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Jupiter & Palm Beach Offshore Saltwater Fishing Report
Capt. Rob Mazzei
November 17, 2004
Jupiter - Saltwater Fishing Report
Northeast winds push sailfish our way.
Strong winds have again kept most boats inshore over the last week. Water conditions along the beach have been poor at best and Jupiter inlet has been pretty much impassable to all but the kite surfers. Such have forced us to stay inside the ICW north of Jupiter.
Finger mullet are still fairly abundant and provided us with enough live bait to ensure non stop action on jacks, ladyfish, snook, snapper, small grouper and even flounder. We also found a school of tarpon to 100 lbs. off Jupiter Island, but after two days of fishing for them, we could not get them to bite. Although seeing them roll 30 feet from the boat still provided a great deal of excitement. Most of the fish we caught were less than 10 lbs. but on appropriate tackle it’s still hard to beat.
Prior to the rough conditions fishing offshore was awesome. Sailfish are here already; not in great numbers but almost every boat fishing live bait have had good luck with them. Most of our bites have come in 180-320 feet of water from Lost Tree to the Loran tower. The sad part is the absence of live bait, aside from the finger mullet there has been none at all in their typical locations.
Along with the sails we’ve caught dolphin to 10 lbs. large false albacore, small blackfin tuna and wahoo to 35 lbs. all in the same depth. The dolphin were caught on live finger mullet as well as trolling strip baits and the wahoo were caught trolling an IIander, strip bait combo off the down rigger.
Snapper and grouper fishing was outstanding after the hurricanes came and went. During one half day trip we caught 6 mutton snapper to 8 lbs. 10 keeper yellowtail and about 20 red grouper. Only two of the grouper were of legal size to keep, but the shorts provided steady action and kept the bottom bouncers on their toes not knowing what they’d pull next.
Spanish mackerel have shown up at Pecks Lake, light tackle and fly fisherman can expect non stop action on them, as well as the bluefish and jacks that are there with them.
This week’s strong northeast wind should only encourage better fishing for the next few days and hopefully there will be enough wind to set the kite out and catch some more sailfish and dolphin.
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