Palm Beach anglers are getting the classic August draw: a two-mile run to blue water, flat morning seas, and a hard afternoon storm that ends the day early. The Gulf Stream has been pushed in tight, which makes short offshore trips genuinely worthwhile. The new moon at the end of the week will crank up the inlet tides, and the tarpon crowd is watching for it.
What’s Hitting
Mahi are the offshore headline, holding on weedlines and color changes in 200 to 600 feet. Mutton snapper are feeding well on the reef in 70 to 120 feet, especially around the new moon. Blackfin tuna and bonito are on the deeper wrecks at first light. Sailfish are scattered but a few are being raised on the edge. Inshore, tarpon are stacked at the Palm Beach and Boynton inlets on the night tides, and snook are on the same structure — catch-and-release only under the current closed harvest season.
Where to Find Them
The current edge sets up 2 to 6 miles out most mornings — look for a color change with grass and bait rather than committing to a depth. The reef edge off Juno and Boynton is producing muttons on the drift. Palm Beach Inlet, Boynton Inlet and the Intracoastal bridges hold tarpon and snook after dark. The Lake Worth Lagoon dock lights are worth a late-night snook pass.
Tides & Conditions
Offshore water is 84 to 86 degrees with a strong north-setting current close to the beach. Inshore is high 80s. New-moon tides bring the biggest exchange of the month through both inlets, and the outgoing after dark is when the tarpon feed hardest. Seas have been 1 to 2 feet in the morning, building with the afternoon storms.
Tackle & Tactics
Keep a light spinning rod rigged with a bucktail or a small ballyhoo for pitching to mahi — a 40-pound fluorocarbon leader gets more bites than heavier. Muttons want a fresh ballyhoo or pinfish on a long leader and a knocker rig fished on the drift. Inlet tarpon are eating live mullet and crabs on 60- to 80-pound leader, or a heavy flair hawk jig swum in the current. Snook on the bridge lights want live pilchards or a swimbait worked across the shadow line.
Local Intel This Week
The Riviera Beach municipal ramp and Boynton Harbor Marina are the practical launches for inlet and offshore access. Shore anglers are catching snook, snapper and jacks from the Boynton Inlet catwalk and the Juno Beach Pier. Fish are concentrating on the inlets and the current edge rather than spreading over the flat reef. Snook harvest is closed on the Atlantic coast and reef species carry federal restrictions — check current FWC and NOAA regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
Fish the inlet on the outgoing, not the incoming. Bait is being flushed out of the Lake Worth Lagoon and the tarpon set up in the rip just outside the jetty tips to intercept it. Position outside the fish and let your bait swing to them.
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