Gnarly weather in the forecast, but the weekend was rife with blues, reds, snook, macks and more
"Good morning, fishing friends. I hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather was nice both days. To begin, I need to remind everyone, again, that the jetty was built as a navigational aid to assure safe passage for the boaters entering and exiting the inlet. Boaters have the right of way. It is up to you, the angler, to be aware of their presence while fishing the tip of the jetty on the outgoing tide or any tide for that matter. I know it gets hectic out there when the blues and jacks are biting well, but the yelling, swearing and profanity and rude behavior directed at the boaters and any other anglers, will not be tolerated. This kind of behavior could result in you losing your fishing privilege for an extended period of time. Please be courteous to each other out there, and we can all have a great time. Thank you, folks.
Now for the good stuff. For the most part, last week picked up pretty nicely Monday through Wednesday with a many finger mullet coming down the beach again and filling the inlet, both sides. This, in addition to calmer winds and seas — and the water staying on the cool side — got the bluefish, jacks, ladyfish and a bunch of jumbo Spanish mackerel turned on and biting! And some snook and redfish. The mullet were so thick again that you could throw a net and not miss, even if the net didn't open. The fish were biting everything you could toss out!
The breakdown:
North jetty: Over the weekend the fishing was pretty good, both days. The finger mullet thinned out, but they were still enough to cast net and attract fish. There was a frenzy of bluefish both days on the outgoing tide at the tip. The blues were biting just about everything you were using! Dead bait, silver spoons, jigs and live bait. Most of the bluefish caught were in the two to four-pound range, with a couple even bigger than that! Usually, we see smaller ones this time of year, but these fish are much bigger than normal. Remember, you can only keep three fish per person per day, with a minimum size of 12 inches to the fork. I also saw anglers catching snook over the weekend on the early morning incoming tide on live shrimp, redfish on mullet and live shrimp, on both tides, black drum on dead and live shrimp, a couple of really nice pompano, and one permit about 30 pounds that was lost at the net!! Cut shrimp for them. The Spanish mackerel were around, but not in the numbers they were in the beginning of the week. Greenies, small jigs and silver spoons attracted a bite from them.
South Jetty: On Saturday morning's incoming high tide there was a good snook bite and nice black drum along with them. Plenty of fish were caught as the water was pretty clean, and they like that. Live shrimp was the ticket for them. The outgoing tide at the tip was all about the black margates and black drum. Live shrimp or cut dead shrimp produced a bite from them. There were also a couple big redfish caught on live finger mullet and shrimp. The bluefish were also making a presence for those tossing silver spoons to the channel area, also some jack crevalle were biting.
T-Dock: It’s been slow here. On the incoming tide and the first of the outgoing, there have been decent Spanish mackerel, along with bluefish caught on small greenies and white or green crappie jigs and silver spoons. For those fishing shrimp, dead or live, I saw undersized mutton snappers caught around the dock pilings. They have to be at least 18 inches overall to keep. The snook and redfish back here has been pretty slow.
Surf area, both sides: When the water calmed and cleaned up, they were catching some pompano just north of the inlet, along with a few black drum. Also, bluefish and Spanish mackerel if using silver spoons, jigs and live and cut bait. With the presence of schools of finger mullet, snook and redfish are still a possibility. Fish live bait or four to five-inch swim baits for them. South side the bite has been a little slower due to the water dirtying up easier. But they still caught pompano and a few black drum on shrimp, dead or alive. The other species rounding out the bite have been blues, Spanish and catfish. With the water being in the 72 to 73-degree range, it's time for flounder to show up in the beach pocket area, and just south. They can't be kept until December 1, but I'm sure they are around; there just isn't anyone fishing them because you can't keep them.
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