Offshore Report: With all the scattered weed that we’ve had all along the coast, there have been plenty of dolphin around. There haven’t been many big fish to speak of, but still plenty of 5-10 pound fish to keep you happy. The fish have been very scattered so there’s a few different ways you can go about catching them. The weeds have made it extremely difficult to troll lures or heavier baits. If trolling is still the route you want to go, we suggest trolling squid rather than ballyhoo. Squid are lighter and tend to skip over and atop the weeds rather than drag through them. If you want to run offshore and look for larger weed patches we suggest having spinning rods ready with jigs as well as hooks to fish dead or live bait. If you have the opportunity, have some chunks cut up of sardines or threadfins so that you can quickly chum and keep fish around the boat.
There have been good numbers of kingfish South of Palm Beach Inlet near the Breakers. Most fish have been congregated between 90-110 ft. Live bait has started to show up in the area and if you can catch some early in the morning, they will be your best bet. You can also drift dead sardines or threadfins on a double or triple hook rig.
If the current and the sharks cooperate, bottom fishing has been good in Juno. We’ve had reports of some nice mutton snapper being caught from the Pier to the Jupiter Inlet between 60-90ft. When sardines are available they’ll be your best bet on the bottom. Threadfins will also work well as long as you trim the belly off the bait to prevent it from spinning while dropping to the bottom.
Inshore/Beach: Snook fishing has continued to be red hot at both area inlets and the Juno Pier. Live bait will be your best bet fished along the bottom. Mullet, pinfish, threadfins, croakers, and sardines have all been doing the job lately. The fish are there to spawn and they are hungry.
There have been large pods of Tarpon in the surf early in the morning as well. Ride the beach early in the morning and you’ll be sure to see them cruising along. Fish a dead bait on bottom for best results. A mullet chunk or a dead sardine are both great options.
For those of you wanting to fish inshore, we’ve had a few reports of seatrout being caught around the Munyon Island flats. You can wade, fish by boat, or from land near the Burnt Bridge on Singer Island. Live shrimp under a float and topwater plugs early in the morning seem to be getting it done. There have also been plenty of large jacks cruising the same area early in the morning.