sporty wind gusts and less than ideal water color. I went south to Stuart Beach where the water was somewhat better and fished there . I fished with friend Chuck Frith from Jensen Beach and we managed to put around 20 whiting in the cooler along with a couple of croaker and bluefish. EZ Flea , Pink Shrimp, and Yellow Crab Fishbites were the baits that produced. On Sunday I fished with son Randy, Chris Battjer, and Chuck again and we did manage to catch 3 pompano along with 6 or 7 whiting and lots of catfish in brown streaky water. Pretty tough fishing in less than favorable conditions . I am looking forward to presenting the Surf Fishing for Pompano Seminar at The Snook Nook this Thursday at 530. If you are one of the folks that signed up early enough to get a seat I will see you there. The folks at the Snook Nook will be calling everyone to confirm they are attending and if there are any cancellations the anglers on the waiting list will get a call to say a spot opened up for you. Freddy will also be streaming the Seminar on Facebook Live. The weather looks pretty bad again this week and I hope conditions improve for next weekend.
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Friday, November 13, 2020
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Friday, November 6, 2020
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Inshore fishing:
In the Indian River, near the mouth of the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant, there has been good action for seatrout and some massive tarpon.
The best bet is to head up to that area and after cutting the engine, work the banks for seatrout using topwater lures early then switching to a search bait like a D.O.A. C.A.L. jighead. After catching a few seatrout, or just trying, the tarpon should start showing up. Have a live mullet ready and let them drift across the deep hole that is there. Then hold on tight as fish from 30 up to 150 pounds have been caught recently.
In both the St. Lucie and Indian Rivers, from Fort Pierce to the Stuart Causeway, the bridge pilings have been holding some nice redfish. Use shrimp on a jighead during the incoming tide for the best results.
With the hard north winds the past few days, there could be some excellent snook action in the both the rivers. They'll be staying closer to the bottom so use a Gulfstream Flarehawk or a big swimbait.
Along the beaches in Jupiter and at the Juno Pier, there have been bluefish, Spanish mackerel and some pompano caught.
For the bluefish and Spanish mackerel use a spoon and for the pompano sandfleas or sandfleas in combination with sandflea-flavored Fishbites are working well.
On the north side of the Jupiter Inlet on Wednesday morning there were lots of birds diving on schools of fish during the incoming tide. This could indicate an influx of bluefish into the Intracoastal Waterway and Loxahatchee River. Keep in mind the limit on bluefish recently changed from 10 per person to three.
Looking for a fight? Up in the Loxahatchee River there have been good numbers of jack crevalle ready to go.
Along the rocks at the Lake Worth Inlet there has been a good snook bite in the late afternoon and early evening. The large swells, however, have made it tough to fish them.
Jack crevalle and bluefish have been biting on the topwater in the Lake Worth Inlet and along the area beaches. Be ready though as blacktip and spinner sharks have been right behind the bluefish so toss a fresh chunk of bluefish at them.
In the IWC around Manalapan and down to Ocean Ridge there has been some very good snook action. Two hours before sunrise until one hour after and from dusk into the evening has been excellent using live finger mullet and live shrimp. Work the docks or bump troll around the back wall of the inlet. Anglers working the spillway at the C-51 canal are also having good luck using Chasebait Mudbugs.
There have been some nice tripletail caught around the channel markers and crab trap buoys from Southern Boulevard Bridge down to the George Bush Boulevard Bridge. Though most have been around five pounds, one angler caught a 20 pounder under the Lantana Bridge on a live shrimp.
Small blacktip sharks are being caught on cut bait on the flats around Beer Can island.
Flounder up to eight pounds are being taken on live finger mullet around the IWC.
Lake Okeechobee:
Despite the winds there is still a good early morning bass bite. Though shiners are working best, anglers using speed worms and flukes are also having some good luck. Top spots the past few days have been the Tin House Cove area over to Buckhead Ridge. To get out of the wind more, Henry Creek has been good as well.
