Offshore
Off of the Jensen Beach area, the bottom bite has picked up.
Lots of lane and mutton snapper are being found, with plenty of keepers making their way to the coolers recently. They are mostly being caught on live baits, grunt plugs and butterfly ballyhoo with long leaders.
Lane and yellowtail snapper are being caught on some of the shallower reefs in the area.
More and more cobia are being found in the waters off of St. Lucie and Martin County. In 60 to 90 feet watch for them following sharks, rays and turtles.
This past Sunday there was a really good blackfin tuna bite reported off of the Jensen Beach area with plenty of dolphin and sailfish being found in the same areas. All are hitting live baits including threadfin herring, pilchards and goggle eyes. Whether drifted, slow trolled or on kites those three are the key.
If you’re looking for those live baits the guys at Stuart Live Baits in Manatee Pocket have got them.
Working mostly the inshore reefs off of Jupiter, Capt. Bill Taylor said he had his clients into some good-sized yellowtail snapper and lane snapper on Wednesday. He said they were using squid and threadfin herring for bait.
Though they were getting some nice yellowtail and lanes, a lot of baits were being taken by the millions of triggerfish that have moved into the area recently.
In addition to snapper, there have been increasing numbers of cobia moving into and through the Jupiter area.
Though there have been banded rudderfish out a little deeper off of Jupiter, many of those are being stolen by sharks before they can be reeled into the boat.
Some boat captains have agreed to limit the number they’re taking to only three because they are in the area to spawn.
Off of Boynton Beach, anglers have been catching a few dolphin. Though they have been scatttered, fish up to 15 pounds are being caught trolling naked ballyhoo and skirted bonito strips in 200 out to 650 feet of water. Look for the color changes, any debris and birds.
Wahoo between six and 20 pounds are also being taken on the troll in 180 to 350 feet. Rigged swimming mullet, fished on top, have been very productive as have ballyhoo and bonito strips behind small Ilander-type lures.
There has been some decent sailfish and small blackfin tuna action recently. They have been hitting live pilchards and sardines fished from kites on the east winds. Working those baits along the current edges between 190 to 275 feet of water has been key.
From Spanish River Park up to The Breakers there have been king mackerel up to 12 pounds and cobia up to 30 caught in 200 feet into as shallow as 25 feet. Drifting dead sardines on one-ounce drift rigs has been effective. Bouncing cobia jigs off the bottom and slow pitching vertical jigs has also been productive.
The bite along the reefs off of Boynton Beach remains slow. A few yellowtail snapper, grunts and porgies have been hitting cut squid and shrimp fished on the bottom in 50 to 80 feet of water.
Like many areas off of Palm Beach County, sharks remain a big problem off in waters off of south county and it has been hard to get many nice fish to the boat lately.
Whether it’s a monster or a minnow, if you’ve got a good fishing photo send it to us at eritz@pbpost.com
Inshore
The snook bite in the St. Lucie River keeps getting better and better with plenty of slot, overslot and underslot fish being caught along the docks, bridges and seawalls as well as the fenders at the Stuart Causeway. Live baits are king right now, especially croakers and pilchards. If you’re looking for croaker, the Snook Nook has them and are the ‘croaker brokers’ of Jensen Beach right now.
At Bear Point and Middle Cove, anglers are getting good numbers of sea trout. Top water lures are working best in the mornings and when that bite starts backing off switching to shrimp on a jig head or an artificial like a Monster 3X can keep the action going.
Also in the St. Lucie River have been some massive jack crevalle lately. Though they will hit just about anything, they seem to be focused on live baits.
The pompano bite along the St. Lucie County beaches is still good with a lot of bigger fish being taken now. Electric Chicken Crab and Sand Flea Fishbites are working best.
The whiting and croaker bite along the same beaches has continued to improve. First trough is the area to target.
Working the Intracoastal Waterway from Singer Island and heading south, Capt. Pat Smith has had his clients into good numbers of snook, tarpon and some big jack crevalle the past few days. Using DOA Terroreyz or big live baits including sand perch and mullet has been producing good hits.
Though he wasn’t targeting them, Capt. Pat Smith caught a huge black grouper while fishing from the beach in the central county area. He said it hammered a live pilchard. The fish was immediately released as it was out of season.
There were some bluefish and some big jack crevalle in the same areas.
Anglers working the Intracoastal Waterway from Boynton Inlet up to the Flagler Bridge are reporting catches of snook, ladyfish, jack crevalle and small sharks. Using live shrimp fished around the cuts and docks during the falling tides or trolling small Yo-Zuri crystal minnows has been great for light tackle fun. The sharks can be caught while fishing cut mullet or bonito chunks along the channel edges.
For past reports and other fishing-related information click here
Lake Okeechobee
Despite the wind blowing pretty hard on Wednesday, Capt. Larry Wright had his clients into 16 bass by 9 a.m. fishing in the Kissimmee River. He said they were using live shiners.
Though on Wednesday, he said they hadn’t had anything all that spectacular size wise, he said the day before they had an eight pounder and a seven pounder the day before that.
In the lake itself, the Indian Prairie area has been one of the hot spots the past week with just inside the outside grassline being the target area.
If you’re determined to use an artificial bait, white spinner baits and watermelon red Skinny Dippers have been offering some success.
Even though the spec season is wrapping up, there have been a few last hurrahs this week. One group of four anglers landed 152 of the tasty panfish during a trip. They were using white jigs.
With the consistent south and southeast winds the past few days, the north end of the lake has gotten somewhat churned up and making a lot of areas pretty murky. The cold front that is forecast to push through the area on Friday, and the northwest winds that will accompany it, should settle things down quickly and have the water looking good again as early as Saturday morning.
Lake Osbourne
Clown knifefish along with peacock, sunshine and largemouth bass are being around structure including docks, culverts and bridges as well as along the weed edges and canal mouths. Live shiners and shad on a one-thirtysecond- to one-eighth-ounce jig heads have been working well.
West Palm Beach Fishing Club’s annual Marine Yard Sale
The West Palm Beach Fishing Club’s annual Marine Yard Sale will be held 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. Held at the club’s historic headquarters at 201 Fifth St., West Palm Beach, the event will feature a huge variety of used items. Incredible deals can be found on rods, reels, marine hardware, offshore and inshore lures, dock lines, gaffs, marine artwork, boat propellers, fly fishing tackle and many more marine-related items. Proceeds support the youth education and marine conservation efforts of the Palm Beach County Fishing Foundation, the Fishing Club’s charitable affiliate. For information: https://westpalmbeachfishingclub.org/; 561-832-6780
All fishing report information courtesy of Alec at the Snook Nook in Jensen Beach, Black Dog Fishing Charter, Capt. Pat Smith, Capt. Bruce Cyr and Capt. Larry Wright.
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