To the angler who loves to fish the beaches, shores, jetties, bridges and piers of Florida.
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Inshore fishing:
Along the beaches in the Jensen Beach area there has been good action for pompano, whiting and croaker.
The pompano are mostly being caught using the sandflea-flavored Fishbites and the whiting and croaker are being caught in the first trough on frozen shrimp.
In the Intracoastal Waterway and into the Loxahatchee River there have been some large schools of mullet. In those same areas, anglers are having a blast catching jack crevalle.
The snook bite is still pretty good. Look for structure like bridges and piers or along the mangroves. Season ends June 1.
Lake Okeechobee:
On Wednesday, a southeast wind, combined with the lake’s current low water level, made finding clear water on the north end the name of the game for bass fishing. That said, if you could find it there were fish to be caught. One charter captain had good luck working an area near the locks by the J&S canal flippin’ and using Carolina rigs.
Anglers on the south end of the lake near Ritta Island were faring a little better with more clear water. They weren’t catching giants but the numbers were good.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
From Whites Tackle - Ft Pierce / Stuart
While the Pompano numbers have fallen off, Snook numbers along the beach continue to go up, with some solid fish being caught here and there, with DOA CAL jigs, Hogy paddle tails, and Mirrodines all producing. There are also a good number of Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel around, so be prepared to loose some gear unless you go to a wire leader. The Bluefish and Spanish have been quite happy to take spoons and jigs as well, and even some topwater plugs at times. Fishing in the IRL has remained good, with good water quality pretty easy to find. Seatrout and Redfish have been on the flats in solid numbers, and some larger Snook are still around as well. Live Pilchards have been a safe bet as usual, but plenty of fish falling for soft plastics as well. Fort Pierce Inlet has improved for Snook in the last few days as the water has clouded up a bit due to the west winds, both jigs and live bait working well.
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
just watched the WPBF 25 news and yes St Lucie County beaches are opening today. There are some factors that all of us that fish need to adapt to like no beach chairs or coolers. I plan on bringing a 5 gallon pail with ice in it to put my fish in because leaving them in a pail of 75 degree water and no ice will allow them to spoil pretty quickly. It is going to be nice to get some intel about where folks are catching fish. I fished yesterday up by Fort Pierce Inlet and I am happy to tell you that I put some nice whiting and croaker in the cooler along with catching a couple of snook that I released . The area was alive with bait and the spanish mackerel were up and down the beach the entire morning. The pompano bite has been pretty good this past week on the southern end of Hutchinson Island and the few anglers that I spoke with in the Tiger Shores beach area have been getting limits for the past week. The late afternoon and early evening from 5 to 7 pm has been the time to be on the beach. Pilchards have also showed up and depending on where you target ,the chance of hooking a tarpon or big jack is excellent. Find the bait and find the fish. We are finally able to get back on the sand but I urge everyone to follow the guidelines of our officials of social distancing and the rules of the road for beach regulations. Lets keep putting this pandemic in our rearview mirrors and stay healthy and safe. I look forward to posting new fishing reports and being able to talk about the remainder of the pompano season along with some great whiting, croaker, snook, and tarpon fishing that will be improving as we enter May. Good luck to everyone and it is going to be great to have our beaches back. Good luck and catch em up.P.S. I f you think that Fishbites baits dont catch everything, I caught both snook yesterday on Orange Shrimp . Get your Bloodworm Fishbires as they caught all of the whiting and
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Monday, April 27, 2020
Friday, April 24, 2020
From Todd &Trey @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
SURF/PIER- The Juno Beach Pier remains closed, with no timeline for reopening at the moment. With beach access cut down to basically nothing, surf reports remain very slim. Conditions look right for the pompano to be along the beach the past few days. Spring/summer bait is slowing up along the beach. Hearing some reports of tarpon and jacks
moving along the beach.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Inshore fishing:
In the Jupiter area, along the bridges and other areas with structure, the snook bite has been good. Any live bait from sardines, to mullet to grunts have been working well. There are plenty of keepers as well. Get one before the season closes on June 1.
Lake Okeechobee:
There is an excellent bite for bluegill and cichlids happening right now in the Kissimmee River and Buckhead Ridge areas. Anglers using live crickets and worm or beetlespins are faring well.
The shellcracker bite should pick back up with the next full moon.
The bass bite has also been good the past week. Still mostly an early morning bite, swim jigs and chatter baits
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Monday, April 20, 2020
Saturday, April 18, 2020
From Todd &Trey @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
SURF/PIER- Limited access continues to keep the surf reports to a minimum. A few scattered reports of pompano, bluefish, and jacks coming in. Without secluded beach access or a boat it's pretty much a no go these days....On the positive side, when things open up it should be really good!
From Whites Tackle - Ft Pierce / Stuart
The inshore fishing hasn’t been too bad either. Snook, Redfish, and Trout fishing on the flats in Ft Pierce and Vero has been phenomenal, Pilchards will always get the bite but these fish haven’t been too shy eating soft plastic swimbaits and topwater plugs as well. The dock light fishing in Stuart has been great, most Snook have been just under slot but we’ve heard of a couple 28-29″ keepers hitting the ice.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Anglers fishing the Stuart causeway have been catching good numbers of flounder the past few days. Throwing live shrimp or D.O.A. shrimp lures is working best.
