Hutchinson Island Weekend Surf Fishing Outlook

[Capt Paul]

The weekend is here again and things are looking great for surf fishing in our area. The great Pompano bite we had last Sunday has not reappeared yet on South Hutchinson Island but the croaker and whiting bite gets better day by day. The Pompano will keep migrating into our waters but the big numbers might not show until our waters cool somewhat. Until that happens we will get shots of them along our beaches and good water clarity and bait supplies will dictate how big the numbers will be. Right place at the right time will be the battle cry for the next few weeks for this species. As far as the whiting and croaker bite is concerned, it just gets better by each tide. I am writing this report on Thursday evening after getting home from Tiger Shores beach for just a couple of hours. I fished with Chuck Frith and Marty Barlow this afternoon and stopped fishing when we couldn't put anymore whiting into the cooler. Middle Cove beach produced 15 large whiting yesterday morning for me but I only fished the Pompano rods 40 to 80 yards off the beach. Today at Tiger Shores the whiting were concentrated from 15 yards to 80 yards from the shore. It just didn't make any difference. The whiting were all medium to large and the croakers were all big. This is great fun for all anglers and your reward is putting together a great catch of some of the best table fare in Florida. Fishbites, cut shrimp, and clams all produced. This fishing along with a buildup of Pompano should continue .Bluefish and Spanish mackerel numbers should increase also as the calendar moves on. Bait schools were hard to find on the beaches I fished this week but around Ft. Pierce and Sebastian inlets to our north, bait was present and so were blues, Spanish mackerel, redfish, and jacks. Winds are forecast to be out of the east, southeast and southerly direction this weekend but only at 5 to 10 knots starting Saturday. High tide will be from 5 to 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday so the afternoons will have rising tides and the fishing should be great. Good luck and catch 'em up.

Remember we will be hosting a free surf fishing seminar on December 5th where we will be targeting whiting, croaker, jacks, blues, Spanish mackerel with a special emphasis on catching Pompano during this early winter season.