foodsaver, Panama City Beach, Redfish, Trout, Snapper, Amberjack, Spanish mackerel, bait, 5/19-5/24,
This report is going to be longish. If you don't want to read about some saltwater fishing move right along.
I came down to spend the week fishing with my buddy Doug who happens to be stationed in PCB in the Navy. I can't think of a better way to celebrate memorial day than to come down and fish with an old friend! Thanks for your service Doug I had a great time down here with ya!
Wednesday night:
Doug thought it would be a good idea to see if we could catch some bull reds on topwater baits... Hmmm YES PLEASE. We hit a bridge with spooks. I caught 5 from 15-20 4 of which came on zara spooks during the outgoing tide. Those fish move some water when they slam a topwater bait! We ended up with 15 total Dougs friend Dan caught 6 with most of them coming on crab. and Doug caught 4. We missed a bunch on topwater but that is the way topwater fishing goes.
Thursday:
We caught a ton of blue runner and cigar minnows at the buoys in the pass before hitting some near shore numbers to check out the snapper bite. Doug caught a couple of red snapper that unfortunately were not in season yet but it gave us a place to try on Saturday. We also caught a few sharks and had a ton of break offs in the wreck. There must have been a bunch of sharp stuff down there because if you didnt get the fish off the wreck in a hurry it was gone.
Friday:
We did some inshore fishing hoping for some keeper redfish and trout. The redfish did not cooperate at all so we focused on the trout. We ended up with 5 keepers before being run off of the spot we were fishing by an overzealous Navy security person. it was a good time catching trout on gulp jerkbaits.
Saturday:
Ahh yes the start of snapper season for near shore (less than 9 miles in Florida) We had high hopes for the wreck we fished earlier in the week but on the way we pulled up on a huge ball of bait. We tried the cast net and sabiki rigs to catch some of the bait without much success so we flipped a couple of live baits around the pod. We ended up with a keeper amberjack on freeline which was a blast. I also saw some gigantic fish under the bait that came up next to the cast net. It was almost as big as the 8 ft cast net so it was freakin huge. I think it was a manta ray. We fooled around with the bait ball for a while until we ran out of live bait and then headed on to the wreck. We fished this wreck for a few hours with down lines (shout out to puddle jumper for the custom rod I was using) and also some free lines. The free lines would periodically hook up with some big freaking fish. We landed one which was a keeper amberjack and broke off 5 or six times after looong runs. One of the fish bent the hook straight after I tightened the drag. It sucked not being able to turn those fish but it was alot of fun fighting them! We also caught a Red Snapper and a bunch of trash fish while wreck fishing.
This report is going to be longish. If you don't want to read about some saltwater fishing move right along.
I came down to spend the week fishing with my buddy Doug who happens to be stationed in PCB in the Navy. I can't think of a better way to celebrate memorial day than to come down and fish with an old friend! Thanks for your service Doug I had a great time down here with ya!
Wednesday night:
Doug thought it would be a good idea to see if we could catch some bull reds on topwater baits... Hmmm YES PLEASE. We hit a bridge with spooks. I caught 5 from 15-20 4 of which came on zara spooks during the outgoing tide. Those fish move some water when they slam a topwater bait! We ended up with 15 total Dougs friend Dan caught 6 with most of them coming on crab. and Doug caught 4. We missed a bunch on topwater but that is the way topwater fishing goes.
Thursday:
We caught a ton of blue runner and cigar minnows at the buoys in the pass before hitting some near shore numbers to check out the snapper bite. Doug caught a couple of red snapper that unfortunately were not in season yet but it gave us a place to try on Saturday. We also caught a few sharks and had a ton of break offs in the wreck. There must have been a bunch of sharp stuff down there because if you didnt get the fish off the wreck in a hurry it was gone.
Friday:
We did some inshore fishing hoping for some keeper redfish and trout. The redfish did not cooperate at all so we focused on the trout. We ended up with 5 keepers before being run off of the spot we were fishing by an overzealous Navy security person. it was a good time catching trout on gulp jerkbaits.
Saturday:
Ahh yes the start of snapper season for near shore (less than 9 miles in Florida) We had high hopes for the wreck we fished earlier in the week but on the way we pulled up on a huge ball of bait. We tried the cast net and sabiki rigs to catch some of the bait without much success so we flipped a couple of live baits around the pod. We ended up with a keeper amberjack on freeline which was a blast. I also saw some gigantic fish under the bait that came up next to the cast net. It was almost as big as the 8 ft cast net so it was freakin huge. I think it was a manta ray. We fooled around with the bait ball for a while until we ran out of live bait and then headed on to the wreck. We fished this wreck for a few hours with down lines (shout out to puddle jumper for the custom rod I was using) and also some free lines. The free lines would periodically hook up with some big freaking fish. We landed one which was a keeper amberjack and broke off 5 or six times after looong runs. One of the fish bent the hook straight after I tightened the drag. It sucked not being able to turn those fish but it was alot of fun fighting them! We also caught a Red Snapper and a bunch of trash fish while wreck fishing.
