Friday, December 18, 2020

From Todd, Trey & Nick @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach

 

INSHORE:  Inshore fishing was pretty good this week.  Wintertime sheepshead and black drum are filling in the ICW in pretty good numbers, and are biting fresh shrimp good.  Live crabs, if you can catch them, are always going to be really good for the sheepshead as well.  Sandperch are biting well in the ICW this week on shrimp as well.  Last weekend of snook season, and with warming temps outside (And hopefully a little bump up in water temps) should be a decent weekend to try and find them.  During the day look for the snook to be over dark shallow mud flat bottoms soaking up the sun.  At night the snook will be around the bridges looking for a shrimp dinner.  Shrimp jigs or live shrimp will be the best choice for the snook right now.  Present the baits up current and let the current carry the shrimp naturally right to the snook.  When the water is cold they aren't going to move fast or far, so keep it slow.  


SURF/PIER:  The change in weather this week helped kick off a really good Spanish Mackerel bite.  The Macs have bounced around location wise, with fish being caught from Peck's Lake to south of the Juno Beach Pier.   If your fishing for them from the boat a block of chum and some glass minnows, along with assortment of clack spoons and jigs should do the trick.  From the beach a diamond style jig or casting bobber w/ a Clark Spoon is a solid choice.  From the Pier it's hard to beat a white crappie jig, just keep the tackle light with it for best results.  A lot of people going pompano fishing over the past week, not so many going pompano catching.  Scattered reports on the pompano, but overall it still remains pretty hit or miss on them.  Sandfleas, fresh cut shrimp, clams, and FishBItes will give you the best chance at the pompano.  Bluefish action has been pretty good at Hobe Sound Beach.  Whiting/Croakers are also biting pretty good in the first trough on pieces of shrimp.

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area


I hope everyone has this Saturday , the 19th , circled on your calendars for the Snook Nooks Annual Customer Appreciation Day and Tent Sale . Some of the manufacturers that will be present and offering huge discounts on their products are Penn Fishing , Fishbites , who will be conducting their buy 2 bags -get 1 free promotion, Gulfstream lures, and Monster 3X , just to name a few . It only comes along once a year so do not miss it . I will be there most of the day and help you with any questions you might have about fishing the surf , getting set up with the right equipment for our winter pompano run , what types of bait and terminal gear you might need to target any of the species that are in our local waters , or even locations to fish . Freddy once again is going to have over $10000 dollars in giveaways and raffle prizes so come early for your best selection .

As far as a fishing report ,I had the opportunity to take Billy Carr and Brent Burford from Fishbites out Friday afternoon . It was a small window of time to fish and although we did not catch big numbers of pompano, the size of the fish made up for it. We ended up with 9 nice fish and the guys got to turn the handles and have some fun. Yellow Crab, EZ Flea , and Electric Chicken Crab scents all produced . Hopefully next week when they come back for the Snook Nook event we will have some bigger schools of pompano along our local beaches

Saturday, December 5, 2020

Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area

 

I hope everyone is getting ready for the huge Fishbites promotions that are coming to our area . “Buy 2 bags get one free” sale is the biggest event Fishbites holds every year and you will have 2 dates to stock up on the number 1 selling artificial bait in the country . Saturday, December 12 , they will be at Bass Pro Shops on Gatlin Blvd in Port St Lucie from 10 to 2 . I will be there with the guys and be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding Fishbites baits, tackle, locations , or just general information you may be looking for as we head into this years pompano season . Saturday, December 19, they will be back at their normal spot in the parking lot of the Snook Nook on Indian River Dr in Jensen Beach . “ Buy 2 bags, get one free” sale will be going on along with The Snook Nooks annual tent sale . This is the sale of the year and I will do a post this week with more details . If you have never attended Freddy’s Annual Tent Sale Event , do yourself a favor this year and plan on stopping by . There is no sale like it in Southeast Florida so plan on attending . Huge discounts on tackle, giveaways and raffle prizes, and representatives from a long list of sponsors will all be part of this sale .

Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County

 

Inshore fishing:

If you're hoping for some late-season snook, a trip up to Sebastian Inlet is not a bad call. The cold front has brought fish in from the ocean and there are plenty of slot-size being caught. Flarehawk jigs are working best. Snook season closes Dec. 15.

