Fort Lauderdale / LBTS Beach Fishing Reports 2010 to 2022

[zeenman1]

I heard the story. Nice work guys!

[snapperfanatic18]

great report ff...awesome time fishing!

[ny11219]

The mackerel were all over the beach this AM. Lost 4 lures (30 lb fluoro leader) before I managed to land one. Then all of a sudden the bluefish moved in and it was mayhem. bait fish were stranding themselves on the sand to escape the onslaught brought on by the countless bluefish. Lure was getting hit as soon as it hit the water. There was no need to work them. Lost count how many were caught. most of them released gave some away to people who asked. All in all it was an awesome morning.

Hope this cold front does not turn off the bite completely..

[snapperfanatic18]

awesome report! that seems to be the news all over broward. any size to the macks?

[ny11219]

The one that managed not to cut me off was 17" with nice girth to him. He was invited back home with me. Had a belly full of pilchards, all eaten head first. You could tell where he bit down as they both had their tails almost bitten off, very informative.

[Chevy Juan]

Great report man!

[BoatlessFisherman]

Awesome ,thanks for the report. I love when the Beach is on fire.

[Zebco]

I was watching macks flying thru the air into minnows while I was digging earlier.

[Dragon]

The kid saw a large pod of bait getting hammered by fish & birds about 8:30 this morning just south of Sunrise Blvd and A1A, around 100 yards out.

[JustTVH]

100 lbers on the beach!

[JustTVH]

Whos out on the beach? bait still around and small?

[zeenman1]

Whos out on the beach? bait still around and small?

Yes, bait was small on Wednesday. Anytime now it should get going. Last Monday or Tuesday I ran into a school of mullet on Vistamar. Had some great action large line sides and 30-50lb poons.

[392hemi]

Galt Ocean Mile daybreak Sunday. Jacks a plenty at sunrise. No mullet,herring and sardines in limited quantities.

[clarence2society]

fished pompano beach on shore this am around 6 til 9...quiet morning, flat water mostly....waded out a bit saw some bait not much...few mullet swam through, birds hit one decent bait pod that moved in, i brought up 3 smaller jacks with my mirrorlure. beautiful morning though.

[dave c]

Fished yesterday and today at Vista Park on Lauderdale beach late afternoon with live shrimp and sand fleas. 2 lady fish , 2 blue runners, 2 jack, a look down , and one nice sized whiting. Hurry up mullet run! No pics this time,but at it again next week and will bring camera.

[dave c]

Fished again at Vista Park Beach at Lauderdale by the Sea on Thursday 10th from 4pm to 7pm and caught about 15 small jacks and hooked 2 ladyfish that jumped and got off. Used live shrimp. I will try again on next days off, some quality fish have to swim by sometime right?

[BoatlessFisherman]

Keep at it, this time of year is great fishing from the beach and Fleas will be another good bait even the muttons around that area will feed on the sand for them

[dave c]

Cool, I just bought a sand flea rake and I like surf fishing. I am hoping to hit the fall pomp run, I know it is nothing like the one in Spring, but I have caught keepers in years past mixed in with all the small ones from Anglins and last March I caught my first 2 keeper pomps from the surf at Lauderdale by the Sea. I miss fishing Anglins but am really fine tuning my new surf skills as I have been fishing for over 35 years and this past spring bought my first surf rod and started surf fishing. I will post here and in the other areas I fish in the future.

[released]

Walked Ft. Lauderdale South beach to the North Port Everglades Jetty. Sun up saw 2 black tip sharks working the beach. Really cool to see. One chased my Top Dog lure up the beach. A tourist was walking by and asked what was that. I told them a shark. They looked at each other, and you can tell in their eyes they were not going to go in the water any time soon. Caught small jacks and runners. Tons of small pilchards west of the jetty rocks. Beautiful Sunrise today BTW.

[ftlfish1]

near oakland park got a nice sized whiting and a small permit both on frozen sand fleas, this was on incoming tide yesterday

[BoatlessFisherman]

Cool

[HJared]

Pretty decent pompano bite from the surf this afternoon. Got my limit then my car refused to start.

[HJared]

4 today. Tons of people out

[lilxvu]

4 today. Tons of people out

Cool. Thanks. I'll see you out there sometime.

[eddieb]

any snook in the surf yet?

[antoine rokomura]

Yes, there are snook on the beach. I see them myself sitting in holes in the sand bar or moving up and down the beach. I also talk to other people fishing, who roam from Vista Park to Anglins Pier , and some have been successful on live pilchards or on fly fishing rigs.

I myself almost never catch them, because I don't have a good eye for them and spook them by getting too close.

The big problem now when hunting snook with live bait is all the needlefish (hound fish?). They are all over the place, and they snatch the bait before the snook get to them. Then when I do hook a snook, it breaks off because the needlefish chewed up my leader.

[fishnfool73]

Top water lures at night or day break are a blast for beach snook and a ton of other species

[Kingofthesea]

X2. I use a Rapala Xrap Glass Ghost when I'm fishing the surf and I've done well it in John Lloyd and Dania. I can't think of many (lol just did pompano) fish in the surf that haven't chased it. You won't be disappointed and it flys a mile. Pssssst I can't see the snook in the surf either but they find me once in a while.

[antoine rokomura]

Thanks for the advice. I really do need it, because I have only ever landed one snook, after countless attempts. Then when I finally hooked one last week for only the second time ever, my leader broke off.

I mostly do not fish at night, because flashlights are not allowed during turtle season. In the past when I fished at night, I often lost things because I could not see where I put them down. I felt horrible leaving sharp things on the sand knowing that people would be walking there the next day.

When I am up early enough to fish at daybreak, it seems wrong to use an artificial lure. If I use squid, I can wait for fish to be attracted to the scent. If I use live bait, it will create motion on its own to attract fish. With an artificial lure, I have to create the motion by retrieving the lure. So I can only attract fish which are in the immediate vicinity of where I'm casting. I cannot see if there are fish where I am casting, because the rising sun is in my eyes. So I am casting blindly to a spot where a fish will only be there by blind luck, and that never happens for me. It seems futile.

I have never caught a fish using a topwater hard plastic lure, despite dozens of attempts (hundreds of casts). I have only four times caught a fish using any artificial lure. The first was a bass in the Delaware river using a berkley worm. Two were blue runners here on the beach with a Johnson Sprite (spoon). One was a needlefish (they are all over the place now) attacking a translucent soft plastic shrimp.

I have tried topwater lures using a slow retrieve, a fast retrieve, or stop-and-go. I have tried ones with a plastic lip in front to make it dip, and those without. I have tried matching the hatch in size and shape, and ones with garish or iridescent colors. It have tried everything I can think of, and never got a strike. No idea what I'm doing wrong.