SOUTH FLORIDA OFFSHORE: So much fresh water is being dumped out local inlets from all the rain this week that it killed the live goggle-eyes and pilchards that offshore anglers were storing in their bait pens. Capt. Skip Dana of the Helen S and Fish City Pride drift boats at Hillsboro Inlet Marina said there was a great snapper bite Thursday, with anglers catching big mangroves and a few muttons and yellowtails. Tim Davis of Gladesman Outfitters deep-dropped for yellow-eye snappers using a chicken rig with 5-0 and 6-0 circle hooks baited with squid around rockpiles in 200-400 feet and his group limited out after five drops. Before all the rain, Terry Dinnen caught a 42-pound bull dolphin in 1,000 feet off Port Everglades while fishing with his wife, Cleta, on their 31 Contender Fishstik. The Dinnens had caught a 20-pounder while trolling when the big bull appeared and they pitched him a live pilchard.
THE KEYS: Richard Stanczyk of Bud N’ Mary’s Marina said the rain and windy weather resulted in a lot of canceled trips, but fishing for dolphin is good and lots of blackfin tunas were biting.
SOUTH FLORIDA INSHORE: There was a good tarpon bite earlier in the week around Keys bridges and channels and that should resume when the weather settles.
EVERGLADES/FRESHWATER: Capt. Alan Zaremba reported that all the rain slowed the red-hot fishing for bass and panfish in Everglades canals, which were still biting hard jerkbaits and topwater plugs. “I watched the water levels come up a foot in one area in a matter of three days,” Zaremba said. “We still caught fish but the numbers were cut in half.”
LAKE OKEECHOBEE: Bass fishing has been good in the canals and Kissimmee River using swimbaits and soft-plastic jerkbaits.
swaters@sun-sentinel.com, Twitter @WatersOutdoors
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