Report
Feb 1st - 2012 --- Pensacola Guided Inshore Charter
Reports
January
has come and gone and that just means it is one month closer to
spring. I’m starting to feel Spring Fever and I guess it’s
because we’ve had a very mild winter and the trees are already
starting to bud. I think it’s going to be an early spring and
that the ground hog won’t see his shadow; hopefully I’m not
jinxing myself. During February I’m usually fishing in the
upper bay areas for specks, reds, and this year I’ll go after
some stripers. I’ve been up in the river a few times wetting a
line for all three species and I had some pretty good luck a
majority of the time.
During
the winter months, the fish stage up in very deep holes in the
upper rivers; you will still find them on the flats, but later
in the day when they are sunning themselves to get warm. Fishing
in the upper rivers can be very difficult if you’re not
familiar with the patterns of winter fishing. The first thing
you need for success is very good water movement. Next, it helps
to learn when the fish move up on the flats and when they are in
the deep holes.
During
the winter months, it helps to position your boat up near the
“wind blown” banks, because you are closer to where the bait
is pushed into the bank. Bigger fish will hug the bank feeding
on the bait that is pushed in by the wind and the tide.
One of the most important keys to a successful winter
fishing trip is slowing down your presentation. Typically, fish
are a bit more sluggish in the cooler months, so slowing your
bait presentation will pay off for you big time. I forgot to
mention that I’m using artificials only in these areas, but of
course you can use live bait, but I really like using
artificials when fishing the upper bay areas in the winter.
As
you can tell, I really like winter fishing in the upper bay
areas, because it brings me back to my roots when I was a young
bass fisherman.
In a few more weeks, I’ll be heading to the pass going after
some funky bucked-tooth critters with jailhouse stripes. I may
love winter fishing, but I’m always ready for the next
adventure.
Tight
Lines.....Capt.
John
Report
Jan. 15th - 2012 --- Pensacola Inshore Fishing
Report
Tasty
Trout & Light Tackle Redfish
It
got downright cold out this weekend, but that wasn’t going to
stop me from getting out on the water to get my fishing fix. My
wife was nice enough to give up her day off to take me out for a
fun day of trout fishing and red fish scouting.
We had a hankering for some tasty seafood for dinner
tonight, so we hit the bridge for fresh white trout. We didn’t
stay at the bridge long, just long enough to get a few in the
live well for dinner. We had a few friends that hung out around
the boat begging for a free meal, about 5 pesky pelicans.
After
making our escape from the hungry pelicans, we made our way down
to the west and then headed out of the pass to sight fish the
reds in the shallows. We found a nice school of fish, but they
weren’t interested in our offerings. They were very skittish
and after 15 minutes or so we pulled up the Minn Kota and headed
back to the pass. The tide was coming in and I decided to drift
the ledges with small live baits and artificials. The bite
started out slow; we made a few drifts and got no bites, but I
had a feeling that we were going to hit the jackpot soon, and
I’m glad I stuck to my guns.
It was our 4th drift and I looked over at Gina, who
was bowed up! Her
right wrist was actually very sore from reeling in the trout
from earlier, so she handed the first red to me.
After
she helped me net the 29 inch beast, we took a pic, and let him
loose. She is very
competitive, and so when the next one bent her rod, she would
not turn it over to me. She
fought this one like a pro, and we had our 2nd red
for the day. I caught the next fish, although this time it was a
squirrelfish! Not
to be outdone, Gina hooked up another just barely over-sized
redfish. We drifted
this area for a little while longer, caught one more redfish
each, and then decided to head back, as she was getting cold.
What
a woman! We went up
to Blackwater last Monday for some flats fun, and then today
went out to Pensacola Bay for white trout and scouted the gulf a
bit for redfish. Despite the cold weather and the slow start in
the pass, we ended up with 5 reds, 1 squirrelfish, and a belly
full of delicious white trout
Tight
Lines.
Capt.
John
Report
Jan. 1st - 2012
Well,
another year has come and gone, and as good as the fishing was
in 2011, I’m already eager to see what the New Year brings.
I was on the water nearly every day the last week of the year,
and it was some of the best bull red fishing of the year and
some great trout fishing as well. Only one day last week was not
so good and that was the last day of 2011, because we were
pretty much fogged in the whole day and could only fish the
bridge for short time and had to end the trip a bit early.
Other than that the
week was outstanding. Each
day I splashed the boat around 10am and worked the incoming
tides at the bridge for trout and out in the bay for the big
reds.
| John bowed up with a
big redfish. |
John is all smiles
after landing this big redfish. |
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| Anne had the big red
of the day! |
Kevin with a big
Pensacola Bay Redfish. |
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| Alan is all smiles
after landing this big redfish. |
Triple Hook-ups are
always fun! |
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The
bite was very good for big trout at the bridge last week with a
few at nearly 20 inches. Each day I timed the tides just right
at the bridge and we hammered the trout. All fish were caught on
¼ -3/4 oz jigs
with Berkley Gulp shrimp or Berkley Gulp jerk shads. If you’ve
never tried Berkley Gulp for white trout or even speckled trout
you need to give it a try.
During the winter months it’s like having magic bait.
Most of the trout were right around 15 –16 inches and we also
had several that were 10 –13 inches, but we let the little
ones go to be caught next year. During our trout expeditions we
also managed to hook a few slot reds, which made for great drag
screaming action and a few nice additions to the ice chest. Each
day before I hit the bridge I checked a few spots where I’ve
been catching big reds and a couple of times they were there and
a few times they weren’t. One of my spots is in kind of
shallow water 3 –6 ft, which is great for sight fishing. Each
spot usually holds about 5 –8 big reds or 6 –12 slots.
| AJ fishes for trout at
the bridge. |
Janet brings in a
healthy trout at the bridge. |
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| Lela
is ready for a fish fry. |
Johns
shows of a nice trout. |
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As
we get closer to the fishing area I go over a few techniques on
how to approach spooky fish in shallow water, where to cast and
how to retrieve the bait and what to do when he strikes. When
we’re on the flats fishing for the reds during the winter
I’ll use a couple of baits, one is a Berkley Gulp 3” shrimp
or a Berkley Gulp 5” jerk-shad on a 1/4oz jig head. If we’re
fishing for the big reds out in the bay or gulf, then we use a
1.5 - 2oz Spro buck
tail jig with a laser tail attached or some type of medium grub
curly tail for flash usually in chartreuse or red.
| John Sr. shows of his
biggest red of the day |
John,
John Sr. & Matt had a great time catching
reds in
Pensacola Bay |
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| Matt is
all smiles after landing this big redfish. |
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There
are those times when we are at my shallow water spots and the
fish are not there or just not interested in our offerings, then
it’s off to another spot like the bridge for trout or see if
the birds are working bait pods pushed up by the big reds. If I
don’t see the reds, I’ll go to where I’ve hooked up reds
in the past and watch the bottom machine for any signs of life.
Let me tell you, my Lowrance proved its weight in gold this
winter. There were a few times the reds popped, but more times
they didn’t and having a very good bottom machine put my
clients on big reds. So, a big thanks to Lowrance for making
such a great product.
This year was a great year in fishing, and I really enjoyed
getting out this December with my clients for some end of the
year adventures on the water.
Tight
Lines.
Capt.
John
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