December is now upon us which means our 2024 Customer Appreciation Tent Sale is right around the corner! Join us at the shop on Saturday, December 14th from 8am – 6pm to celebrate our 75th Anniversary and catch the deals of the year. Tune into our social media pages for more information, shoot us a message or ask a crew member on your next trip if you have any questions. Find savings storewide on your favorite products!
Inshore Fishing Report
Our wintertime inshore fishing is starting to heat up as we have gotten some cooler weather to drop the water temperatures and get a few of our winter species to make their way to us. It isn’t uncommon to catch ten different species fishing the river this time of year as we have a little bit of everything around. For those who are targeting Snook, the season remains open until December 15th if you are looking to harvest a slot sized fish for dinner. Snook fishing has been pretty good this month with a lot of action coming on live Croakers when available. Live Pinfish, Pigfish and shrimp have been getting the job done as well. Capt. Justin aboard Snook Nook Charters clients have stayed busy on the Snook bite with a lot of slot sized fish along with some over slots in the mix. On the cooler mornings, the Snook bite will be on the slower side if you are fishing live bait fish such as Croakers but you should see an uptick in the bite as the sun gets a little higher. The Snook will tend to hold around structures like the bridges when the water gets cooler to stay warm so focusing on areas like the bridges, sea walls and deeper holes in the river are all good places to look. A good majority of the Snook have left the inlet and will be found throughout the river. Fishing baits with a slower presentation tend to produce a good amount of bites this time of year such as artificial shrimp, slow rolling paddle tails, jigs and live shrimp. Anglers fishing artificials have been favoring Thumper Shrimp and NLBNs as their soft plastic choices here lately. All Thumper Shrimp will be Buy 2 get 1 Free at our tent sale on the 14th! Thumper Shrimp will also be introducing two new colors that will only be available at the tent sale! There will be a promo on NLBNs as well at the tent sale, for every three NLBN products purchased, customers will receive a free pack of Limited Batch Snook Nook Tent Sale Exclusive 5” K-Tails! Other Snook lure promos to be on the lookout for are Buy 3 Get 1 Free specials on Yo-Zuri, Rapala, JYG Pro Swym baits, blowout specials on Gulfstream Flair Hawks and an assortment of other lures heavily discounted.
The Black Drum bite has been pretty good around the bridges, it seems that all of our local causeways have been producing a few fish. You can find them around the bridge fenders on shrimp on a jighead, chunks of crab and even fiddler crabs. Sheepshead fishing is starting to heat up for us, we typically see our best bite on them starting in January going into February, but there have been a good amount caught over the past week. Look to find them around any structure with barnacle growth as they will typically be around them crunching on those barnacles. Live shrimp or fiddler crabs will be your best bait choices. The fiddler crabs can give you an advantage at times because all the bycatch like little snappers typically won’t pick away at them like they will the shrimp.
Those fishing the channel markers and crab trap buoys north of the Jensen Causeway have been greeted with Triple Tail, Sheepshead, Croakers and a few Black Drum on shrimp and a jig head. This style of fishing can be fun for the whole family cruising from marker to marker catching a variety of different species. Along with the species mentioned, you can also run into Flounder, Snook, Grouper and more fishing this method.
We have been seeing some grass that has grown back north of the power plant on both the east and west sides of the river. Along with the grass that has come back, there has been some decent Trout fishing! Both those fishing by boat and wade fishing have been running into the Trout. Artificial shrimp, paddle tails or live shrimp on a popping cork will get the job done.
The Pompano bite inshore has really begun to pick up over the past week. Anglers have been finding them on the Jensen Causeway east side relief bridge, on the Sailfish Flats and in the inlet on Pompano jigs. If you want to target them from the causeway, the bite has been around the high tide mark and there are some days where the fish don’t bite for long, but when they do, the action is on! The action on Sailfish Flats has been on the incoming tides. The inshore Pompano bite should continue to heat up throughout the month and into January as more fish begin to push our way. Stock up on Pompano jigs at the tent sale on the 14th, all GulfStream Pompano Jigs will be Buy 2 get 1 Free! The Spanish Mackerel have begun to make an appearance here with our latest cold front too. They have been caught inshore around the Jensen Causeway as well as in the inlet. Fishing with spoons, live shrimp or small pilchards will get the job done when they are around. You can also get them on Pompano jigs too, they will sometimes become a nuisance for those targeting Pompano. The Spanish Mackerel have begun to start making an appearance at Pecks Lake. Gulfstream Flash Minnows, spoons and Gotcha Plugs will be some of your best choices to throw at them. Just like Gulfstream’s Pompano Jigs, the Gulfstream Flash Minnows will be Buy 2 Get 1 Free at the tent sale! Definitely a good time to stock up on them as you’re bound to lose a few to those toothy critters. You will want to work your lure pretty fast to get their attention. It also doesn’t hurt to bring a box of glass minnows with you when they are available to chum them up and get the Mackerel fired up.
