Weekly Fishing Report 07/12/2013

NAVARRE
Hope everyone had a happy 4^th of July. Hopefully this weekend we will see a little less rain and if the weather reports are right that should be the case.

Still no live shrimp to be had, but there are plenty of finger mullet, tiger minnows, menhaden and pilchards around for bait. Fished around the pilings with just a split shot or short Carolina rig is a great presentation for redfish, speckled trout, flounder and black snapper. Free lined under a popping cork on the flats will get you trout, reds, bluefish, and the occasional flounder. With the water clarity down a lot of us have been adding small DOA rattles to our jigs tipped with a Gulp to enhance our presentation. This has been an especially deadly presentation for specks. The bite at night for trout and redfish is still going strong. Almost any small soft plastic or crank bait will work as well as pilchards or finger mullet will work. For the larger trout though you need to work you baits on the edge or just outside the glow of the light. Fly fishermen are probably having the most fun fishing size 4 or 2 solid white or black clouser minnows though as they more closely match the forage the trout and reds are feeding on.

On the pier the king and Spanish bite has slowed down due to the degraded water quality. The shark bite though is still going strong along with the occasional redfish and pompano. The only reliable catches right now seem to be ladyfish, hardtails and blue fish. The bite pompano bite in the surf has improved some this week due to the lack of June grass. Most of the grassed was washed ashore during last week’s storm. The pompano bite should continue top improve as the water quality improves.

Nearshore the harvesting of red snapper ends the 14^th of July at midnight. The hottest bite is happening first thing in the morning on reefs and wrecks within state waters. Gag grouper are on available on both nearshore and offshore reefs and wrecks with the average fish landed around 10 pounds. Amberjacks and triggerfish are still off the menu until August 1, 2013 and as of the first red snapper caught in federal waters will have to be released. Cobias are also being caught in pretty good numbers by fishermen targeting bottom species. The king bite is still going strong near shore and off. Slow trolling live baits or Yo-Zuri and Mann’s Stretch deep diving plugs around structure or free lining live baits in the current when anchored up on near shore reefs are the top producing presentations. You should be able to get offshore this weekend if the 1 to 2 foot wave height forecast is correct. So break out the trolling outfit and see if the wahoo bite is still going as strong as it was before all of this bad weather. Deep diving plugs, such as Mann’s stretch 25’s and 30’s as well as the new YoZuri Bonita should produce some great action if the fish are still there. I’m still getting a few reports from boats heading out to the rigs and the blackfin tuna, yellowfin, mahi, and wahoo bite is still going strong. The same areas are seeing a few white marlin catches as well.

Until next week tight lines and get out there!

PANAMA CITY BEACH OFFSHORE
Well you might think that all the recent rains would have had a detrimental effect on fishing, but that is not the case. Sure it does seem to have pushed King mackerel out a little and there were less reported catches of Mahi-mahi in close but other than that bottom fishing was still productive. Now if you traveled out say twenty five miles or so south and west, you did get into your more typical blue green water and could still find Wahoo and the like. We are in the last throws of Red snapper season, it will end in state waters Sunday night at midnight and it already closed in Federal waters. But with Gag grouper opened up again and Red snapper still legal in state waters most anglers have been able to bring home their limit. There has not been much to be had for cigar minnows or herring around the buoys probably due to all the fresh water but you can find squirrel fish, grunts and hard tails around the natural bottom spots. The last time we had this much rain it took at least a couple weeks to get back to normal so hang in there, this too shall pass.

SURF AND PIER
Fishing from the beach has not been great, between all of the rain and surf being kicked up it has been less than ideal to say the least. Short of some small sharks, sail cats and Ladyfish I can’t say I have heard much.

At the piers they were still catching some King mackerel but not many. The browner the water gets the less they like it. A few Flounder have been caught working the pilings with an artificial bait like a Gulp shrimp or DOA paddle tail grub. Even better hook a live bait on a jig head and drag it slowly on the bottom where ever you think they might be hiding. Speaking of live bait, the cigar minnows have disappeared again but you can still catch hard tails if you want and there have been large schools of pinfish coming through. We have had a lot of sightings of large Tarpon, a few have been hooked long enough to “launch” but they are masters of shaking the hook. However a wide gap circle hook like the Owner SSW can really help make the difference between a near miss and actually being able to leader the fish.

ST ANDREWS BAY SYSTEM
Again back to the large amounts of rainfall we have had, you would think the fishing would have suffered negative effects but I can say it really hasn’t. It has almost made it better. I will say in the darker water scents and noise makers like the popping cork are good ideas as well as bludgeoning your live bait in order to draw attention to your offering. Your creek mouths and even up near but not right at Deerpoint dam have been producing bay size Reds and Speckled trout. And we are getting good Flounder reports mostly by hook and line, which one could assume is related to water clarity. Surely gigging in these conditions is at the least more difficult.