LOCAL FISHING REPORT

OFFSHORE

Off Jensen Beach, there has been an uptick in the dolphin bite.

Though they are still somewhat scattered, anglers fishing off the Loran Tower in 180 to 300 feet are having good luck. Not just peanuts or schoolies: Fish up to 20 pounds are being taken.

In that same area, the blackfin tuna bite has picked up. Anglers are catching them slow trolling small ballyhoo.

There have also been some sailfish around and the numbers should keep increasing with the coming cooler weather.

Off Boynton Beach, toward the end of last week it was shark, shark and more shark. One boat captain estimated he saw around 200, including small blacktips and sharpnose that were caught. Since then, the catch has returned to its usual diversity and the water has continued to get cleaner. It’s not back to its usual beautiful blue, but getting closer.

Dolphin up to 15 pounds are being caught on drifted sardines in 70 to 120 feet of water.

At the same depth, there have been a few kingfish caught.

There has been good action on black grouper in 90 to 115 feet. They are being caught using yellow jigs tipped with shrimp.

On Monday, a boat captain fishing off Delray Beach in 65 feet of water reported catching lane snapper up to 4 pounds on cut squid and cut sardines.

Also, off Delray, there has been an uptick in the cobia bite.

On Tuesday, there was good action on yellowtail snapper, cero mackerel and porgies in 70 to 150 feet of water.

INSHORE

The beaches in the Jensen area are still a bit lackluster for fishing right now.

The St. Lucie and the Indian River, however, are still firing.

Anglers using live shrimp on quarter-ounce jigs are cleaning up.

Pompano, sheepshead, tripletail, bluefish and Spanish mackerel are all being caught around the docks, seawalls and channel markers.

The power poles spanning the river have also been good.

The redfish bite is still excellent. Though there haven’t been as many big ones the past week, there are plenty of slot-size fish being caught.

At the Boynton Inlet, anglers have been catching pompano.

Anglers fishing the Lantana Bridge are reporting catching good-size croaker as well as pompano and sheepshead.

The pompano are being taken on live sand fleas and peeled shrimp and the sheepshead are being caught using clam strips.

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Out on the lake, the bass bite is still excellent and best using live shiners.

If going with artificial, however, Rat-L-Traps and Zoom Super Flukes are working well.

The Harney Pond and Long Point areas have been the recent hot spots.