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Jupiter & Palm Beach Offshore Saltwater Fishing Report
Capt. Rob Mazzei
November 14, 2005
Jupiter - Saltwater Fishing Report
Dolphin keep anglers busy.
Rough seas and poor water quality have plagued offshore fisherman in Palm Beach since Katrina went by us. Over the past several weeks the blue water edge has been out approximately 5-6 miles in 350-450 feet of water. The color change has been littered with Sargasso weed, tree limbs, mooring floats and more, but I have yet to see any concentration of baitfish. There have been a few flying fish scooting around and we found a tree limb that had a decent school of bar jacks under it. For the amount of debris we’ve found most have been noticeably absent of any signs of life.
There is hope! If you put your time in you will find fish. One morning we observed 3 Frigate birds working an area for several minutes, I hastily cranked in the kite and fired up the Yamaha. Under the birds was a large tree limb and a good school of dolphin. Although our kite baits were too big for these fish they greedily hit cut bait on 10lbs spinning outfits, which to me is more fun than catching them on 30lbs. trolling outfits.
A boat next to us the “Honey Jack” did manage 3 small Wahoo trolling the same area and a 30lbs. Wahoo off Juno Beach.
Fishing closer to shore many boats have limiting out on Yellowtail Snapper in the 80-100 foot range. On numerous occasions local charter boats have had to come back early to clean all the fish caught and prepare for the afternoon charter. Amongst the yellowtail have been decent Mangrove and mutton snapper, small red grouper and large porgies. Bill Kitzerow of Fairfax,Va. caught a 4 lbs. “Jolt head” porgy on a dead sardine. It was the largest porgy I’ve ever seen. To me they are better eating than snapper because they are a little firmer and the meat is whiter in color.
While catching dinner we had a couple King Mackerel to 22 lbs. join the party and peel some drag. Spanish Mackerel are scattered all over out to 90 feet but are difficult to target because they are on the move big time. Chase the birds and troll smallish spoons and you’ll pick away at them.
When offshore is not an option due to the wrath of Mother Nature we’ve fished inshore in the ICW in the Hobe Sound area. Although not red hot yet, we caught jack crevalle, redfish, snook, croaker, ladyfish, mangrove snapper, grouper and catfish. Our biggest redfish was caught by Kurt Fellinger from Chicago it was 24 inches and weight 4.25lbs. on the Boga Grip. He also caught a 3lbs. croakers which is a slob.
Sailfishing has not kicked in yet. We’ve heard reports of fish caught or have been spotted free-jumping but that’s been all. Reports are ports to the north off Daytona and Port Canaveral are seeing loads of sailfish. A few more cold spells and we should start catching them with some consistency.
Goggle eye alert!!! Word has it that due to scarcity and gas prices the price for goggle eyes is now $80 a dozen. Although they are expensive, they produce!
After buying ballyhoo and other trolling baits and then trolling all day they price of “gogs” evens out. I prefer to fly the kite for sailfish so I always recommend buying at least a half dozen.
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