Pages

Monday, April 29, 2024

 



                                                                   SORRY

       Had a problem with the site ALL fixed now

From Todd @ Juno Bait Crew-Juno Beach

 INSHORE-  A little quiet inshore this week.  Snook fishing remains fair, and should continue to improve over the next few weeks.  The night snook bite remains fair around the bridges.  A little more bait around (mixture of pilchards and a few mullet) this week helped the bite as well.  Top of the outgoing tide tends to be the best bet for the snook, but don't overlook late incoming if the water is a little dirty.  The Loxahatchee River has been producing some snook during the day.  Boat docks and seawalls with some current flow and proximity to a little deeper water are great starting spots.  Mangrove snapper bite continues to improve around the bridges as well.  It's still early, but more and more little choppers making their way inshore.  Live shrimp and pilchards are the top bait choices for the mangroves.  Sounds like the tarpon bite in Palm Breach Inlet picked up a bit this week.  


SURF/PIER-  Another good week of pompano action along the beach and at the Juno Beach Pier again this week.  For the beach the usual assortment of baits (sand fleas, clams, fresh shrimp, and FishBites) have all been working well on the pompano.  On the Juno Beach Pier the same baits work well; with the jig bite (Doc's Goofy Jigs and jYG Pro Mycro's) also firing off too.  Depending on conditions the pomps will bite throughout the day; but early morning and late afternoon do tend to produce the best results.  Another good push of late season bluefish again this week.  Every time I think the blues are just about gone, a good push of them makes another showing.  GT Ice Creams, diamond jigs, and swimming plugs will all work well on the blues.  Spanish Mackerel action was a bit slower this week, but still a fair number around.  White crappie jigs and smaller size 8 and 10 X-Raps are a good way to go for the Macs.  With all the pomps (and other species as well) finally seeing a few more blacktop sharks along the beach.  A pretty good number of croakers and sand perch around in the first trough this week.  Small pieces of fresh shrimp will be the bait of choice for them.    

Sebastian Inlet Report with The Snookman

 More turbid, chilly water,  but a few blues and Spanish mackerel caught

“Good morning, all you Sebastian Inlet fishing fanatics. Happy ‘Solar Monday’ to you all! Unfortunately, this is going to be another short report, as it was a slow weekend at the fishing hole, largely due to the chilly and sandy/silted water. Temperatures remain at 71 degrees along the east coast from Canaveral to Wabasso, where it should be in the 75-76 degree range for this time of year. There is also an absence of any bait fish.

 Last week began with a good pompano bite on the north side. Monday and Tuesday, anglers were catching quite a few from the north jetty and the beaches just north of the jetty — sand fleas were the bait of choice. On Wednesday, fishing went downhill, with not much being caught on either side. Some bluefish and Spanish mackerel were caught at the jetty tip on silver spoons and small white jigs on the tide changes, but that was pretty much it through the entire weekend. Sunday saw a couple nice snook caught on the early morning incoming tide on live shrimp and mojarras. South side has been a hit-or-miss  due to dirtier water flowing out of the inlet, pushed by NNW-WNW winds. The winds churn the intercoastal waters, send it out of the inlet, then back in on the incoming tide. That scenario makes it tough for the water to clean up enough for the fish to want to bite.

Small bluefish and jack crevalle at the tip on the outgoing, and catfish were all that were being caught. The water over here was too dirty for the pompano. Incoming tide early, and late evening produced a few snook on live baits, but most were under the 28 inch minimum to be harvested. But there were a couple slots caught. The remaining inlet spots were slow, unless you were in a boat drifting the inlet channel catching big jacks and leftover monster bluefish.



