Report for 08/27/2010
Salt Water
PORT ST JOE OFFSHORE
Late summer weather and the volatile seas that accompany it haven’t slowed St Joe anglers down a bit. They simply fish harder during the breaks in high wind and seas. It’s paid off for them too, here’s how you can do the same…warm surface water temps have pushed the kings down further beneath the surface so the key is getting your baits into the strike zone. Simply adding a 6 to 8 ounce trolling lead ahead of your leader system will hook you up with plenty of Spanish mackerel and/or schoolie kings. Of course the Spanish have had nearly all summer to grow up from the fifteen to twenty inches we see in the spring, making them much more exciting to catch. For big kings …place your offerings of skirted cigar minnows in the neighborhood of twenty feet deep behind your downrigger or number two planer. Troll slowly!
ST. JOE BAY
Dawn and dusk remain the best times to tackle Trout and Redfish in St. Joe Bay. Top water plugs like Badonk-a-donks, Zara spooks and the like are all very effective lures. When the top water action slows try working Mirrolure’s Mirrodines. They are proving themselves with many of our local anglers and reports say they are excellent lures to work around edges of grass flats for fat summertime sea trout.
PANAMA CITY OFFSHORE AND INSHORE
Now that we can fish Federal waters and the weather has given us a few days of lighter winds, there have been some good catches of grouper well offshore. Keep your eyes open, there are still some good sized Cobia hanging around our offshore wrecks. Have a pole rigged ready to drop them a live bait. If you are after King Mackerel, you should be able to get your limit trolling your bait of choice, and you may get surprised by one of the other pelagics. Going deep seems to be producing the best results with the water temps so high. If you come across a tide line or a matt of Sargasso weed, be sure to work that area well. If you spot something, it would be good to have something to chum with and turn the bite on (and hold them in the area), like some small live bait or cut up frozen bait. Sometimes the hot temps seem to give them “lock jaw”. Chumming works well for bottom fishing as well and there are several different chum delivery systems available to get your chum down where the fish are so you are not just creating a slick behind the boat and at the top of the water column. It can make the difference when they just don’t seem to want to bite and it can coax the big ones out of their holes. Stay tuned for an update on what looks like a mini Red snapper season in October/ November, we will know by September 15th.
ST. ANDREWS BAY SYSTEM
Well we just had a full moon and generally the bite is a little off after it but a nice live LY or finger mullet offered up on the flats at dawn should get taken. There are still plenty of Blues and Spanish around. Trout and Reds are hitting best on an incoming tide and early or late in the day. In the middle of the day go deep like in the channels or around the bridges and you should find something to play tug of war with. If you are fishing the flats do something to keep your bait off the bottom because it will hide in the grass and if you are going deep, hook your bait in the nose to keep it from spinning in the current. You can find Mangrove snapper and Sheepshead around the jetties and other similar areas but you will have to have either live shrimp or small live baits to tempt them. This is the time of year we find Tarpon in the bay and if you want to target them you will need to have a larger pole rigged and ready to throw or you may miss an opportunity!
PANAMA CITY BEACH SURF & PIER
The King Mackerel bite is best real early at the pier and there are Blues and Spanish around to tear up your tackle. Flounder, Pompano and Sheepshead should be hanging around the pilings. Dig up some sand fleas or bring some live shrimp and do a little prospecting in and around the pier pilings and in the surf out along the sand bars. Tarpon are in the area and are definitely easier to target at the pier but, a live bait placed out as far as you can get it may very well get launched by the silver king. Hook your bait in the back behind the dorsal and let him swim. Just remember you are not allowed to handle Tarpon anymore without a stamp, just take a good picture and cut the line so you don’t get in any trouble.
NAVARRE
PIER
Anglers have had good success catching Spanish Mackerel on Gotcha plugs, small silver spoons and live Cigar Minnows. Bubble rigs with orange, green and striped straw materials have been doing well too. The King Mackerel bite has been steady all month and should stay that way. Best baits are live Hard Tails, Cigar Minnows and Threadfin Herring. The occasional Cobia is still being caught on the same live baits and of course jigs. Mangrove snapper have been on the end of the pier in pretty good numbers. You may want to try some 10# to 12# fluorocarbon leaders to get these fish to bite.
