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Jupiter & Palm Beach Offshore Saltwater Fishing Report
Capt. Rob Mazzei
April 27, 2001
Jupiter - Saltwater Fishing Report
Offshore fishing breaks open!!!
Kingfish, dolphin, bonito and sailfish dominate the action as live bait invades the Palm Beach coast. From 85-200 feet, all hell has broken loose this past week. We’ve caught dolphin to 30lbs., kings to 40lbs. and sailfish near 60lbs. Live baiting, trolling, and running‘n’gunning has produced, so has as drifting with frozen sardines.
With the recent and heavy influx of spanish sardines and cigar minnows, live bait has been fairly easy to find. Anywhere from 15ft to 45ft around the local inlets. Cruise and find schools that haven’t worked by earlier boats and have several sabiki rods working. Be careful not to crowd other boats when acquiring bait, tangled sabikis are a nightmare! Bait schools are all over the beaches, get out early and you’ll get more than enough.
Kingfishing has been nothing short of outstanding! We’ve tried to stay around 100ft, drift in or out depending on wind direction and live line a sardine or cigar minnow and you'd better have your gear up to par. We ran out of baits just as the wind picked up and the livewell pump "crapt out" on us. Jack Santos of Jupiter Farms landed two mambo kings, 30-35lbs. Every bait got crushed by kingfish and bonitos within minutes, sometimes seconds. Tail hook a bait keep it close to the boat and a large king will sometimes skyrocket out of the water, literally chomping your bait in the air. Use a hook size that matches the size of the bait. 3/0 to 4/0 Mustad 9174 live bait hook works well, sparpen it up real good. Circle hooks like an Owner mutu light circle hook with 80lbs. florocarbon leader will work as well. Strike early, so you don’t "gut hook" any fish to be released.
Bonitos have showed in full force, troll a couple up for strip baits. They may seem like a nuisance at times, but they strike hard and can smoke a drag in no time!
Dolphin have still been scattered, but find a good rip from 90 to 200ft and chances are the will be several dolphin around. There has not been a great amount of weeds offshore, so trolling ballyhoo, strip baits or artificial baits in those ranges have all worked reasonably well. Wahoo have been around as well, although we have not been fortunate enough to catch any ourselves.
Sailfish have been mostly an incidental catch for those kingfishing. A spit-bill ballyhoo off an outrigger managed a nice sailfish for us recently. And many boats in the area could be seen fighting sails. Move outside the bonitos and kings. You’ll sacrifice action, but have a better shot at a sailfish before the other two compete for the bait
Not very much to it this time of the year, fish are all over and many boats are cashing in. Live bait has been easy to catch and sabiki prices are down. The only disappointment has been the rise in gas prices! Anyway.
Windy conditions predicted over the weekend may dampen some efforts, but if you can get out (day or night), you won’t be disappointed. Just be prepared for anything.
Good luck! Capt. Rob
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