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Jupiter & Palm Beach Offshore Saltwater Fishing Report
Capt. Rob Mazzei
October 28, 2003
Jupiter - Saltwater Fishing Report
Endless Mullet!
The annual mullet run is full swing. All along the beaches, inlets, Intracoastal Waterway, canals and tidal ponds there are schools of finger mullet and large mullet. At times there have been so many it was tough to get a bite, (except for bluefish.) We've seen tarpon, snook, jacks, ladyfish, redfish, spanish mackerel, shark, bluefish and more bluefish.
In fact the bluefish have been so aggressive that any bait, large or small is getting mauled by these deadly predators. We have had to move around quite often to avoid them, but there were days when offshore was slow and they were there to accommodate light tackle enthusiasts.
Along the beach, we're concentrating our efforts south of the Juno pier. Top water plugs and spoons tossed around the mullet schools we usually get some attention. When the tarpon were present a large live mullet tail hooked or weighted down and lip hooked has proven successful.
The ICW north of Jupiter to Hobe Sound has been on fire. Find the mullet and you'll find action. Live finger mullet with no weight can't be beat. Root beer colored DOA "Terror eyes" is good for casting and covering more water.
Don't forget the Loxahatchee River, the same holds true there as well.
Jupiter Inlet has been hit or miss. Usually, some time during the day there will be fish there but I haven't been able to just go there and get fish at any given time. It seems that if the bait is thick the fish will be there but recently it has been inconsistent as well as crowded.
Sailfishing is gaining steam!
The best bet offshore may be sailfish. Almost every boat targeting them is getting action. Schools of ballyhoo have been fairly abundant near shore and fishing around them is often productive.
When conditions allowed we've "put the bird up", which means we've flown the kite and hung two live baits on the surface. The bite may not be fast and furious but finding ideal conditions and waiting it out and will many times pay off.
Last weekend's sailfish tournament in the Daytona Beach area was very successful with over 200 fish caught and released by 60 something boats. A few strong cold fronts and they'll be here.
One negative thing about the fast approaching sailfish season is live bait or lack of. There have been greenies and small blue runners around but we'll most likely have to start buying runners and goggle eyes from the bait boats at $60 a dozen. Hopefully all that bridge rubble they put down along the beach off Jupiter Island will hold some baitfish just like the shoreline along Macarthur Park on Singer Island usually does.
During the rough weather some decent size dolphin have been caught as well as wahoo. While Jupiter has been OK, south of Palm Beach Inlet around the Breakers has been hot. There have been quite a few days we've heard the Palm Beach fleet doing well and reporting weed lines offshore and north off Jupiter we couldn't find similar conditions in the same depth and even several miles further out.
Bottom fish has been good when conditions allowed ous the get a bait deep without too much weight. Many commercial boat have been working the grouper in 200-300 feet off Juno. We've stuck to mutton and yellowtail snapper in 80-100 feet. We've been lucky to catch several red grouper in there too.
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