SURF
With light winds in the morning there should be some fishing opportunities. We should continue to see good numbers of Jack Crevalle in the 5# to 20# range. The Jacks are hitting best on top water poppers and Rapala Skitterwalks. The Pompano bite has remained spotty with most fish being landed on fresh dead shrimp and live sand fleas when you can find them. The Spanish Mackerel and Skipjack are all through the surf. Any bright shiny lure that is travelling very quickly will take their share. On calmer days Kayak fisherman can reach the King Mackerel just at the drop off in 20’ of water. There is also some Dolphin on the beach this time of year in the same areas. Look for the schools of threadfins and cigar minnows and troll with deep diving hard baits. Try trolling live baits around these baitfish schools as well.
SOUND AND BAYS
Nothing has changed much here. Anglers can expect to see great Trout fishing around the grass flats from Tiger Point to the grass flats just east of the bridge. Redfish and Flounder are also in the same waters with most of the fish caught on live shrimp under a popping cork. Also try using a 1/4oz jig tipped with a GULP! shrimp or jerk shad under the same popping cork. There have also been plenty of Trout and Redfish landed in East Bay from the Garcon Point Bridge up to the power lines crossing the entrance to the East River. There have been some reports of Spanish Mackerel being caught around the Navarre Beach Bridge. Use the same tactics as in the Gulf. Bright spoons and Gotcha plugs traveling very fast will get it done. With the heat of August, early morning and late afternoon forays will be the best times to fish for all species. Don’t overlook the summertime night fishing around the lighted docks. There are some nice fish right in the light, but don’t overlook the darker edges of the light either. Live shrimp is a great bait to use if you can get it. If not, the Berkley GULP! baits do well fished with a split shot or under a small popping cork.
NEAR SHORE – GULF
King Mackerel are still the hot bite near shore and continue to bite strong in and around the passes and inshore reefs in 60 to 80 feet of water. Trolling or fly lining live cigar minnows when anchored up has been the top producer. Dolphin continue to show up in increasing numbers especially around anglers fishing for bottom species. Just remember to have a rod ready and rigged with a pitch bait when they do show up. The near shore reefs and wrecks are also producing good numbers of Amberjack, Grouper, Red Snapper, Black Snapper, Lane Snapper and Triggerfish. The Grouper are being caught on large pinfish, threadfins or hardtails with their tail clipped to make it easier for the grouper to catch them. The Snappers will nail a live cigar minnow fished on the very bottom. Keep in mind that the Red Snapper season is closed.
OFFSHORE – GULF
Amberjack are almost on every wreck from 80’ on out with the largest fish being caught in deeper water of 100’ or more. Look for Grouper to remain on the near shore reefs and wrecks. Fish in the 10# to 15# range will hit pinfish, threadfins and hardtails. You will have to remove the tails from the Hardtails; otherwise they are next to impossible to get to the bottom on a light weight. Dolphin and Triple Tail can still be found on just about any floating structure. A jig tipped squid or shrimp will take the Triple Tail. A cut or live Cigar minnow or live Pinfish will get you your Dolphin. King mackerel are being caught daily over this same structure by fisherman fly lining live baits while anchored up. If you can get out the blue water bite is still smoking hot. Yellow Fin, Black Fin and Wahoo are being caught around most of the deep water oil rigs. Poppers, jigs and slow trolled ballyhoo continue to be the go to bait. The bigger fish are coming off the bridled Bonito or large Blue Runners bump trolled around the rigs. . Some reports have the cleaner water holding on the edge, but blue water remains around 100 miles out.
Half Hitch Tackle
850-234-2621
2206 Thomas Dr
Panama City, FL 32408
www.halfhitch.com
Fishing Report prepared by Half Hitch Tackle Staff.
The Captains Corner Fishing Report is provided by local charter captains and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Half Hitch Tackle.
This report is dedicated to the memory of Al Hubbard.
Al Hubbard was a field editor for Florida Sportsman magazine, an outdoor writer for the News Herald and a board member of the Florida Outdoor Writer's Association.
Mr. Hubbard was also the owner of Al's Outdoors Outfitting Services.
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