LOCAL FISHING REPORT

OFFSHORE

■ Off Jensen Beach, the vermilion snapper bite is still fantastic. Working some of the wrecks and artificial reefs in 80 to 140 feet of water, anglers are catching their limits using chicken rigs with squid.

■ The king mackerel bite is holding steady in 60 to 120 feet.

■ Off the Palm Beach area, the fishing for amberjack has been good. Anglers

using live baits, with heavy sinkers on three-way swivels, are catching these along area wrecks.

■ There have been a few dolphin in the area as well. Anglers working the weed lines out in 1,000 feet are finding fish.

■ The snapper fishing has been OK in the area with chicken rigs and cut bait working best.

■ Off the Boynton Beach area, there have been large schools of skipjack

tuna and dolphin up to 20 pounds around weed mats and color changes in 550 to 1,300 feet. Trolling

small baits in those areas has been producing good results.

■ There have been wahoo and king mackerel moving around schools of bonito, with an occasional blackfin tuna in the mix, in 200 to 300 feet. Drifting sardines has produced kings up to 25 pounds and blackfin tuna up to 20 pounds while chumming up the bonito. Trolling Drone spoons on various sized planners also has been working well.

■ The yellowtail snapper bite has slowed down, but there are still a few nice fish up to three pounds hitting sardines and jigs tipped with squid between 80 to 125 feet.

■ Mutton snapper, mangrove and lane snapper have been hitting sardines spooled along the bottom in 45 to 65 feet. Fishing cut squid on bottom rigs in these depths are working well for porgies, too.

INSHORE

■ In the Jensen Beach area, it’s all about snook. They are being caught at the

St. Lucie Inlet and in the

St. Lucie and Indian Rivers along the docks. They are mostly being taken on live bait. Anglers fishing the bridges at night as the mullet are moving through are having excellent luck working the shadow lines

using MirrOlure Top Dog and Rapala Skitter Walk lures.

■ Anglers fishing for snook are also catching a few huge sea trout as by catch. There are some serious “gators” out there with one charter captain catching one that was 28 inches.

■ There have been some big tarpon cruising the area as well. D.O.A. Bait Buster and TerrorEyz lures are working well.

■ In the Boynton Beach area, the mullet have started migrating down the coast and surf anglers are reporting good fishing in the early mornings, throwing top water plugs

like Zara Spooks and

Yozuri Poppers around the schools. They are catching snook, tarpon, jacks and barracuda off the Lantana and Delray beaches.

■ Boynton Inlet anglers are catching snook, tarpon, mangrove, dog and

cubera snapper, as well as barracuda, jack crevalle, redfish and permit. Whole live mullet or sardines are working on the snook along with bouncing feathers

along the bottom at night. Redfish are eating cut mullet as are the cubera snapper.

■ The Intracoastal Waterway has mullet moving through and slow trolling live mullet along the channels and docks

has been producing hits from snook, tarpon, jack crevalle, barracuda, and small sharks. Mangrove and cubera snapper up to 15 pounds are hitting

jigs tipped with jumbo live shrimp around the rock piles, bridge fenders and

shallow artificial reefs. ■ Lantana Bridge anglers have been catching sand perch and mangrove snapper on cut shrimp.

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

■ Similar to the past few weeks, the early morning bass bite is still excellent

along the east side of the King’s Bar area. Anglers working the edges of the Kissimmee grass from dawn until about an hour past the sunrise are having excellent luck using white swim jigs. After that, switching to a beaver- or craw-style artificial bait and pitching around the buggy whips and cattails is producing good results.

■ The speckled perch bite has continued to pick up. Jigging using white or white/chartreuse jigs from the surface to five feet in the Little Grassy area, some anglers are catching their limits of these prized pan fish.