Salt Water
PANAMA CITY OFFSHORE AND BAYS A few Wahoo have shown up within the past week and are being caught as close in as 15 miles. High speed trollers like the Panhandler and Yo Zuri Bonita in black and purple colors are working best. Mahi Mahi are also making their appearance known. Not very many are being caught, but if you can find some weed patches or floating debri, there is a good chance that a few fish will be on them. King Mackerel fishing has been sporadic lately. Smaller kings are still being caught trolling Dusters and free-lining live or dead bait. Larger Kings are being caught slow trolling live bait at a depth of 30-40 feet. Use downriggers or heavy egg sinkers with long leaders to attain the depth range needed. The Grouper bite is still steady in the 100 to 200 foot areas on mainly hard bottom. Live bait, whole boston mackerel and jigs are working well. Jigs with a glow color to them are a sure bet. Amberjack are on many of the inshore wrecks and reefs in good numbers. Try the Bridge Spans for lots of action. The larger fish will be well offshore over hard bottom. Live cigar minnows or pinfish will entice the larger fish, while jigs (Williamson Jig) will trigger the most bites. Snapper action is still going strong. A killer technique is to use live shrimp on light wire 3/0 or 4/0 circle hooks with 30# fluorocarbon leader. Live shrimp will catch good numbers of snapper, especially when the bite is hard to come by. Squid, cigar minnows and chunks of northern mackerel are working well also. The bag limit for state waters remains four snapper per person and 16” length, however in federal waters only two snapper per person and 16” length. Federal waters start basically nine miles from land, and is noted on your maps as the Natural resources boundary. Ladyfish, Bluefish and Bar Jacks are everywhere up and down the beaches right now. Throw Pompano Jigs, Gotcha’s and Spoons on light tackle for a lot of fun. Half Hitch Tackle
ST ANDREWS BAY SYSTEM The Trout bite is picking up some. They are on the flats and roaming the grassy areas. Big trout can be caught early in the day on topwater plugs. An excellent technique is to rig a Berkley Gulp 4” Shrimp weedless with a standard wide gap worm hook. The bait will sink slow and with each twitch will dart erratically. The trout will nail it on the fall! The redfish action is still going strong. Gulp, Gold Spoons and Soft Jerk Baits are working well. Early in the morning and late in the afternoon, try throwing topwater baits (Top Dog Jr in Red Head/White Body) for some explosive action. Half Hitch Tackle
DAN RUSSEL PIER Spanish mackerel and a few Kings are being caught every day at the pier right now. Pompano, Whiting, Blue Fish, and Laidy Fish are also being caught. Call 850-233-5080 for the latest pier fishing information.
DESTIN Near shore kings and reds under the bridge were the catch of the week. There were people who managed to get some nice catches of grouper and snapper. We did hear of some great wahoo and dolphin action 30-50 miles offshore. It was a excellent week on the pier with lots of kings in the early morning hours and plenty of blues, hardtails and ladyfish in the afternoon. For you bay guys trout were slow. Tim Broom
MEXICO BEACH/PORT ST JOE OFFSHORE Reports we received this week indicated that good numbers of snapper and grouper caught between twenty-five and forty miles out. Live bait is abundant around the buoys and over wrecks and reefs. The King Mackerel are here. Trolling dusters rigged with cigar minnows is good way to locate and catch kings. The Spanish Mackerel are fattening up, three-plus pound fish, and larger catches are common along the buoy line. Trolling with a mackerel tree and Clark spoon is working great...
ST JOSEPH BAY Redfish are showing up in good numbers on the flats. Live LY’s is the bait of choice and live shrimp is a close second although the Pinfish (Choffers) readily devour them. Either fish these live baits under a Cajun thunder float or Carolina rig them with just enough weight to keep them on the bottom. Artificial baits include the “Gotcha” grub and you can improve your hook-ups by tipping them with Fish-bites or Berkley Gulp. Good spots to fish are the flats around Black’s island and along the channel near Pig’s Bayou. For flounder in these same areas, use Bull minnows Carolina rigged with a size 1 circle hook using a fluorocarbon leader and a 1 oz or less egg weight. Pompano fishing is stellar and the hot spots are the stump hole at Cape San Blas and along the beaches of St Joseph State Park. Most of the fish were caught using sand fleas, both natural and artificial on double hook pompano rigs.
Fresh Water
FRESHWATER Bluegill and Shellcracker fishing is still going strong. Use Red wigglers and/or Beetle Spins to fill your stringer. The bass spawn is largely over, hungry bass are actively feeding, and the bigger bass are holding in deeper cooler water near structure. Early morning and just before dark are great times to break out the topwater plugs for some gill rattling action. Smaller bass are hitting throughout the day and close to shore. Work an area thoroughly before moving on and pay close attention to logs and other structure.
Fishing Report prepared by Half Hitch Tackle Staff.
For more information contact;
Half Hitch Tackle
850-234-2621
2206 Thomas Dr
Panama City, FL 32408
www.halfhitch.com/