Saturday, April 6, 2024

Snook-Nook Fishing Report

Inshore Fishing Report 

Snook fishing is starting to heat up in our area with the numbers of fish caught by our local charter captains increasing by the week. Not only have there been more fish around, but we are starting to see some bigger Snook caught. The Snook fishing will continue to improve throughout the spring. The water temperatures have been warming up which has made them more eager to feed on live baits such as croakers, pilchards or mullet. For those fishing from a boat, look for them on seawalls in the mornings and evenings as well as around docks in the St. Lucie and Indian River. The causeway bridge fenders at the Stuart Causeway and 10 cent have been producing some quality action and there have been a few Redfish mixed in with the Snook at the Stuart Causeway. It’s tough to beat a live croaker for bait if you are fishing the bridge fenders, just be ready for the thump! A few fish have also started to show up around the inlet and at hole in the wall; we can expect to see bigger numbers of Snook in those areas in May. For those fishing from land, the Jensen Causeway has been producing some steady action in the evenings and at night. There have been a good amount of shrimp flowing through on the outgoing tides that they have been keyed in on. You’ll want to try to match the size of your shrimp to the size of the shrimp that are flowing through for best results. One of our employees, Noah, was fishing a 3” Vudu Shrimp and wasn’t getting much action and noticed that the shrimp flowing through were a little bigger than the presentation he was throwing and switched to the 4” Vudu Shrimp which made a big difference and started catching. The Vudu Shrimp and Thumper Shrimp have been our most popular artificial shrimp choices here at the shop. The dock at Indian Riverside Park typically starts providing some good Snook fishing in the spring for us as well. For those wade fishing, we’ve heard solid reports from both the east and west side of the river north of the power plant. Snook, Trout and Redfish have all been in the mix. Topwater baits, 3” paddle tails and artificial shrimp have been the go to baits if you’re looking to head that way. If you prefer fishing with live bait, you can’t go wrong with a live shrimp on a jig head or on a popping cork.

A few Tarpon have been around inshore and we should start seeing that bite picking up as we get deeper into the spring. We typically have a better flow of crabs flowing through the bridges on the outgoing tide this time of year, but we really haven’t seen a lot yet. If you’re looking for Tarpon, focusing on the channels around the Stuart and Jensen Causeways will be one of your best bets. If you can get your hands on some crabs, that will be your best bait option, larger live mullet will work as well. There have been a lot of big jacks cruising the channels and hitting the seawalls if you’re looking for some screaming drag action as well. 

The inshore Pompano bite is starting to pick up again for us with steady reports coming from the Jensen Causeway Mosquito bridge. Over the past two years, April has provided us our best inshore Pompano action of the year and it looks like it is shaping up for that to be the case again this year. The chartreuse/orange and chartreuse/pink jigs with a pink or gold teaser has been a favorite for anglers jigging the bridge over the past few weeks. Anglers have also been picking off some Pompano jigging from the east side relief bridge on the Stuart Causeway. Those fishing from boat have found some on the Sailfish flats along with some on the flats around the power plant. We’ve heard about a lot of fish that are still to the south of us that will be migrating back north over the next few weeks. 

Those fishing live shrimp around structure have found a variety of species including Triple Tail, Flounder, Snapper, Black Drum, Sheepshead, Croaker and Bonefish. There have still been a few Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish around the inlet and causeways as well.  

From Todd @ Juno Bait Crew-Juno Beach

INSHORE-  A little slim on inshore reports this week.  Snook fishing was a little off, but a few around for those really putting in the work.  Fair snook fishing around the bridges at night, with outgoing tide producing the best results.  Flair Hawks and bigger swimbaits are starting to produce better and better for the snook.  During the day best bet for the snook is mullet along the seawalls.  A few snook biting topwaters in the river early in the morning.  A few more mangrove snapper showing up in shore.  Live shrimp and small pilchards are the top bait choice for the mangroves.    


SURF/PIER-  The spring run of pompano is in full effect right now!  Really good numbers of pompano coming in this week both at the Juno Beach Pier and along the beach.  On the beach it is more of a bait bite; with sand fleas and FishBites catching the best.  Shrimp and clams are also good baits to have (Pompano are funny fish, and will bite one bait better than another from day to day).  On the Fishbites chartreuse and electric chicken colors have been the hottest, with flavor not mattering as much.  On the Juno Beach Pier the pomp bite is split evenly between bait and jigs.  For bait sand fleas, fresh shrimp, and Fishbites (like the beach) will be top bait choices.  No super hot jig color, but chartreuse and pink seem to have the slight edge. Doc's Goofy Jig and JYG Pro Mycro have both been working well.  Good number of Spanish Mackerel around the Juno Beach Pier as well.  Depending on conditions a white crappie jig or size 10 Rapala X-Rap will be solid lure choices for the Macs.  Still a little scattering of bluefish around.  Are cool front will likely keep a few more around through the weekend.  A diamond jig or GT Ice cream is a good lure choice for the blues. 
  