There has been a really good pompano bite on the Sailfish Flats in Stuart and on the beaches in Martin County this week. Though not massive numbers there have been plenty of nice-size fish caught. They are mostly being taken on white crab- and sandflea-flavored Fishbites.

Also on the beaches in Martin and St. Lucie County there has been some good action for bluefish and Spanish mackerel. Walk the beach and throw spoons or flash minnows.

The bridges spanning the St. Lucie and Indian Rivers around Jensen and Stuart have had good bites for black drum, sheepshead and tripletail this week. Use shrimp on a jighead or shrimp fished on the bottom. For the black drum the last half of the outgoing tide has been best.

The Indian River up in Fort Pierce is still holding a nice seatrout bite. Try D.O.A. jerkbaits, topwater plugs or Rapala X-Rap Slashbait in the smaller sizes.

Anglers fishing the Lantana Bridge have been catching sheepshead, black drum, jack crevalle, ladyfish and a few snook at night.

Shrimp, crab and clams have been working well for the sheepshead and black drum.

For the snook, an angler using Bomber Wind-Cheaters managed to get three slot-size fish in three days, plus several under- and over-slot fish.


Lake Okeechobee:

Though the cold weather has slowed things down, the spec bite was fantastic last weekend and should pick right back up. The cooler weather should also start bringing them in and getting them more congregated along the shore. The King's Bar, Buckhead Ridge and Third Point areas have been good using white, chartreuse and blue jigs. Jigs have been better than minnows, but that should start to even out after this cool snap.

The bass bite has also slowed down with the cooler weather, but, like the specs, should pick back up in a day or so. Shiners are definitely working better than artificials right now. If you're going to use an artificial though, work them a little slower and try flippin' and crankbaits in the Kissimmee River and rim canals.

Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area

 

It is nice to report a positive surf report and include some encouraging news about catching some pompano . Randy and I were able to put a recreational limit of 6 nice pompano and we released another 5 that will probably be keepers in another month. There were reports of pompano catches from Bob Graham Beach south to Santa Lucea today and although there were no huge concentrations ,they seem to be spread out in the the nice water that was on the south end of the Island. EZ Flea, Yellow Crab, and Powerlime Fishbites were the baits that produced for us this morning. The bite was best from 730 to 10 am and look for the early mornings to be the time you want to target these fish as we head into the winter season. The one factor that kept our catch to 6 keepers was the appearance of sharks that took our last 4 pompano. This fishing will only get better as we near the end of the month and the front that we are forecast to get on Tuesday should push more fish into the area.

From Todd, Trey & Nick @ Juno Bait -Juno Beach

 

INSHORE-  Snook season is winding down...get after them now!  The shrimp jig bite is on fire right now around the bridges.  Come by and see us at the shop and we can get you set up with the right shrimp jigs.  Flair hawks are also a good choice around the bridges.  Live shrimp will also work good for the snook.  Other inshore action has improved with cooling water temps as well.  The flats in Hobe Sound and Munyan Island are starting to come to life with a mix bag of species.  

SURF/PIER-  Spanish Mackerel showed up in good numbers this week, along with a nice little push of bluefish.  Pompano action remains a bit slow, but a few reports of some keepers coming in.  Blacktip sharks are on the beach in pretty solid numbers as well.  Water got a little dirty at the time of report writing; but as it cleans up fishing should improve.

From Whites Tackle - Ft Pierce / Stuart / Vero Beach

 

The cooler weather and less rain has helped the Indian River clean up a bit, so hopefully that will lead to more sight fishing opportunities as we go forward. Redfish continue to be caught on soft plastics and live shrimp, particularly in the Round Island area. Seatrout are also being caught along spoil islands and shorelines on soft plastics, twitch baits, and live shrimp. There have been good numbers of Snook around, but these cooler temps might make them a bit less active for a few days. The surf has produced some good catches of Pompano here and there on sand fleas and clams, but it’s been hit and miss, while Whiting have been more consistent. Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel have also been falling for spoons and jigs. Snook fishing the bridges and inlets has been a bit slow, likely due to the recent full moon, so it should pick up as we get further into the week.