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.