The spec bite has been good using jigs around Little Grassy.
More freshwater:
In many of the area canals and private lakes in Palm Beach County and on Lake Osbourne, there has been a good bite for largemouth and peacock bass. In the early mornings, use topwater lures and spinner baits then switch to worms in blue or purple or football jigs with crawfish attached in the afternoon. Also, Chasebait Mudbugs have working well in grape, natural or pumpkin colors
From Todd, Trey & Nick @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
SURF/PIER- Looks like a blowout this weekend on the surf/pier side of things this weekend. The water had been holding out and looking pretty good this week, but over the last few days has went muddy and pretty much shut down everything. Bluefish action has been pretty good overall, although that shut down over the past few days. Needs to calm back down a little before we see any real change in the surf fishing.
Thursday, November 5, 2020
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
Another tough week on tap for all of us surf anglers as seas to 12 feet are forecast for the next couple of days. These conditions just do not want to quit. On a more positive not I just got off of the phone with good friend and owner of the Snook Nook ,Fred Caimotto. Plans are in the works for a Surf Fishing for Pompano Seminar at the Snook Nook this month. We are going to have to make it a limited number venue so we can keep it safe and adhere to the guidelines of social distancing. The seminar will be outside and seating will be limited. The plans are to have anyone who wants to attend to register at the Snook Nook and when the venue is filled , that's it. Tackle , techniques, baits, locations, and other species will all be covered. There will be free handouts for all attendees. Once everything is finalized I will post it on this page and further information will be available on the Snook Nook website also. Hang in there this week and keep an eye on the wind and weather.
Monday, November 2, 2020
Saturday, October 31, 2020
Friday, October 30, 2020
From Todd, Trey & Nick @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
INSHORE- Snook fishing will remain the main game in town on the inshore side of things. The late season mullet are still rolling around inshore a bit and the snook are keyed in on them nicely. Fish docks and seawalls with good current flow for best luck with the snook. Also, look for the snook to be active around the bridges at night, especially on a good outgoing tide. If the flair hawk isn't getting bites, consider giving the shrimp jig a shot as well...it's about that time! The spillways have been open, and the snook bite remains pretty good at most of them. A flair hawk or heavy swimbait is a good choice for the spillway. Should be a few tarpon around with the snook, as well as some jacks. Flats action (Hobe Sound and McArthur) are still a bit slow, need some cool fronts to help fire that up!
SURF/PIER- Bluefish have started to show up in pretty good numbers, and will provide the most action for those trying the surf or pier this weekend. GT Ice Cream, "Pelicans", Spoons, and cut mullet will be the best bet for the bluefish. Look for low light periods to be the best for the blues. No great pompano reports this week, but a few are around. FishBites remain the bait of choice for the pompano, outfishing even sand fleas and clams. Sharks made a very nice showing along the beach this week, and provide a lot of drag pulling fun for those looking to pull on something a little bigger! There's been a few Permit hanging around the pier.
From Whites Tackle - Ft Pierce / Stuart / Vero Beach
With the improving weather we’re experiencing is translating into some better angling experiences. In the surf, calmer, cleaner conditions have led to better catches of Pompano, Bluefish, Snook, Spanish Mackerel, Jack Crevalle, and the occasional Tarpon. There have been quite a few sand fleas around, always a good bet for the Pompano, and finger mullet have been prevalent, so spoons, DOA Bait Busters, Hogy Paddle Tails, and plugs have all been productive for the other species. The inlets have been yielding good catches of Snook, both on live mullet and flare jigs, as well as some Tarpon on outgoing tide. Flounder are also starting to show up, mostly to those fishing live finger mullet on the bottom. Inshore, good catches of decent Seatrout as well as Snook are being had to those finding the mullet, with a fair number of the Seatrout reaching 5 pounds plus, and slot sized Snook also being produced. Redfish continue to be caught in the area from Round Island to Fort Pierce.
