The weather and surf wasn’t the the greatest lately, however, I did manage to make it out at the end of the week. We are still fighting higher than normal tides and super dirty water. For me, the outgoing tide has been best this week as the water cleaned up some and was not as dark and dirty.

The mullet pods are still close early until around 10am or so, and then again late in the evening. With the mullet you will find the larger bluefish, small to medium sized tarpon, and of course, the sharks are feeding heavy. Use fresh cut bait or live mullet with a 7/0-10/0 circle hook and either some heavy mono or wire on a fish finder rig for the bluefish and sharks. The tarpon can be a bit more of a challenge but some clear 40-60lbs mono or fluorocarbon leader with the same size hooks have been the key. Also larger poppers and silver spoons have been working for all three.

The big bull whiting and pompano bite has started to turn on. The greater pompano migration has not arrived to the area yet, but they are on the move. The bigger schools of resident pompano can be found in the river right now with a few on the beach. Fresh clams, shrimp and live sand fleas are the way to go right now. However, until the water clears up you will still have to fight the large number of catfish in the surf. The standard pompano rig with either a small bead or naked has been working the best for myself right now. Use multiple rods at different ranges and rig set ups to find what the fish are wanting that day.