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Jupiter & Palm Beach Offshore Saltwater Fishing Report
Capt. Rob Mazzei
March 9, 2001
Jupiter - Saltwater Fishing Report
Killer Kings and Dazzling Dolphin
Finally, the strong winds caused by last weekend nor’easter subsided, allowing the small boaters to get out and cash in on the excellent sportfishing occurring off Palm Beach. While sailfish have been scattered, kingfish have been thick from the Juno pier to just north of Jupiter Inlet. Live bait has been scarce again, so we used triple hook sardine rigs. The kingfish didn’t seem to mind at all. Although the limit is two per angler, we released all that were caught. Most are around 10lbs with some up to 20lbs. We lost one that had to be much bigger because the rod doubled over and the line was ripping off the reel immediately after the take. The fish cut through the 50lbs mono leader after a short battle. Although kingfish have razor sharp teeth, I opted not to use a wire leader because the day before the mono rigs were getting all the action and the wire wasn’t. No free lunch out there! We did what we had to. We only lost one fish to teeth, so it was the right call. The fish were moving around a lot but 100 feet was a consistent depth. Reports were that fish were also caught in 65 feet. So cruise around and keep an eye on the sonar.
Yesterday saw a decent dolphin bite on the edge out in 400 to 600 feet. When the ground swell dies and the inshore water clears up, expect dolphin to move in on the drop (120 feet). Before the winds we caught a nice one in 85 feet just north of the Esso Bonaire wreck. He was about 15lbs and hit a triple rigged sardine intended for kings.
Spinner sharks have been thick off the beaches. I got an e-mail from a news guy that said he witnessed 500+ sharks off the beach at Singer Island from the helicopter. They closed the beach for a while. If you can get some blue runners or any live bait, look for the sharks jumping, approach quietly, be sure to shut off the motor(s) when you start fishing. Chumming always helps. Keep an eye out for manta rays as well, because they are moving along the beaches also and the cobia will be right along with them.
This weekends weather looks to be decent enough to go out and give it a shot, put your time in, move around a lot if the fish don’t hit within 20 minutes or so. Keep an eye out for birds and any surface activity.
I need to thank Capt’n Ed Williams of cyberangler in Stuart, after calling him on the radio he led me to the bait schools, which were thick north of St Lucie Inlet in 60 feet of water. For boats leaving Jupiter or Palm Beach Inlets that is a pretty far trek. We burned $100 in fuel that day, so buying bait isn’t always a bad idea. Everybody had fun sabiking bait and we did catch an amberjack and giant jack crevelles off the Hobe Sound loran tower on the way south back to Jupiter. These jacks were thick in 70 feet, the sonar lit up top to bottom and we could at times, see them cruising under the boat. After the hook up, it took about 15 minutes to land these fish. We were using 30lbs tackle and still got our butts kicked. Those puppies must be on steroids. All were released to resume their spawning ritual. Everybody was very tired that day and I still had to clean the boat. (tough life, huh).
Good luck and best wishes! Capt’n Rob
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