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Inshore fishing:
Along the beaches just to the north of Jensen Beach Park, there has been an excellent pompano bite the past week. Not the barely-legal size variety either. Fish 17 to 18 inches are being caught. Like the last few weeks they are out in the second trough so bring the big rods. For bait, live sandfleas are tops, but sandflea- and crab-flavored Fishbites are working well too.
There have also been some nice whiting caught along the St. Lucie and Martin County beaches.
Though the bait is a bit scattered off those beaches right now, if you do happen on any schools chances are you'll find some good bluefish action as well.
In the St. Lucie and Indian Rivers the black drum bite has been good the past week. Work the bridge pilings and deep docks with live shrimp on a jighead.
In those same areas there have been some six- to eight-pound sheepshead caught. Fish during the slower tide periods and use live shrimp or fiddler crabs.
Also in the rivers, there are still some tripletail being found around the stone crab markers.
Up by the powerplant, the seatrout bite is still happening and should only get better. Use live shrimp or Gulp! shrimp on a jighead.
The bite for snook, tarpon, jack crevalle and bluefish has been good throughout the Palm Beach County area the past week.
There are still mullet around and working a live mullet or mullet-sized lure has been very effective for all four species. The bottom of the outgoing tide has been the most productive at both the jetties and bridges.
During the day throwing noisy topwater plugs have been excellent for getting hooked up with some big jack crevalle.
Lake Okeechobee:
With the high level of the lake the bass have been a bit scattered the past week. Still best in the early morning anglers are trolling around from Buckhead Ridge to Horse Island looking for fish. Working moving baits around submerged eel grass or other vegetation has been providing excellent results. Once that morning bite cools down, switch to flippin' creature-style baits in the round reeds. The crappie bite has picked up a bite more. In the Kissimmee River, anglers using minnows and fishing at night are having good luck. The jig bite for crappie is working best in areas where the water is moving. Use chartreuse or chartreuse/white jigs.
Most of the area canals have a good cichlid bite. Red worms and wigglers are best.
TCPalm fishing report: Time change, plus trout and hogfish off limits to harvest
This weekend will be all about change for area anglers.
First, the clocks turn back one hour the night of Oct. 31, so don't forget to adjust those alarms for early morning fishing trips the next day.
Second, four changes to fishing regulations go into effect Nov. 1. They are:
- Spotted seatrout — Will be closed to recreational harvest Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 in the central east seatrout management zone, which includes all state and federal waters from Palm Beach through Volusia counties, including the entire Indian River Lagoon system. Spotted seatrout, as well as red drum and snook, also remain catch-and-release only through May 31, 2021, in Gulf coast waters from the Hernando/Pasco county line south through Gordon Pass in Collier County.
- Hogfish — Recreational harvest will close in state and federal waters off the east coast of Florida and Florida Keys Nov. 1. This closure includes all state waters south of Cape Sable, which is on the Gulf side of Florida, and up the Atlantic coast. The Keys/east Florida hogfish season will re-open May 1, 2021. Recreational harvest remains open in state and federal waters north of Cape Sable in the Gulf.
- Bluefish — Beginning Oct. 26, the recreational daily bag limit will be three fish per person along the Atlantic coast from Nassau through Miami-Dade counties. The minimum size limit is still 12 inches fork length statewide. State regulations for bluefish do not extend into federal waters of the Atlantic.
- King mackerel — The recreational bag limit for king mackerel has been increased to four fish per person per day through March 16, 2021, in all Atlantic state and federal waters from Miami-Dade through Nassau counties. This change is consistent with recent changes in Atlantic federal waters to address forgone fishing opportunities to the recreational fishing community.
Indian River County
Freshwater: The full moon Oct. 31 should have bass on the beds ready to spawn. Flip and pitch the shorelines to get reaction bites from fish defending their territory. Lipless crank baits and swim baits will also get plenty of bites along drop-offs and the edges of the vegetation.