Back up in the north fork of the St. Lucie River there has been a good snook bite. Live mullet or pilchards have been working best, but if you can’t find them D.O.A. artificial mullet lures have been working as well. Also, up in the north fork the tarpon action has been pretty good.
Lake Okeechobee:
The bluegill and shellcracker bite is still excellent. Anglers working King’s Bar, Tin House Cover and the Kissimmee River are having a blast catching these tasty pan fish. Though worms and crickets have been working best, beetle spins and tiny crank baits are also getting the job done. The bass bite has been best in the early mornings. Anglers using chatter baits and swim jigs, and hitting the outside grasslines, in the King’s Bar, Tin House Cove and Third Point areas are catching their share. After the early morning bite slows down, switching to shiners has kept the action going.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
I look at it we are one day closer to putting this terrible Coronavirus in our rear view mirrors. The projected numbers of US citizens that will lose their lives to this crazy disease seems to be dropping due to the numbers of us that are following the recommended guidelines of our health officials. How about a surf report? We are also one day closer to getting our public beach accesses open and I am happy to tell you there is a lot of life along the beaches. This fishing will only get better in late April and May so we definitely have something to look forward to. The glass minnows have shown in the Hobe Sound area and the mackerel and bluefish are present in big numbers. There are some pompano around also but with all of the bait the sharks are having a feast and the big challenge is getting one to the beach. Randy and I fished on Jupiter Island today and only landed 5 pompano but Randy hooked up all day with the mackerel and bluefish while casting a mackerel tree set up. Double and triple header hookups was the norm not the exception. One factor that could have kept the pompano number down was the huge schools of blue runners that bit our pompano rigs within seconds of hitting the bottom for 3 hours. EZ Flea Fishbites caught all of the pompano today. I did not fish yesterday but a couple of commercial friends who have some private accesses down that way reported seeing a good number of tarpon on these glass minnow schools. I really believe this is going to be a great early summer bite for all of us that fish the surf. I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe and it won't be too long before this crazy situation improves and we all get our lives back. I wish everyone the best and look forward to getting all of your great reports and catches in the not so distant future.
Monday, April 13, 2020
Friday, April 10, 2020
From Todd &Trey @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
INSHORE- Snook fishing remains the main game in town these days. With some big jacks and tarpon hanging around as well. We are seeing a nice push of springtime mullet pushing through, and that's what all the gamefish are keyed in on right now. Fairly tough access for the most part these days, so be prepared to get a little creative to find somewhere to fish these days. At night try big swimbaits and flair hawk jigs around the bridges. Early morning and late afternoon are great for throwing topwaters right now.
SURF/PIER- Surf and pier reports are pretty much non existent still under our current situation. If you can get the boat along the beach. Spanish Mackerel have been around, along with a few scattered pompano. Been some big schools of jacks cruising the beach as well.
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Lake Okeechobee:
The bass bite is still best in the early mornings. Using white swim jigs and white spinner baits at the edge of the Kissimmee grass has been working best. The hot spots in the early mornings have been Buckhead Ridge and the King’s Bar areas. After that first hour, when the bite slows down, anglers switching over to stick baits, especially Senkos in watermelon red, are keeping the action going. There is also some spawning still happening around the observation shoal area. In that area, pitching a three-quarter ounce jig into the round reeds has been working.
Though the crappie bite has slowed down, the bluegill and shellcracker bite has picked up. Anglers using flyrods in the Indian Prairie canal are having a blast catching these tasty pan fish.
All anglers, boaters and anyone on personal watercraft should be careful as the water level is extremely low right now. Low, but gin clear and beautiful.
With the crappie season winding down, some anglers that are normally focused on them have set their sights on oscars. In the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge it’s been excellent action for this exotic species using live worms. Also, with many freshwater ponds at low levels now is a good time check out the bass bite in them. It can be gangbusters and, depending on where you live, easily accessible.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Thursday, April 2, 2020
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Inshore fishing:
Though the beaches in Martin and St. Lucie County remain closed the pompano bite is still really good. If you’re lucky enough to have legal access, Fishbites and sand fleas are working well.
There has also been a nice uptick in the whiting and croaker bite along the beaches.
If you’re looking for pompano, but don’t have legal beach access, there has been a bite for them at the Stuart and Jensen causeways. Use either Doc’s Goofy Jigs or GSL High Jinx Pompano Jigs. Anglers working a few of the bridges at night are finding excellent snook action. Fishing the Roosevelt and Stuart causeways with live shrimp or mullet has producing good results.
Lake Okeechobee:
The bass bite has been excellent recently. One charter captain said that not only have the numbers been good, but they went six days in a row with at least one over eight pounds including a 10 pound, 14 ounce monster. The bite has been best in the early morning in that first 30 to 45 minutes of daylight. Live shiners are working best, but there has been some success using spinner baits and flippin’. King’s Bar down to Indian Prairie has been good. With the cool front, however, the wind is going to be a factor. Be advised that the lake level is pretty low so anglers and boaters should use caution.