To the angler who loves to fish the beaches, shores, jetties, bridges and piers of Florida.
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 .
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
The surf action has been pretty consistent the last couple of days. The pompano bite has been excellent when you can find the clean water but most of this activity has been catch and release due to the abundance of undersized fish. Randy and I fished at Stuart Beach on Sunday and all of the pompano we caught were released but we managed to put a nice catch together of big whiting. Bluefish, ladyfish, and some jacks were the other species we had on our catch list. Today, Monday , I fished with the Treasure Coast fly fishing "guru", Jeff Smith. All of you anglers that know Jeff might find it hard to believe that he is pretty darn good at handling a 12 foot surf rod and a 7500 Penn Spinfisher Longcast reel because you probably have only seen him with a fly rod in his arsenal. We managed to catch around 20 pompano with only one keeper to show for it. We had constant action with pompano, bluefish, whiting ,and a few jacks. The pompano catch would have been better but the sharks showed up in big numbers after the tide turned this morning. EZ Flea , Yellow Crab, and Pink Shrimp Fishbites accounted for most of the fish. We also got some bites today on frozen sand fleas that were tipped with EZ Flea Fishbites. The water up near Fort Pierce Inlet today was perfect and I am sure if the sharks had not shown up our catch would have been much better. Looking at the webcam this afternoon the water looks good on the south end of Hutchinson Island also so I am sure there are fish along most of our beaches. I watched a couple of anglers fishing just north of me today and unfortunately they did not have much success. I always mention the fact that you have to be able to reach the pompano when you are targeting them so the 7 foot rod and reel combos just do not have the ability to put your bait where it belongs. There are two main reasons folks are not successful at consistently catching pompano. One, you are fishing in off colored water and Two, you are not reaching them . I am going to do a couple of posts and videos in the near future focusing on pompano tackle and explaining how and why having the right gear will put you in the game.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Friday, October 9, 2020
Thursday, October 8, 2020
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Fishing in the St. Lucie River has been "on fire" with the mullet run the past week.
Anglers working the bridges have been catching flounder, tripletail and black drum slow crawling shrimp on a jig or Gulp! shrimp on a jig around the rocks and pilings.
The snook bite in the river has been best in the early mornings and late afternoons. They seem to want only mullet right now. Finger up to eight inch mullet are working best. The flats up by the St. Lucie Power Plant still have an excellent trout bite. They are being caught using live shrimp on a popping cork.
Also in that area there has been some quality tarpon action. One angler fishing from a canoe caught a 150 pound monster while bump trolling a mullet. It was quite a ride.
Along the beaches in St. Lucie County there is still a good pompano bite. Like the previous weeks, they are out a ways in the second trough. Sandfleas, Sandflea-flavored Fishbites and Sandflea-flavored Gulp! Crabs are working well.
With sharks driving a lot of mullet up against the beach, there have been good numbers of snook taking advantage of the buffet.
At Hobe Sound Public Beach, anglers have been catching a few bluefish and Spanish mackerel throwing spoons.
Along the beaches in Jupiter there have been plenty of tarpon, snook and jack crevalle chasing mullet schools.
In the Loxahatchee River the snook bite has been good. Use a live mullet or rubber shad and bounce it along the bottom underneath the schools of mullet moving through. As good as the snook fishing around the West Palm Beach area was last week, it has gotten even better. Plenty of slots, and even a few big overslot were reported this week from the bridges in West Palm at night. Fishing with either a live or cut mullet on the bottom is working fantastic, with ladyfish being the next best thing. For artificial, throwing big swimbaits and chartreuse or white Flarehawk jigs has been working well.
From the Lake Worth Inlet there have been lots of big mangrove snapper and blue runners cruising around the rocks. Live or cut mullet have been the go to choice for the mangroves.
At the Boynton Inlet and along the nearby beaches, anglers are catching pompano on one-ounce Goofy Jigs. Also on the beaches and at the inlet, Spanish mackerel and bluefish are hitting spoons and blue/silver Yozuri Hydro Pencil lures in the early mornings.
Snook, tarpon and an occasional slot redfish have been hitting live pinfish and live finger mullet off both jetties at the Boynton Inlet.
Ladyfish, bluefish and jack crevalle are being caught on trolled three-quarter- to one-ounce Lima Bean bucktail jigs in either yellow or white around the flats north and west of the Boynton Inlet in the Intracoastal Waterway.
A few lucky anglers working the Lantana Bridge have been getting flounder up to five pounds using live shrimp and fishing alongside the pilings under the bridge.
Lake Okeechobee:
Similar to last week, the bass bite has been best in the early morning. Using either live shiners or artificial baits, including jigs and Senko worms, anglers working the outside grassline and just inside the outside are doing well. For the worms, the best colors have been blue/black or white. After that first hour, switching to flippin' will keep the action going.