St. Lucie County
Inshore: Dirty water conditions in the area of Taylor Creek and the surrounding grass flats will persist until the rains eventually let up. Snook won't mind however. They can be caught on mullet, shrimp, swim baits that mimic mullet and artificial lures that mimic shrimp.
Martin County
Inshore: Surf fishing was decent the past week, and should be until Nov. 1 when seas build again to 5-6 feet. Some pompano, whiting, bluefish and mackerel were caught by surf casters.
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
The best phrase I can use to describe todays surf fishing is " at least its a start". After almost two weeks of unfishable conditions it was nice to see a rod bend and put a few fish in the cooler. Randy and I caught, pompano, whiting, bluefish, jacks, and ladyfish but unfortunately not in any big numbers. The pompano catch consisted of 9 total but only 3 keepers. The throwbacks were all measurable so there are some bigger pompano moving into the area. Ten nice whiting and one small bluefish rounded out the take home part of the day while the jacks and ladyfish were all released. The water color was less than desirable and I received from calls from friends that fished as far south as Hobe Sound and a few that were up by Fort Pierce and everyone had the same off colored green water. Looking at the forecast for the rest of the week it looks fishable through Saturday and but it starts building again on Sunday to 6 feet and 9 feet on Monday. Lets hope the weather people are wrong and we can put 5 or 6 days of fishable conditions together. EZ Flea, Yellow Crab, and Pink Shrimp Fishbites all produced today and we caught a few pompano on salted clam strips tipped with Orange Clam Fishbites. The bites all came on the long rods fished 70 to 80 yards off of the beach.
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Friday, October 23, 2020
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Monday, October 19, 2020
Thursday, October 15, 2020
From Todd, Trey & Nick @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
INSHORE- Snook fishing was good inshore this week. Fun time to snook fish right now. The mullet schools have thinned out, but the snook are still locked in on the mullet. Means they are more likely to hit a bigger bait or lure quickly. Great time to be throwing Flair Hawks and bigger Swimbaits. Look for the snook to be in easy ambush points using the tide to sweep mullet right to them. Present the lures floating with the current for best results. The jacks have been cruising around inshore, along with a few tarpon still. Getting a fair number of late season mangrove snapper reports coming in. SURF/PIER- Slower fishing again along the beach this week, but a little change in weather coming up could help fire the fishing up. A few scattered bluefish around this week, mostly north of Jupiter Inlet. Small pompano remain around in fair numbers, but not many keepers to speak of. The blacktip/spinner sharks are starting to show a little along the beach. Look for fall/winter action to really fire up along the beach after this weekend.
From Whites Tackle - Ft Pierce / Stuart / Vero Beach
With the wind shifting to the north, things are a bit cooler in the mornings, and species along the beach are shifting. More Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel are showing up, along with a few more Pompano showing up here and there. Spoons and jigs are accounting for most of the Bluefish and Spanish, and sand fleas and Fish Bites doing most of the damage on Pompano. Mullet have been scarce in the surf, but Pilchards have been more prevalent. Snook fishing in the inlets has been decent, mostly at night, along with some tarpon as well. Flare jigs and live bait have been your best bet. Inside the Indian River has been productive for Snook along docks and deeper shorelines, and Redfish are showing up in the shallows more and more, and the trout bite has been pretty good along the drop offs on soft plastics particularly from Round Island south.
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Inshore
In the St. Lucie and Indian rivers, the mullet run is still in force. Fishing has been excellent in Middle Cove up by the power plant. In addition to seatrout, anglers are getting Spanish mackerel, jack crevalle, tarpon and ladyfish. Out early Sunday morning, one angler got quite the show when a pod of dolphin charged a large school of mullet. They were slapping their tails and stunning the fish so the younger dolphin could easily feed on them.
