This fall has started off pretty good for us. We haven't had much luck on the sharking side, but hopefully things will change soon. The surf, pier, and jetty fishing has been stellar for us this fall. The bull red bite has been great. Although we always grow tired of them, bull reds are always a welcome change from the pup sharks we have been catching all summer. Each fall these reds move into the sounds and off the beaches of coastal Georgia making for a sometimes insane fishery. Not only can you catch them off of the beaches and piers, fishing the sandbars in boats is one of the best ways to target the bulls, with good days yielding up to 25 reds within a couple hours. About two weeks ago we started catching the first ones.
got to relax while waiting on a bite.
in the midst of all the bull reds, kyle managed to catch a cool sandbar on his LX.
This past weekend our crew split up. Andrew, Bennett, and myself headed south to palm beach while Kyle and Mason staying in GA continuing to slay the reds. The trip to palm really had no planning involved.. I had talked to a few guys about the fishing and had been receiving the same response. Sharking wasn't very hot,but the surf fishing was great. This turned out to be true. I want to thank Mike (paddleout91) for his help and advice. We left SSI at 330 am and arrived in palm at 930. We went straight to the inlet. We had decided to fish the southside as it would provide us the best shelter from the NE wind as well as it being a rather secluded area. We made the long haul out to the jetty to find some nice rollers. It was bearable for sure, but getting out of the wash was a pain sometimes.
We also had a nice little tent(a tarp held up by a rod) rigged for when it would rain occasionally.
the true life of a jetty rat.
We quickly caught aton of mullet. We threw some out on surf rods. A while later, we caught two nice southern rays which are apparently a rare catch down there. I took one and yakked it out live on my 12/0. Andrew put out a big piece of ray we had brought from home.
Around noon, my saltist with a live mullet took off, and a blacktip with some thick shoulders shot into the air. He burned me for a while and was a fun fight on the surf rod.
nice thick healthy tipper.
Later that evening the bluefish moved in. They were showering the mullet schools. We were throwing spoons, and as soon as they would hit the water you would have a blue on. We caught probably 50 within 20 minutes. Stayed out till later that night and eventually reeled in. Both baits were untouched, and the live ray was still alive.
The next morning we got up and drove south to the Lake Worth Pier to eat breakfast and the world famous Benny's on the Beach. After we ate we walked out on the pier and everyone was catching bluefish, but not much else was going on. The diversity on those piers is amazing, from zebcos, to van staals, to saltigas they have it all.
After we left the pier we headed back to the jetty. Saturday was beautiful. Sunny, with a good wind and calm seas.
We quickly put out two bonito on the 10/0 and 12/0. turns out these two baits wouldnt get touched the entire day.
I found a big popper i had forgotten about in my bag and tied it on. I headed to the end of the jetty and saw a huge school of jacks blowing up mullet. I could only get one before the school had disappeared. Also caught two big blue runners on the popper. the popper was probably over half their size!
We also caught a nice cuda on a spoon.
After we reeled in the untouched bonito i threw them over the side of the jetty. As we were leaving i looked over and saw 5 small gummies eating them... i had to catch one on the handline. tied on a little hook flung them a piece of bluefish and got one in about 5 seconds. lol.
We packed up and decided to fish that night a little further south.
The area we fished was beautiful.
notice Lake Worth Pier in the background.
we put out some nice chunks of AJ, as well as one of the big blue runners.
got a nice blacktip on the blue runner, but because we had no camera and our phones were on the verge of death we didn't snap any pics.
All in all I was pleased with the trip considering the late notice and not so high hopes going into it.
On the other hand, Kyle and Mason stayed up here and continued to put the hammer to the bull reds off of the jetty and the pier.
Heres all the pics.
Kyle hooked up to a classic jetty ray.
the jetty bosses were in full force.
baby dusky???????
thats it for now! sure there are more coming, kyle is out fishing the pier as I am typing this. tight lines everyone.
"It's all about the presentation"
WOW!!! Those are some BIG REDS Guys!!! Congrats!!! Great Report Fellas. Going to go up that way one day and kayak some baits off your pier with you guys. I can handle a lot but I don't know about that Cold though LOL. Awesome Guys!!
Wow, thats a sick report! Looks like one hell of a good time!
Here fishy fishy fishy.....
Catch a fish or catch a buzz!
thanks guys.... Luis, we are gonna be back down in palm this February. maybe we can meet up to do a little tipper fishing.
"It's all about the presentation"
Great report guys.Got to love all those spots on some of those reds.....Dave
Awesome Report Fellas !!!
SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK CLUB -President SFSC-Founding Member est 1983 SFSC-Website Administrator BIG HAMMER SHARK TOURNAMENT -Founder Rene Memorial Sharkathon -Founder NMFS Shark Tagger
Okay, great post with great pictures...well done!
But tell me, where did you park in Palm Beach near that south jetty? There's NO parking in Palm Beach near that jetty unless you know someone there. Or maybe you walked from Lake Worth Pier? Then, again, most of that beach area in Palm Beach is private property and the cops are very frisky and will throw strangers out...arrest them sometimes....unless you stayed below the tide line or in the water altogether. So what's your story? Just curious.
walk from lake worth 
id rather die... we just parked right by the trails behind a bunch of construction cars. The first day we had no problems, but the second day one of the homeowners complained about the car. The policeman was nice enough to walk all the way out to the jetty to talk to us. He didn't want to write us a ticket and he politely asked us to move the car. Instead of everyone leaving, my dad just left and went down by the pier to hang out while we fished. Also, pretty sure, unlike everywhere else in palm, I don't think the homeowners own the jetty... Many of them walked out while we were fishing and they were all nice. They didn't mind at all.
"It's all about the presentation"
I don't think they own the jetty, either. The beach, maybe above the tide line...something like that. Anyhow, I guess getting dropped off is one way to do it. I would say you got very lucky with the parked car because they usually tow....instantly...and usually hassle most strangers...just the history of the place...thus the reason I brought it up. Ironically, I've heard of people walking it from Lake Worth Pier. What I may do is write a letter to the city and see what the story is for that inlet, as far as fishing goes...just out of curiosity. The facts. Many on this board fish it, same as you, so there must be a good way of going about it in a confident way instead of relying on luck and such. I'd certainly feel uncomfortable fishing there, wondering if my car was going to still be there or not.
Yeah, the cop said sometimes they do tow, but alot of the time its like a $60 ticket or something crazy. I think writing to the city would be a good way to straighten some things out. I do think it is good that is is pretty much private though... because it is hard to access it means alot less people can mess it up..
"It's all about the presentation"
Great report! I would love to fish in that inlet but the parking situation there is terrible.
Well, I spoke with someone today who once fished there and got his car towed, and it was almost $200, he said, to get his car back! Because it took him a few days to find out where his car even was. Said it was a big hassle, had to show all his papers, license, registration....and was almost brought up on trespassing charges to top it off.
So it seems there are different stories to this Palm Beach inlet fishing scene, some with luck who casually go there with little to no worry and others who get the grand slam Palm Beach boot.....I don't think so...something is up, for sure.
I'm still writing the city to find out exactly what the property deal is, who owns what and what the laws are. Because I have scene whole crews of people there on this forum with loads of rods, dragging around Yaks, fishing day and night, pulling in shark after shark....
Very interesting and hush hush...I'll post what I find out.
Thanks for taking the time to write up such a comprehensive report & post all the wonderful pictures. Beautiful reds!
Thanks for all the positive feedback! Might be a while before i get to write another report.
"It's all about the presentation"