The weather forecast looks great for the next few days; calmer seas, mild temps, and to top it off the fishing has been pretty darn good!

Offshore- The dolphin fishing has remained very strong for the past week or two.  Lots of Mahi-Mahi hanging around in scattered depths.  150-300′ of water between Palm Beach and Jupiter Inlet continues to hold good numbers of fish.  Trolling a spread of small ballyhoo, bonita strips, squid, and small jethead lures will surely raise up a few dorado.  Any floating debris, color changes, current rips, or birds working is a good area to drag the baits over a few extra times.  A few “summertime” bonito, blackfin tuna, kingfish, or even wahoo may show up in that area as well.

For those not so interested in trolling, drifting the same area with live or dead bait will produce some dolphin as well.  Look for a good north current and clean blue water when setting up a drift.  Chumming with some chunks of sardines, squid, menhaden oil, or block chum will help get the dolphin (and other gamefish, including late season cobia) up around the boat.  Live baits, if you can catch them, will work great.  Frozen sardines(Florida variety preferably) and squid are great drift baits.  Never overlook a nice whole squid floating as a flatline as a great fish producer.

Bottom fishing has been good, and should only get better.  Mutton snapper and yellowtail snapper will be the bulk of the catch, but grouper season is open and a few have been caught.  Again, sardines are a great bait choice.  For fun mixed bag action try dropping a small yellow jig tipped with a bonito chunk or squid.  You never know what may grab onto that little jig!

Inshore- Snook season is winding down, so if taking one home for the dinner table sounds like a good idea, go get them now!  The linesiders are showing up on the beach, filling in at the inlet, and hanging around the bridges at night.  Along the beach Rapala X-Raps and small white jigs are a good choice.  Look for the snook to be cruising north and south in the first trough.  The bridges are holding good numbers of snook, and fishing at night is the only way to go.  Drifting live shrimp with the current is a great bait choice.  A flair hawk is a great lure choice for the bridges as well.

Mangrove snapper and sheepshead are hanging around the bridges as well.  Shrimp, live of cut pieces, is a great bait choice to fool those stubborn fish around the pilings.  Moonfish(aka lookdown) and sandperch have been caught around the bridges as well.

SURF/PIER- The pompano fishing has slowed down a bit, but it isn’t done just yet.  Clams and sandleas continue to produce a few bites from the pompano.  For those not into fishing bait, pompano jigs(like Doc’s Goofy Jig) may still get a few bites. Scattered schools of spanish mackerel have been moving up and down the beach and a few are always hanging around the pier.  White Crappie Jigs are a good choice from the pier for the mackerel.  The small profile matches a glass minnow nicely.  As mentioned above, the snook are showing up along the beach.  Fish low light periods for best action, or try and sight cast them in good light for a real challenge!

 Happy Early Mother’s Day to any Mom’s checking out the fishing report (Kids and Dad’s don’t forget about Mom this weekend!)

Bait Bonnets in stock, great way to add some flash to trolling baits!

Tsunami Flurocarbon Sabikis, priced right; great bait catchers!

OFFSHORE- Sailfish season is in full swing right now, and they will continue to be the main game in town.  South of Jupiter Inlet most fish will be caught using live baits like goggle eyes, blue runners, or greenies(threadfin herring).  While fishing the baits under a kite will improve your chances of catching sailfish, it is not totally necessary.  Plenty of sails are caught drifting baits from flatlines or slow trolling them from the outriggers.  Once you get north of Jupiter Inlet the livebaiters become out numbered by guys pulling ballyhoo for the sailfish.  This is due largely to the flatter slower sloping bottom north of Jupiter Inlet, which tends to spread the fish out more.  Trolling allows them to cover more ground and better find the fish.  It is pretty neat to watch the best crews work the trolling game; with two large dredges, two teasers, and four to six lines the mates never stop working.  Most sailfish will be caught between 100-200′ of water, but where the bait is you will find the fish.  Don’t be afraid to fish shallow or deeper if you find bait around.  Mixed in with the sailfish should be a few dolphin, cobia, and even some wahoo.