On the beaches in Martin and St. Lucie counties, there has been good action for whiting and croaker in the first trough. Bloodworm-flavored Fishbites are working well.
The pompano bite on the beaches is still solid. Bring the big rods as it's happening mostly out in the second trough. Yellow clam-, pink shrimp- and sandflea-flavored Fishbites are the top baits.
Though the mullet run is still underway, a lot of them have pushed back out of the Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Worth Inlet. This is not a bad thing: Snook, unlike many other predatory species, key in on one single baitfish before eating it.; When there is less bait around, those baits and lures stand out and have a higher chance of getting hit.
For snook, bridges in the West Palm Beach area have remained active, especially on the outgoing tides. Flarehawk jigs, paddle- and straight-tail swimbaits, lipped plugs and live mullet are top choices for bridge fishing. The fish have been biting in small windows around the changing tides, so spend some time on the water to dial in on when that feeding window will occur
The Lake Worth Inlet has had good snook action, with a few tarpon and schools of jack crevalle mixed in. Look for the jacks and tarpon to be feeding closer to the surface, with the snook on the bottom.
At the Boynton Inlet, anglers are getting jack crevalle, ladyfish and snook.
Though mostly overslot, the snook are being caught on finger mullet and large, live shrimp combined with a quarter-ounce lead during the incoming tide.
At the Lantana Bridge, anglers are catching a wide variety of fish: sheepshead, ladyfish, mangrove snapper, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, flounder, jack crevalle and pompano. The sheepshead are being caught on clams and the pompano on blanched sandfleas, live sandfleas or fresh-cut shrimp.
For everything else, GOT-CHA lures, spoons, top-water lures, live mullet and live sand perch are working.
Lake Okeechobee
With the lake level continuing to rise, the bass have been a bit more scattered. The bite is still good, but maybe down a bit from previous weeks. It's still best at first light with King's Bar being the top spot. Spinner baits and swim jigs in white or chartreuse are working best right now. Observation Shoal also has been producing with darker color swim jigs or moving baits. After that bite cools off, switch to flippin' creature style baits.
The spec bite is still happening, but the Kissimmee River is tough to fish with the amount of water flowing. Best bets are the King's Bar and Little Grassy areas, using silver/white and chartreuse/white jigs. Look for the subtle color changes that can show an increase in the amount of oxygen in the water.
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
Todays surf report is a perfect example of why our area of Florida has surf fishing like nowhere else in the country. I took a ride to Blue Heron yesterday afternoon to see if the sand fleas were still making their late afternoon showing and I have to tell you, the water color was horrible. Run off from the recent rains was obviously making its way out of Fort Pierce Inlet and heading south along the beach. The water was brown and super dirty but the sandfleas did show. Randy, Barry Rashkin and I planned on fishing this morning and I eliminated the northern beaches as starting points so we met at Stuart Beach. The water was cleaner than up north but not the green I was looking for. After an hour of no bites we packed up and headed to the Waveland /Normandy beach area and found some nice clean green water. We got our four long rods out and the bites never stopped for the next two hours .The species that were bending our rods were bonefish and at one point we were catching them two at a time. I do not know of many other beaches or areas of the surf fishing world where you can catch and release 20 plus bonefish like we did today and I have to tell you, that is some great fishing. If you are lucky enough to find a big school of these great gamefish, get them off the hook and back into the water as quickly as you can. Yellow Crab and EZ Flea Fishbites were our baits we used for the bonefish today . The day took a turn when the bonefish bite slowed and Randy put some Pink Shrimp Fishbites on a short rod looking for near shore croaker and whiting. The big whiting were there and we put 20 plus big whiting in our coolers for a Hutchinson Island fish fry. We ended the day with one keeper pompano, one bluefish, and four nice catch and release jacks. The day started out as a trip to focus on pompano but how great is it to have a catch list like we ended up with today as a backup plan ! I hope everyone who fishes all of our local beaches appreciates the opportunities we are so lucky to have .
