To the angler who loves to fish the beaches, shores, jetties, bridges and piers of Florida.
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Beach Fishing With Paul Sperco Palm Beach/Martin County Area
The surf action has been pretty consistent the last couple of days. The pompano bite has been excellent when you can find the clean water but most of this activity has been catch and release due to the abundance of undersized fish. Randy and I fished at Stuart Beach on Sunday and all of the pompano we caught were released but we managed to put a nice catch together of big whiting. Bluefish, ladyfish, and some jacks were the other species we had on our catch list. Today, Monday , I fished with the Treasure Coast fly fishing "guru", Jeff Smith. All of you anglers that know Jeff might find it hard to believe that he is pretty darn good at handling a 12 foot surf rod and a 7500 Penn Spinfisher Longcast reel because you probably have only seen him with a fly rod in his arsenal. We managed to catch around 20 pompano with only one keeper to show for it. We had constant action with pompano, bluefish, whiting ,and a few jacks. The pompano catch would have been better but the sharks showed up in big numbers after the tide turned this morning. EZ Flea , Yellow Crab, and Pink Shrimp Fishbites accounted for most of the fish. We also got some bites today on frozen sand fleas that were tipped with EZ Flea Fishbites. The water up near Fort Pierce Inlet today was perfect and I am sure if the sharks had not shown up our catch would have been much better. Looking at the webcam this afternoon the water looks good on the south end of Hutchinson Island also so I am sure there are fish along most of our beaches. I watched a couple of anglers fishing just north of me today and unfortunately they did not have much success. I always mention the fact that you have to be able to reach the pompano when you are targeting them so the 7 foot rod and reel combos just do not have the ability to put your bait where it belongs. There are two main reasons folks are not successful at consistently catching pompano. One, you are fishing in off colored water and Two, you are not reaching them . I am going to do a couple of posts and videos in the near future focusing on pompano tackle and explaining how and why having the right gear will put you in the game.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Friday, October 9, 2020
Thursday, October 8, 2020
Scouting Around Palm Beach And Martin County
Fishing in the St. Lucie River has been "on fire" with the mullet run the past week.
Anglers working the bridges have been catching flounder, tripletail and black drum slow crawling shrimp on a jig or Gulp! shrimp on a jig around the rocks and pilings.
The snook bite in the river has been best in the early mornings and late afternoons. They seem to want only mullet right now. Finger up to eight inch mullet are working best. The flats up by the St. Lucie Power Plant still have an excellent trout bite. They are being caught using live shrimp on a popping cork.
Also in that area there has been some quality tarpon action. One angler fishing from a canoe caught a 150 pound monster while bump trolling a mullet. It was quite a ride.
Along the beaches in St. Lucie County there is still a good pompano bite. Like the previous weeks, they are out a ways in the second trough. Sandfleas, Sandflea-flavored Fishbites and Sandflea-flavored Gulp! Crabs are working well.
With sharks driving a lot of mullet up against the beach, there have been good numbers of snook taking advantage of the buffet.
At Hobe Sound Public Beach, anglers have been catching a few bluefish and Spanish mackerel throwing spoons.
Along the beaches in Jupiter there have been plenty of tarpon, snook and jack crevalle chasing mullet schools.
In the Loxahatchee River the snook bite has been good. Use a live mullet or rubber shad and bounce it along the bottom underneath the schools of mullet moving through. As good as the snook fishing around the West Palm Beach area was last week, it has gotten even better. Plenty of slots, and even a few big overslot were reported this week from the bridges in West Palm at night. Fishing with either a live or cut mullet on the bottom is working fantastic, with ladyfish being the next best thing. For artificial, throwing big swimbaits and chartreuse or white Flarehawk jigs has been working well.
From the Lake Worth Inlet there have been lots of big mangrove snapper and blue runners cruising around the rocks. Live or cut mullet have been the go to choice for the mangroves.
At the Boynton Inlet and along the nearby beaches, anglers are catching pompano on one-ounce Goofy Jigs. Also on the beaches and at the inlet, Spanish mackerel and bluefish are hitting spoons and blue/silver Yozuri Hydro Pencil lures in the early mornings.
Snook, tarpon and an occasional slot redfish have been hitting live pinfish and live finger mullet off both jetties at the Boynton Inlet.
Ladyfish, bluefish and jack crevalle are being caught on trolled three-quarter- to one-ounce Lima Bean bucktail jigs in either yellow or white around the flats north and west of the Boynton Inlet in the Intracoastal Waterway.
A few lucky anglers working the Lantana Bridge have been getting flounder up to five pounds using live shrimp and fishing alongside the pilings under the bridge.
Lake Okeechobee:
Similar to last week, the bass bite has been best in the early morning. Using either live shiners or artificial baits, including jigs and Senko worms, anglers working the outside grassline and just inside the outside are doing well. For the worms, the best colors have been blue/black or white. After that first hour, switching to flippin' will keep the action going.
There is also still an early-season spec bite happening. It's been good in the Kissimmee River using minnows and jigs.
There is a decent bluegill bite at the Lake Okeechobee Park pier. Worms, crickets and beetle spins are all working.