There is also still an early-season spec bite happening. It's been good in the Kissimmee River using minnows and jigs.
There is a decent bluegill bite at the Lake Okeechobee Park pier. Worms, crickets and beetle spins are all working.
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
The catch list that Randy and I were lucky enough to put together today included pompano, whiting, croaker, bluefish, ladyfish, blue runners, and jacks. we probably caught 25 pompano but only got one that was a keeper, but the total number of the other fish was over 40. The action was constant for the three hours we fished but after the tide changed around 11 am we went from 4 rods to three because we couldn't keep up. The throwback pompano are getting bigger and it wont be long before the ratio starts including more keepers. The bait today was EZ Flea Fishbites and I have to say the other scents we were using , Pink Shrimp and Yellow Crab did not produce many bites. When we changed to all EZ Flea the action was crazy. Randy was trying a new rig ," Big Blue"was the name he gave it and the blue float on that set up was catching all of the big whiting. All of the fish were caught on the long rods from 50 to 75 yards off of the beach. There is alot of life along the sand right now and its only going to get better as the month moves on .
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
If you fished between the downpours yesterday you probably caught some fish along our beaches . Randy and I caught and released 20 or 25 undersized pompano in a couple of hours yesterday morning at Glasscock Beach. We only managed one keeper but a few nice whiting made it into the cooler also. Reports from Tiger Shoes and Santa Lucea beach accesses were identical to our results with the addition to some bluefish being caught at Santa Lucea by anglers casting spoons in the early morning. EZ Flea, Yellow Crab , and Pink Shrimp Fishbites produced all of our fish. The rain is hopefully going to back off this week so good luck and catch em up.
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Monday, October 5, 2020
Saturday, October 3, 2020
From Todd, Trey & Nick @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach
SURF/PIER- The mullet run is in full effect right now. Tarpon, sharks, and bluefish are the main predators around the mullet schools right now. Look for the best action to be early morning and again late in the afternoon. The mullet tend to get bunched up best this time of day by the predators. Later in the day they tend to spread out in a longer line and it's harder to fid consistent action. When fishing live baits try fishing the outside edges of the school. or go underneath them. A topwater (Yo-Zuri Hydro Pencil) or swimming plug (Rapala X-Rap) will be a good lure option. Again, try to stand out by fishing the outside edge of the schools. Pompano reports slowed a bit this week, but a few are still around. For the most part the pompano have been on the smaller side; with a handful of keepers mixed in.
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Inshore fishing:
Along the beaches in St. Lucie and Martin Counties the fishing is still fantastic.
Surf fisherman are still catching pompano and lots of permit. Again bring the big 11 foot rods as they are both being taken in the second trough on live sandfleas, Sandflea-flavored Fishbites and frozen clams.
With the mullet run still in full force there are plenty of snook, tarpon and jack crevalle also being caught on the beaches.
At the St. Lucie and Fort Pierce Inlets, there have been some big redfish being caught.
They are also still catching trout north of powerlines on the flats near Herman's Bay.
Mullet run action has continued throughout West Palm Beach this week with snook, tarpon, jack crevalle, sharks, blue runners, and even a few bluefish all following the bait schools. Although the feeding action was not as intense as the previous week in most places, plenty of bait is still being pushed around with fish on them. Look for the Lake Worth Inlet, Blue Heron Bridge and the Intracoastal Waterway to have schools of mullet with some fish on them right now. Flarehawk jigs, swimbaits, cut or live mullet, Rapala X-Raps and large poppers have all been working well.
Best action in the Lake Worth Inlet has been reported around the high tide during the day, while the bridges have been best in the late hours of the night when the mullet are coming through. Look for active mullet pods being worked by fish and try getting your bait or lure underneath the school.
With large amount of bait moving through, the surf anglers are having a blast. They're catching snook, tarpon, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, jack crevalle and blacktip sharks on a combination of live bait, fresh-cut bait and various lures, spoons and top water plugs. Look for bait schools getting chased down the beach early in the morning and again about an hour before sunset.
Around the Boynton Inlet and all through the Intracoastal Waterway, there has been some great action reported.
Flounder and redfish are being caught on live finger mullet off the south walls of the inlet during the slack tides.
Redfish are also being caught around the docks on the west side of the ICW on both live mullet fished on half-ounce jig heads and on gold spoons.
Snook, tarpon, Spanish mackerel and jack crevalle can be caught around the bridges, along the flats and the docks from Lake Worth Bridge down to the Ocean Avenue Bridge using live mullet, fresh-cut mullet, yellow jigs or Gotcha lures.
Lake Okeechobee:
On Monday, one charter captain had his clients into 43 bass in the morning. The bass fishing has been good. Working the outside line and just inside the outside of the Kissimmee grass in the early morning with swim baits and spinner baits has been working well. After that switching to flippin' a either black/blue or all black Senko worm has kept the action going. Live shiners are working all day.