Pensacola Fishing Reports

As we left from Galvez launch at 0630, for some reason the theme song from Gilligans Island kept repeating in my head! Due South of us was a large storm system that was clearly building and pushing WNW. I figured we had plenty of time to run out towards the Pass and try to land a few fish before the wind started.

Once we arrived the weather was fairly nice and plenty fishable. First drop Kelan hooks in to a monster redfish. This fish was trying to take every inch of line off the Shimano reel that he was using. After a few hard fought minutes the hook pulled. This is when I thought the bite was going to be on fire! We made about another dozen drifts and had a few short bites, some baits were hit and let go of. Just a really funny bite compared to the last few weeks. A few drifts later we got the bite we were looking for. Beck got hammered and set the hook firmly in the fish and the fight was on! After about a 10 minute fight we had the fish boat side. After a few quick photos we released the fish and decided to make a move. With the storm getting closer and closer and the winds really starting to pick up we moved to the Flounder rocks. We made three drifts and quickly boated a few Flounder and a White snapper. After our third drift the Storm began to look much more angry than before so we decided to make the run back to the launch!

We did make it back out after the storm for a few hours to try our luck again. But by that time the tide had gone slack and the bite was off. We did manage one more small redfish and a couple more Flounder but nothing to special. All in all it was an exciting day on the water with some great company!!

……………..See you out there

Inshore Slam!!! That’s right I had a 9 year old young lady today get her first ever Inshore Slam!!! Today I guided Fred, Helen Grace, Justin and Mollie on a 6 hour trip out of Perdido Key! We started out looking for the Bull reds, we got a late start and caught the tail end of the tide and were only able to boat one. It was a 28″`beauty and was Helen Graces first ever red!!! We tried for a little longer but we had missed the bite by about an hour.

Switching gears we headed back in to Big Lagoon and played with some really small trout for about an hour and that’s when young Mollie boated her first Speckled Trout. With the bite a little slow for trout we ran back out to the Flounder rocks and quickly began boating Flounder and small grouper. The action was pretty steady and a lot of fun showing the girls all the different types of fish and explaining all about them. This is when Mollie boated part two of her slam when she hooked and landed 3 legal Flounder all in about 30 minutes!!!

With the tide starting to flow again we went back to the Pass to finish off our Slam and finish the day on a good note. After several failed drifts it finally happened. We had a triple header of large angry reds and it was GAME ON!! We lost one fairly early in the fight but were able to land the final two, a 23lb and a 20lb beauty!!! This was a great ending to a great day fishing and the final fish needed for Mollie to complete her Inshore Slam!!

………………. See you out there

(sorry I did not take a pic of Mollies trout)

Have I mentioned how much I love summertime fishing????? Well I love Summertime fishing!!! Today I ran a Capt. for hire trip and had the pleasure of fishing with some awesome guys out of Atlanta. Marvin and his two Sons Mark and Luke and I fished aboard their 18′ Proline and were looking for Trout and Reds!

We started out on some sheltered grass flats and quickly starting boating trout. We were throwing popping corks and shrimp and caught some where around 20 fish. Only six were keepers but they were a great grade of fish, including one 25″ Monster!!! After we ran out of shrimp we switched gears and headed after the redfish. Luckily we caught the bite about an hour before it shut off and were able to boat three fish. Two were perfect upper slot fish and one Bull that wouldn’t measure!

With a nice mess of fish in the cooler and the tide slowing way down we decided to troll for a few to see if we could find any Kings or Spanish. Our luck was not so good on the Mackerel so around 11am we decided to call it a day and head back to dock. I feel confident that Marvin and his Sons can duplicate the fishing techniques we used today and start loading the box each and every time they fish together! Another great day on the water with great people!

………………… See you out there

Bull reds and Hammerheads, sounds like a country song to me!!!! Today I guided Chrissy and John on a four hour afternoon trip. We left Shoreline at 3:30 pm and headed towards the Pass. The plan was to catch Bull Reds and then try to land a Shark. I felt really confident on the reds but felt we may have to work on the Shark!! When we arrived at the Pass we had an unexpected guest, to our North was a pretty large Storm system with a good bit of lightning in it. I was afraid for a few minutes that we may get bit, but after about an hour the storm fell apart and moved on!!

That’s when the bite got hot!! We started out with Chrissy getting worked by a 23lb bull red on 10lb Braid!! This fish worked her good and pulled us three buoys out into the Pass!! Right when I thought things couldn’t go any better, on the very next drop she hooks the biggest red I have landed in the Pass this year. This 30lb monster whooped Chrissy for a good 15-20 minutes before we got it in the net!!! After fooling with the Bulls for a while we decided to move to our next location and try for our shark! Quickly after starting, Chrissy again hooks a fish!! To John and mines amazement she was on again, with another monster!! This one turned out to be a 4 foot Bonnet Head Shark!!!

Such an awesome animal and one I don’t see a whole lot of around here! With the Bull reds and Hammer heads covered we made a quick stop on the Flounder rocks and that’s when John fired off and caught two quick fish for the Cooler.He caught two flounder over 3 lbs in two back to back drops! We then pointed the boat back to the east and made the run home with a setting Sun!!! Another great day on the water with great people!

………………….. See you out there