Weekend Fishing Outlook (6/19-6/21/15)

OFFSHORE- Fishing was good this week, and with any luck will hang on through the weekend.  The dolphin bite was good out of Jupiter Inlet, with good catch reports in 200-500' of water.  As the east winds taper off, look for the dolphin to be out a little deeper.  Trolling a mixture of ballyhoo, bonita strips, and squid is a good way to get the dolphin fired up; and a big lure or bait in the spread is also a good idea as a few blue marlin have been cruising around with the fins.  Look for the dolphin to be in the usual "fishy" areas; current rips, color changes, weed lines, floating debris, or areas with lots of flying fish.  Some nice blackfin tuna have been caught from Lake Worth to Jupiter Inlet in 150-200' of water.  Look for the blackfins to be most active early in the morning and then again late in the afternoon.  Fishing live sardines or thread fin herring is a good choice for getting a tuna bite.  That big eye on a blackfin sees an awful lot, so keep the terminal tackle to a minimum and go as light as possible with your leader.  As we coast through June it is very likely that we will start to hear more about wahoo catches.  Start working on the high speed gear and wahoo tackle; all signs point to a good push of wahoo on the July and August full moons.  Inside the 120' ledge a scattering of kingfish are still being caught, as are a few very late season cobia.  The bonita are here in full force, and provide great entertainment for those just looking to keep the rods bent.  Before you cuss the bonita too bad, keep in mind they are a food source for a lot of top pelagic predators.  That 70lb wahoo we've all been thinking about probably has eaten her fair share of bonita over the years!  Snapper fishing remains good, with a nice mixture of yellowtails and muttons around.  This is a great time of year to break out the light spinning rods, small yellow buck tail jigs, and bonita or squid strips and seth up a drift in 60-90' of water...you just never know what will pounce on the slow falling jig (Come by the shop anytime for a quick rundown on drifting with the jig for great mixed bag action. It's a great technique that takes little skill, is very productive, and is lots of fun!)

INSHORE- Hot weather conditions and little rain have the inshore fishing a bit on the slow side.  Snook are biting well during low light periods of the day and at night.  Remember snook season is closed so be careful handling, and get them back in the water quickly after catching.  A few black drum are being caught around Munyan Island on small pieces of fresh shrimp.  Mangrove snapper fishing inshore is also starting to pick up with increasing temps!  Shrimp is the bait of choice for the snapper, and will also produce biters from jus about anything else cruising around inshore. 

SURF/PIER- Snook fishing is very good in the inlets, along the beach, and at the Juno Beach Pier right now.  The snook are feeding best during low light periods of the day, but will bite during the middle of the day when ideal conditions present themselves.  Live croaker, sand perch, greenies, and sardines are the baits of choice for the shrimp right now.  The big spawning females are out in full force and very willing to bite almost anything.  Just remember they are the future of the snook population, and deserve a little extra care when releasing.  Keep those drags tight, fight them fast and hard, and get them back in the water as quick as you can!  Starting to hear of some tarpon cruising the beach early in the morning.  Also a good number of sharks (including some big ones) being caught from the beach at night.

SHOP UPDATE- Been another busy week for us as we continue to plug away at getting the new shop all squared way.   We should have live shrimp back for the weekend, and the ice machine and bait freezers are well stocked!  Small batch of domestic sardines showed up today as well!  Lots of cool stuff in the new shop, be sure to come by and check it out!

Thanks For Reading,
Todd