Bottom fishing has remained pretty good over the last few weeks.  Still some good catches of yellowtail, mutton, and mangrove snappers coming in.  The grouper are biting, but remember they are out of  season and have to go back now.  Mixed in with the good stuff will be assorted grunts, triggerfish, and porgies as well.  Plenty of stuff around to chew on some sardines or squid fished on the bottom right now.

INSHORE-  The fishing is getting better in the Intracoastal(ICW) these days as the water cools off a little bit.  Fishing the ICW north of Jupiter Inlet will provide a nice mixed bag of species with some pompano, jacks, ladyfish, trout, bluefish, snook, and mangrove snapper all possible catches.  Live shrimp will be the most productive natural bait, while Doc’s Goofy Jigs and soft plastic jerkbaits get the nod in the artificial department .  The Loxahatchee River remains hit or miss action wise.  Munyon Island has a good number of trout hanging around, with some nice size females mixed in.  Snook season is closed, but if your into catch and release most bridges have some fish(including some big females) hanging around.

SURF/PIER- The pompano are starting to show up in some decent numbers along the beach.  Most of the fish have been north of Jupiter Inlet, but they are headed south.  Every cold front will get them coming south in a hurry.  Other action remains spotty. A few bluefish, blue runners, jacks, croaker, and whiting are around…but the mild winter has not pushd any big numbers of fish down the coast…YET!!!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

Good Morning and Happy Labor to Everyone. Shop Hours today will be 6am-4pm.  Here is a quick update of what has been going on this weekend.

Offshore- “Mixed Bag” is the only way to really describe the fishing offshore.  A few dolphin have been caught in 250-500′ of water off Jupiter Inlet. Best bet for the dolphin is to get out and start looking and troll a of assorted spread of small jethead lures, tuna feathers, bonita strips, and squids.  Out with the dolphin should be some scattered blackfin tuna, and maybe even a wahoo (although those striped beauties may be anywhere from 70-1000′ of water).  Speaking of wahoo, this week coming up ahead of the full moon should be really good for them.  Break out the high speed lures for one more go, get those split-tail mullet and horse ballyhoo ready, and get after them.  Fish the outgoing tides, if possible, around Jupiter and Lake Worth Inlet for a chance or two at a wahoo.  Depth varies, but 120-250′ is a good starting point.  Snapper fishing, muttons and yellowtails mostly, has been fair for those spending the time at it.  The biggest surprise has been the nice number of keeper grouper caught over the past week.  Sardines, squid, ballyhoo, and bonita chunks are all good baits to put out on the bottom.

Surf/Pier/Inshore- Snook are still the main species on everyone’s mind, and for the most part they haven’t disappointed too bad.  Snook fishing remains good at the Juno Pier, Jupiter and Lake Worth Inlet, and many area bridges(that is mostly a night time thing).  Bait selection has been key, so be sure to stock up on a variety of fresh bait to offer those tricky linesiders.  In other news inshore….well I don’t have a whole lot else to report.  The Juno Pier has had a decent little push of early season Pompano and a few good size Spanish Mackerel.  Doc’s Goofy Jig for the Pompano, small live bait for the Macks.

More updates as I get them!

Thanks for reading,

Todd

Commercial ballyhoo season is back open, and that means fresh ones are once again becoming available.  The first batch of fish for the season are good clean looking fish in the med to med/large size range.  Great for dolphin, wahoo, sailfish, blackfin tuna, mutton snapper, kingfish, and many more!  Look for fresh deliveries usually on Thursdays or Fridays.  $12/dozen again this year.  Better pricing on large amounts.

Good Luck,

Todd

Fall is coming just a little early to south Florida this year…inshore fishing wise at least.  Large surf from hurricane Irene helped push large schools of finger mullet down the coast just a little earlier than usual this year.  Of course those that like to fish inshore will not be complaining about this!  The large schools of finger mullet will bring with them a whole host of assorted predators including; snook, tarpon, jacks, redfish, bluefish, sharks, snapper, and more.  Fishing this time of year is relatively straight forward, find the bait and you will find the fish.  Here are a few tips to help make it just a little easier.

