Capt. Scott Hamilton - Palm Beach

The winter cycle of fishing has started and there's no lack of choices to target. Dolphin are being caught on the color changes and weed lines in 300-600ft of water. Try to keep the school close to the boat by chumming or leaving a hooked fish in the water. Don't be afraid to throw light rods (6-7wt) at the little schoolies. This can be incredible fun! If your looking for that big slob, sink a fast density compensated line (SA's fast Striper) on a 10-11 weight with big 3/0 Eat Me Flies in Chartreuse/White or Blue/Pink/White. Count it down to the desired depth and give the rod jigging motions by quickly pulling back on it, followed by slowly swinging the tip back to the water. Every few jigs, reel in a little line to fish a different section of the water column. Tripletail are suspended in the same weedlines as the Dolphin. Closer in along the beaches are Spanish Mackerel, Bluefish and medium-sized Jacks. The bigger Jacks will trickle in, but the main part of their run will happen after the New Year. This past week on a guided trip, Scott got into 8-10 Sailfish busting baitballs in 20ft of water! He got one to follow and slash at a big Eat Me Fly in white topped with a little blue. The Sail followed the fly to the boat before getting spooked off. Tarpon averaging 30lbs are on the inside of the inlet laid up on the bottom in 20ft of water. Blind casting and dredging will work, but also make shots at fish when they roll on the surface.