Offshore Fishing Report
As we closed out the month, we were greeted with some favorable conditions to get offshore and the surface bite has been pretty good. Anglers looking for Mahi and Sailfish have definitely had to cover some water to find their bites, but there certainly have been some fish around. The majority of the Mahi and Sail bites have been caught by those trolling ballyhoo in 90’-150’. Finding a good condition to troll along will be key as the fish have been caught on nice edges, color changes and around floating debris. Trolling is typically the most productive this time of year, but live baiting when you find yourself in the right condition can be effective as well. For those looking to fish live baits, the bait has been pretty scarce out of our inlet, but Bryan with Stuart Live Bait has been traveling up and down the coast to find bait when it is available, give him a call at 772-985-0425 to check in on the live bait situation. The Blackfin Tunas have been out at Pushbutton Hill again with Tunas up to 30lbs around. The Tunas can be caught trolling first thing in the morning and as the sun gets higher and more boats start showing up, they end up going down and can be caught on live baits and jigs. They have been caught in pretty good numbers so you should be able to mark them on your machine. We also had a pretty good Wahoo bite the week of and after the full moon with steady numbers of Wahoo that were caught right out of our inlet as well as to the north and south. Wahoo were caught by those high speed trolling for them as well as just on ballyhoo in anglers normal trolling spread. December’s full moon will be on the 15th so swing on by the tent sale on the 14th and load up on tackle or even save big on a new Wahoo set up!
The Vermillion Snapper bite has been steady out on Pushbutton Hill, they can be caught on chicken rigs with squid. If you are tired of hand cranking for them, swing by the shop to check out some of the new electric reels that are out on the market. Daiwa came out with a new Seaborg 300, 1200 & 1800 this year along with a new Tanacom 500, we have all of them in stock, find savings on all the Daiwa electric reels at the tent sale. We also are beginning to receive the new Penn Fathom electric reels. The Lane Snapper bite has been pretty good on some of the nearshore reefs in the 50’-70’ range and there have been a few Muttons and Mangrove Snapper around. We typically see some really good Lane Snapper fishing this time of year.
Surf Fishing Report
We finally have had some opportunities to fish the surf to close out the month with some cooler temperatures that will hopefully push some more Pompano our direction. Anglers have been picking away at them from our local beaches but have not put up the big numbers yet. The majority of the Pompano that have been caught have been on the long rods out in the deeper troughs 60-100yds off the beach and the fish that have made it to the sand have had good size to them. It is only a matter of time before we start seeing some better numbers of fish caught as there have been steady reports to the north of us. Hot bait choices have been Sand Fleas, Fishbites EZ Flea, Electric Chicken Flea, Pink/Flesh Crab and Electric Chicken Crab. There have been a lot of Sand Fleas out on the beach so grab a rake and load up while you can. We will have plenty of specials on surf tackle at the tent sale including, Buy 2 Get 1 Free Fishbites, Buy 3 Get 1 Free Sinker Guy Sputnik Sinkers, 10% off Fish-N-Mate surf and pier carts, $90 off Fish-N-Mate blue tire Beach Caddy carts, huge savings on Penn Spinfisher VII long cast reels and discounts on all rods $99.99 & up including the Over The Bar Surf Rods. Aside from the Pompano, there have been some nice sized Whiting that have been caught along with some Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish and Jacks.
Lake Okeechobee Fishing Report – Capt. Angie Douthit
The bass and crappie bite is in full swing and now is the time to book a trip to fish Lake
Okeechobee. I can accommodate multi day trips and group trips and do offer Military and one-
person trip discounts. If it’s crappie you’re wanting to fish for just bring a medium-size cooler
with some ice to keep them cold for your drive back home, some drinks/snacks and you’re good
to go. I provide all the tackle and lures for the trip; rain gear if needed as well as sunscreen and
extra bottles of water. While on the water, I’ll teach you how to jig; what to look for and
pointers for your next trip out. The same goes for a bass fishing trip minus the cooler….most
people catch and release the bass, but if time allows some customers want to save some time
and try their hand at catching crappie to take home some great-tasting, white flaky fish for
dinner. Some places to start for bass and crappie fishing Okeechobee: Observation Shoal (mid-
ways down…blue hole, work your way back towards the 2 nd pole and on into the trail that takes
you into Moonshine bay); few parts in the Monkey box; North/West side of Dupree bar; around
Dyess Ditch and point of Horse Island; some parts around Indian Praire and lots of areas back in
inside Tin House; 1 st and 2 nd point; few spotty areas around Kings Bar and Grassy and some
areas around Nub N Slough and J&S (low wind days). Lures for bass have been: worms; moving
baits such as: swim jigs/swim baits; some spinner baits; slow working top waters; popping
frogs; shallow jerk baits and the flipping/pitching technique. For the crappie bite; both
minnows and jigs have been producing limits, depends on your preference and technique.
Some people slow troll with spider rigs to catch numbers, sometimes the action can be fast and
furious; sometimes you’ll cover lots of water with minimal action. My preference is to jig for
them once they move into the shallows and catch them on the beds. This style gives you
opportunities to fish areas that you just can’t troll like around grass/weeds. Lure colors for
crappie can be: green; white; yellow and chartreuse; orange and blue. The water clarity, depth
and sun/cloudy days will depict color choice. To book you’re next trip call 863-228-7263 or log
onto my website www.southfloridabassfishing.com to see up-to-date customers with their
catches; fishing reports; phone number to purchase fishing licenses; hotel accommodations
(deep discounts available) and etc. A big thank you to my sponsors: Mercury; Caymas boats;
Bullet Weights; BnM Poles; Mid-South Tackle; Gene Larew; Lews; Gill; G-Loomis; Road Runners;
Tru-Turn hooks; Rapala and MegaStrike.
