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!

Nice looking fresh ballyhoo available this weekend, $12/Dozen.

OFFSHORE- Offshore fishing pressure has been on the light side the last few weeks, but the fishing has been good.  The fall push of dolphin has been starting, and those putting in the time are finding some decent schools of fish.  While they may be anywhere up or down the line, most of the dolphin have been between 300-600′ of water.  Weedlines, structure, rips, and floating debris will all be holding dolphin, but they are almost as likely to be out swimming freely in open water.  This is the time to cover some water and put out the trolling spread.  Trolled ballyhoo, small trolling feathers and jethead lures, and trolling squid will all account for a few fish.  Keep a few small baits out for the little football size blackfin tuna swimming around.  The bonita are starting to thin out, and the sailfish will begin to slide in to the ledge as the northeast winds start to blow.  Wahoo catches will not be like August, but a few are still hanging around.  Split-tail mullet are a great choice for the wahoo this time of year.  Inside of the ledge the snapper fishing has been good.  Find the cleaner water and put the time in, some snapper will no doubt end up in the box.  Sardines, squid, and bonita chunks will all be good bottom fishing baits.

INSHORE- The mullet are still flowing inshore, and the snook and tarpon are liking the easy meals.  Find the mullet schools and you will find the fish, its really that easy inshore right now.  I still like lures in low light periods and at night, live bait during the higher light periods.  While the snook fishing is the highlight inshore this month, others are around as well.  Tarpon, jacks, and a few redfish are following the mullet schools as well.  The local bridges are still holding a few mangrove snapper, sandperch, and blackdrum.  Lastly on the inshore front, the toady cult is starting to move…you know who you are.

Surf/Pier- The surf/pier fishing has been very good over the past few weeks.  We still have good schools of bait around, lots of fish, and some nicer weather.  While the bluefish are starting to show, they haven’t run everything out of town just yet.  Snook fishing along the beach and at the pier is still good.  The pompano are starting to show.  Sandfleas, shrimp, clams, and Doc’s Goofy Jigs will be your top bait choices for the pompano.  Bluefish and spanish mackerel will really start to fill in nicely over the next few weeks.

Good Luck Everyone,

Todd

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

The surf/pier fishing is really starting to come to life these days.  Here are a few of the highlights.

Mullet Run Update- While Hurricane Irene may have caused one hell of a mess up north, it helped get the mullet moved down to south Florida a little bit ahead of schedule.  With the mullet (and if you have been reading the last few posts you know this) come a whole host of top level, and not so top level, predators.  Snook, Tarpon, Jacks, several types of sharks, large jacks, redfish, kingfish, and others will be following the schools of mullet down the beach.  Most often the mullet will be schooled up the tightest early in the morning and then again late in the afternoon.  This is the time the predators take full advantage of the easy buffet line.  Large noisy top-water plugs will get a little play in these low light periods, but nothing beats the real thing in this case.  With so much food around, it is a good idea to try and set  your bait apart.  Try fishing outside of the school or underneath with a livey, use a fresh dead mullet, or even a nice fresh chunk of bait.  I prefer to use a heavy mono leader for this fishing, usually 50-80lb, but will switch over to wire if the toothy critters show up in big numbers.  The nice thing about fishing the fall mullet run, is it turns everywhere into a potentially good spot.  The usual good spots; Hobe Sound Beach, The Refuge, Blowing Rocks, Jupiter Inlet, Carlin Park, Double Roads, Juno Beach Pier, Pierless, and Ocean Reef Park are all good spots to start looking for the mullet.  Mullet Run Fishing Tip- Travel light on the beach, the more mobile you are the easier it is to follow the bait schools.  Very often one school in particular will be holding the most feeding fish.  Be able to follow that school, and you can stay with the fish.

Pier Outlook- Fishing has been good for a nice assortment of species on Juno Beach and Lake Worth Pier these days.  All of the above listed species are possible catches these days.  Very often predators following the mullet schools will use the pier as a jumping off point or staging point for attack on the mullet.  Should you find yourself in between mullet schools, and other baitfish options are slim, be sure to have some kind of chunk bait to fish underneath.  This is a good way to pick up a snook or redfish hanging out underneath the pier.

In other news, the fall species are already making a nice showing.  The past week has seen a nice little run of pompano at Juno Beach Pier.  Doc’s Goofy Jig in gold, pink, and orange have already began pulling in some nice keeper pompano.  Ladyfish and a few bluefish are hanging around to steal a few of those jigs as well.  Spanish and some nice Cero Mackerel are around, but the bite seems to be day to day.

Good Luck Everyone,

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- As of today (Thursday 6/16/11)it is looking like a nice weekend weather report, and with a couple of tournaments going on this weekend; expect it to be very busy offshore over the next couple of days.  The fishing has been very good lately, and as we move away from the full moon I would expect it to pick up a little more during the daytime again.  While kingfish, bonita, and mutton snapper continue to provide the most stable action along the 120′ ledge; plenty of other fish are hanging around as well.  Those bonita may be pesky and drive you crazy sometimes, but they attract a whole slough of top notch gamefish; including blue marlin, large wahoo, giant cubera snapper, sharks, and more.  Try slow trolling a medium live bonita in 150′ of water…what comes up after it may surprise you!!!  Live sardines are still the bait of choice for fishing the ledge these days.  Throat hooked sardines on a flatline rig is deadly on a wide assortment of species.  The snapper fishing has been better this week, with 80-90′ of water from the Juno pier to Jupiter Inlet holding the most fish.  Sardines are once again the bait of choice, but a yellowtail jig with a small strip of squid or bonita will not go unnoticed for long.  Dolphin fishing slowed this week.  Most of the dolphin caught have been out deeper.  Trolling a assortment of small baits and lures in 400-600′ of water should turn up some mahi.

INSHORE/SURF/PIER- Its summertime, and with the exception of the catch and release snook fishing it is a little slow right now.  With hot air temperatures come hot water temperatures and very slow moving fish.  No matter what your target species fish early morning, late afternoon, or even try the night bite.   The snook are taking up their summer homes in the inlet and along the beach, and they are showing up in good numbers.  Live croakers, whiting, and sandperch are your best be for some big snook bites right now.  If your into lures try Rapala X-Raps, white bucktail jigs, and soft body swimbaits.  The summertime resident spanish mackerel are hanging around the pier.  Small livebaits and longshanks hooks are the ticket for them!  Otherwise, it is a slow pick on everything else…just have to get out and try!

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL YOU DADS!!!

AND GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE FISHING THE WIRK/BUZZ KDW TOURNAMENT AND/OR THE FATHER’S DAY DOLPHIN CHALLENGE!!!!

LASTLY CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GOIN’ RAPTOR FISHING TEAM ON THE NICE PERFORMANCE LAST WEEK IN THE POMPANO SALTWATER SLAM…CHECK OUT ONE OF THE HOTTEST YOUNG TEAMS IN SOUTH FLORIDA RIGHT NOW!!! http://www.goinraptorfishing.com/Home.html