BEST BET

Mike Scheele from Juno Fishing Pier reported there is plenty of bait at the pier and anglers are catching lots of jacks, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, ladyfish and ribbonfish. However, they are not catching pompano. … Ryan Bolish from Anglin’s Fishing Pier off of Commercial Boulevard, reported pier fishermen were catching a mixed bag of bluefish, mackerel, small sharks, a few grouper and catfish. … Captain Jimbo Thomas from the Thomas Flyer out of Bayside Marina reported on a half-day trip on Wednesday off of Government Cut that his clients had two kings in the 10-pound class plus nice sailfish. All the fish ate live threadfin herring. Thomas reported other boats that fished offshore had black grouper and cobia.

Florida Keys

Captain Bill Hauck from the party boat Sea King out of Marathon reported that his clients loaded up on large mutton snapper plus an assortment of grouper and yellowtail snapper on their last trip to the Dry Tortugas. … Captain Rick Rodriguez of Sea Horse Deep Sea Sport Fishing out of Islamorada reported that — during recent offshore trips with winds gusting to 30 knots — he targeted the edge of the reef and had great catches of mutton and big yellowtail snapper, kingfish, cero mackerel and sailfish. … Captain Jason Long of Best Bet Sportfishing Charters out of Marathon said that dropping water temperatures off of Marathon have attracted a lot of ballyhoo, which in turn are attracting cero mackerel, kingfish and a lot of bottom fish like gag, black and red groupers, porgies and mangrove, mutton and yellowtail snapper.

TREASURE COAST

Captain Michael Savedow of Edgewater Guide Service reported that with temperatures dropping and the water clearing, schools of finger mullet continue to attract large sea trout and redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River. … Captain Charlie Conner of FishTales Charters out of Port St. Lucie reported plenty of sea trout are available on the shallow flats near Harbor Branch and near the Midway Road area. Casting DOA shrimp and Deadly Combos has produced plenty of action. In the river, look for pompano that are looking to jump on a Doc’s Goofy jig; and when fishing the surf for pompano, use sand fleas and strips of clams. Look for flounder near the sand flats next to the inlets and use a finger mullet fished on the bottom and expect plenty of Spanish mackerel, bluefish and jacks in and around the inlets.

FLORIDA BAY

Don and Sandy Blake of Homestead fished the backcountry out of Flamingo during high winds, cold temperatures, and lots of freshwater and very high tides. During their charter with captain Alan Sherman of Get Em Sportfishing Charters, they caught and released nine snook and one small tarpon. Sandra had two snook in the 33- to 34-inch size. All of the fish were caught on live pilchards hooked to Mustad circle hooks.

SOUTHWEST COAST

Captain Roan zumFelde of Rz’s Fishing Extremes out of Naples is finding plenty of tripletail on the crab trap buoys that were eating live shrimp. In the passes, a good amount of large snook and a few tarpon are being caught on white bait and white bucktail jigs. Redfish continue to be caught around the oyster bars and along the deeper mangrove shorelines on cut bait. Pompano and sheepshead can be found in the Intracoastal Waterway.

FRESHWATER

Captain Jim Anson reported finding plenty of largemouth and peacock bass in the local canals. With the water levels high, some patience is required to find the fish. The peacock bass have been favoring gold colored Storm baits. … Captain Michael Shellen of Shellen Guide Service out of Buck Head Ridge on Lake Okeechobee reported large female bass are showing up in areas that have clear water and heavy cover. Flipping soft plastics and casting spinner baits has produced plenty of fish. … Fishing with captain Alan Zaremba for three days in the L-29, L-30 and C-4 canals, Gary Hamilton of Delaware caught and released 128 largemouth bass to four pounds, 14 peacock bass, 10 Myan cichlids, and two Jaguar Guapote’s fishing with Baby Torpedoes, floating Rapala’s and Gambler ribbon-tailed worms.

Capt. Alan Sherman

shermana@bellsouth.net