If your fishing during the day try and get out of heavy boat traffic areas.  The mullet will stay schooled up during the day, but heavy boat traffic tends to send them down towards the bottom.  If they are not run over time and time again they will stay schooled up on top, and thus be a lot easier to find.  Areas like the Loxahatchee River, Erman River,  Munyon Island, Lake Worth and Little Lake Worth, and backwater residential canals and seawalls are ideal for finding mullet schools during the day.  During lower light periods it may be possible to trick a few fish with lures.  I like to toss a Zara Spook Jr, Rapala Skitterwalk, or Mirrolure MirroMullet around schools of mullet on top early in the morning or late in the afternoon.  Yes it does produce a lot of jacks, but many snook and tarpon will fall to a “walk the dog” style topwater in low light conditions.  As the sun gets a little higher in the sky, switch over to live mullet for best results.  Fish those baits on the edges of the schools for best results.

Once the sun sets and boat traffic dies down the mullet really come to life. High traffic areas, like The Intracoastal Waterway(ICW) around Jupiter Inlet, absolutely come alive with large schools of mullet.  The fish take notice of the easy pickings and line up at the buffet line.  At night I like to fish lighted bridges (Katos, A1A, US1, Donald Ross to name a few) with good current.  The fish line up on the dark side of the shadow line and wait as school after school of mullet are washed over their heads.  Tossing live mullet, Rapala X-Raps, Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows, and DOA Baitbusters are all good choices for getting the attention of assorted predators lurking below.

And lastly, in non mullet run related action inshore, it should be a good month for some mangrove snapper.  Fish live shrimp or cut sardines around structure with some good current, and a few grovers should show up.

Thanks For Reading Everyone,

Todd

OFFSHORE- September is a interesting month offshore for the Palm Beach area.  It is a transition month for the most part; as summer conditions begin to slip away and fall/winter conditions haven’t quite set in.  The weather plays a huge part in which way we trend, and time will tell which way we go. Here are a few of the main changes coming. First and foremost (love or hate them) the bonito are going to start thinning out.  The typical summertime live-bait spots along the beach will begin to dry up, and mullet will become the most abundant bait around.  Summertime live-baiters will begin to break out the trolling rigs for the fall season.  And…tournament sailfish anglers will be chomping at the bit for the wind to start coming out of the northeast.  Some of the main players this month will be…Dolphin, Blackfin Tuna, Wahoo, and Snapper. As mentioned earlier, the bonito will begin to thin out this month.  This will make some room for the fall run of blackfin tuna.  Most of these blackfin tuna will be on the smaller football side, but are still very tasty and fun on light tackle.  Trolling small jethead lures, mini tuna feathers, and very small squid or strips is a great way to cash in on these guys.  They will be hanging out around 150-300′ of water most likey.  A spread of small lures is a great way to nab a few dolphin that will be around as well.  The little tuna and dolphin will both be around rips, color changes, and floating structure.  The small blackin tuna and dolphin will keep the wahoo hanging around for another month or two as well.  Highspeed trolling, livebaiting small blackfins, or pulling natural bait down deep should get the attention of a wahoo or two.  Keep a dark color pattern lure in the spread (black/purple,black/red,black/orange) for the wahoo, but don’t overlook blue/white as a good option also.   The wahoo should be in that same 150-300′ depth, but if the blackin or dolphin are a little deeper the wahoo will be also.  The summer snapper fishing was very subpar for the most part, with any luck September will help pick up some of the slack.  Before the cooler water sets in, the muttons and yellowtails will be chomping at the bit.  Bait choices vary; but bonita chunks, sardine, and squid are great snapper bait options.  60-120′ o water should be good depth options for the snapper.

Good Luck Everyone!