Sebastian Inlet Report with The Snookman

 


 Cooler, cloudier water persists, but Spanish mackerel, black drum and pompano possible

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend - the weather was sure impressive! The fishing, ehh, not so much. Cooler and dirty water is still playing a big part in the activity at the inlet, plus the absence of any bait fish to speak of. But there were some fish being caught, just not anything to write home about. The last four days I've been down have been pretty slow, with a little more action this past Sunday. so here we go.

North jetty: Fishing on the jetty picked up a bit on Sunday with a smattering of different species being caught. The species most frequently caught was Spanish mackerel on small white jigs and gotcha lures. The end of the outgoing and the beginning of the incoming have been producing  nice fish. Just enough to keep you wanting to make that ‘last cast.’ On the incoming tide, there were small black drum caught, 15 to 18 inches along with a few nice pompano that I saw as well, 14 to 16 inches. All were caught on cut dead shrimp. There were also some of the smaller bluefish caught at the tip on the outgoing tide for those tossing big silver spoons to the channel. Didn't see any of the monster blues over here over the weekend. No snook or redfish to speak of during the daytime, but I did hear from one of my FWC officer friends that they have been catching a few at night on jigs. 

South jetty: Fishing this side has been slower, but there are fish being caught on the incoming tide. They’re still catching monster blues over here on big silver spoons and live and dead baits tossed out to the channel on the incoming tide. Snook fishing on this side has been slow due to the big blues and jacks in the area; they don't want any part of that, so they lay low. But a few have been caught on live mojarra fished on the incoming tide. Most have been small undersized fish, but a couple slots were caught over the weekend. On the beach side of the jetty there have been many small flounder caught on small rubber swimbaits bumped along the bottom. The outgoing tide at the tip has been all about the regulars, black margates, blue runners and kittyfish.

T-dock area: Back here the snook have dropped off a bit. Again, cooler and dirtier water has shut it down, and the absence of the mojarras that were here didn't help. Not much else,  except for a few giant jack crevalles for anglers tossing big silver spoons to the channel area. Some jacks are in excess of 30 pounds or so. That's pretty much it. 

Surf area, both sides: There’s not much surf fishing action due to the dirty, sandy water on both sides. South side has been really bad with mostly catfish caught, and a few whiting. On the North side the water tends to clean up better. Find some deeper, cleaner water and you might find pompano swimming the trough areas. Cut shrimp, small live shrimp and sand fleas are the best baits. Fishing the beach with silver spoons or any artificial bait might land you a bluefish or Spanish mackerel

That's all I have for this week. There are fish around, but you just have to visit your favorite spot, hang out and see what comes up. As I have mentioned in my previous reports, we need warmer and cleaner water for fishing to improve. Several weeks ago, when the water temperature was up to 74, it was getting good. Good luck everyone, and have a great week!”  

Thursday, April 4, 2024

Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area

 

If you have been waiting for the spring run of pompano to start , wait no longer . After having a great few days of fishing with my grandkids that ended up with us putting around 40 nice pompano in the cooler I went out solo yesterday morning due to a rescheduling of the charter I had and managed to catch another 29 of these great fish . My son Randy only had a short window to fish yesterday morning and managed to put 5 nice fish in his cooler too. The bonus to this bite right now is the average size of the pompano . There are lots of 2 1/2 to 3 pound fish being caught and after getting my slip yesterday from New England Seafood my catch totaled 71 pounds . The beauty of our activity right now is the spread of fish . The pompano are being caught from Juno to Sebastian Inlet in great numbers . In my case the Pink/ Flesh Crab Fishbites has been accounting for 3/4 of my fish . EZFLEA is also producing some fish but not like the Pink/Flesh Crab . There are fish being caught all day in most cases but the afternoon action from 2 to 6 has been exceptional. It’s the typical spring bite pattern so grab your gear and put some pompano in the cooler. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Good luck and catch em up .