On Foot Angler

Saturday, October 3, 2020

Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area

Some pretty good surf action for those of us that hit the beaches. I had longtime friend, Capt. Jonathan and his girlfriend Mandy up this way to try to catch a few pompano. Jonathan is one of the Captains that runs the Marathon Lady in Marathon, down in the Keys. He is a bigtime inshore and offshore expert from south Florida but this was his first attempt at fishing the beach for pompano. Jonathan and Mandy certainly picked the right day as we caught 60 plus pompano .We were only lucky enough to keep 8 but they ran from rod to rod all day. We also caught some ladyfish, blue runners ,jacks, and one catch and release permit. The nice thing about the keepers so far is they are some pretty nice sized fish. Mandy landed a 2 pounder and most did not have to be measured. Jonathan had never used Fishbites before and he was amazed at the bites they produced. Yellow Crab, EZ Flea, and Pink Shrimp got the job done. I will tell you that is you catch the number of fish that we did ,you better have some extra bags of bait!! Randy and I fished on Sunday and anyone whao targets pompano should know that your chances of having back to back days like we had on Saturday are not very good. We went back up to Blue Heron and we only caught 7 or 8 pompano and all had to be released. Friend and local surf sharpie Chris Battjer from Palm City , fished next to us and he managed to put 2 keepers in the cooler. We did manage to catch and release another permit, this one around the 20 pound mark. As has been the case all year with the permit, a 1 inch strip in EZ Flea or Yellow Crab continue to produce. This morning, Monday, I started at Stuart Beach and caught a keeper pompano on the first cast and that was it on the pompano. There was still great action all morning with big blue runners and another great gamefish whose population seems to grow every year, the bonefish. I caught 8 of those speedsters , including one double header, before I packed it in and went back to Blue Heron. The bite there was slow but the one pompano I did catch was 3 pounds plus. As you can see there is some great surf action up and down our entire area . There are school after school of mullet working their way down the beach also but surprisingly ,other than a few jacks I did not see any other predators like tarpon, bluefish, or snook tearing them up.That can change in a matter of minutes depending on what beach access you are fishing ,so be ready. The surf action is heating up and looking ahead at this weeks weather forecast, 2 to 3 foot seas are forecast through Friday. The fish seem to be spread from Sebastian to Hobe Sound so pick your favorite beach and you will probably find some great fishing.

Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County

Inshore fishing:

Along the beaches in St. Lucie and Martin Counties the fishing is still fantastic.

Surf fisherman are still catching pompano and lots of permit. Again bring the big 11 foot rods as they are both being taken in the second trough on live sandfleas, Sandflea-flavored Fishbites and frozen clams.

With the mullet run still in full force there are plenty of snook, tarpon and jack crevalle also being caught on the beaches.

At the St. Lucie and Fort Pierce Inlets, there have been some big redfish being caught.

They are also still catching trout north of powerlines on the flats near Herman's Bay.

Mullet run action has continued throughout West Palm Beach this week with snook, tarpon, jack crevalle, sharks, blue runners, and even a few bluefish all following the bait schools. Although the feeding action was not as intense as the previous week in most places, plenty of bait is still being pushed around with fish on them. Look for the Lake Worth Inlet, Blue Heron Bridge and the Intracoastal Waterway to have schools of mullet with some fish on them right now. Flarehawk jigs, swimbaits, cut or live mullet, Rapala X-Raps and large poppers have all been working well.

Best action in the Lake Worth Inlet has been reported around the high tide during the day, while the bridges have been best in the late hours of the night when the mullet are coming through. Look for active mullet pods being worked by fish and try getting your bait or lure underneath the school.

With large amount of bait moving through, the surf anglers are having a blast. They're catching snook, tarpon, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, jack crevalle and blacktip sharks on a combination of live bait, fresh-cut bait and various lures, spoons and top water plugs. Look for bait schools getting chased down the beach early in the morning and again about an hour before sunset.

Around the Boynton Inlet and all through the Intracoastal Waterway, there has been some great action reported.

Flounder and redfish are being caught on live finger mullet off the south walls of the inlet during the slack tides.

Redfish are also being caught around the docks on the west side of the ICW on both live mullet fished on half-ounce jig heads and on gold spoons.

Snook, tarpon, Spanish mackerel and jack crevalle can be caught around the bridges, along the flats and the docks from Lake Worth Bridge down to the Ocean Avenue Bridge using live mullet, fresh-cut mullet, yellow jigs or Gotcha lures.

Lake Okeechobee:

On Monday, one charter captain had his clients into 43 bass in the morning. The bass fishing has been good. Working the outside line and just inside the outside of the Kissimmee grass in the early morning with swim baits and spinner baits has been working well. After that switching to flippin' a either black/blue or all black Senko worm has kept the action going. Live shiners are working all day.