Panama City, Florida Redfish and Trout
Capt. Rob Womble
May 2, 2010
Panama City - Saltwater Fishing Report
Hello to all our long time and hopefully new readers. Sorry it has been awhile sense my last report but I have unfortunately been busy with that little thing called life. After a brief absence from writing our fishing reports Capt. Todd and I are back on-line and ready to get back to putting out some area fishing reports. So let's get it started.
We have been up to our usual techniques and visiting our usual spots with a couple new ones sprinkled in here and there. Right now we are running a good portion of our trips in the afternoon choosing to let the winds pick up just a little in an effort to have a little chop on the water for the top water plugs and to also keep the bugs down a little. Well it's been working just fine. We will start with the trout bite.
So far the trout have been hammering the top water plugs pretty aggressively. We have landed several trout in the 3 to 5 pound range over the last week or two and have even had a couple days were the 7 to 10 trout that our customers caught were all over the 20 inch slot limit allowing them to only keep one. Not a bad problem to have. As you will see in the pictures we are still using the Spook and Spook junior in either a bone white or a black and chartreuse color. Both are doing rather well in turning out some real nice trout. We have also been backing up the top water plugs with a white sinking minnow allowing us to drop the bait in on those trout that short strike the plug. Capt. Todd has been having some really good luck in the East Bay area and I have been concentrating my efforts in the North and West Bay areas. Both have been about the same. This year (so far) is turning out to be a really good trout year.
The redfish bite is as good if not better than the trout bite. The redfish are hitting the topwater plugs early in the morning and later in the afternoon. For the times in between we have been switching up to either a copper, silver or gold 1/8 oz weedless spoon. On the flood tides we are working the very edge of the standing salt grass. Every now and again we will drop that spoon deep into the grass and kinda walk it on the surface thru the grass and let it drop a bit as it hits the edge. This technique has been very good. The white and or chartreuse sinking minnow has been almost as attractive to the reds as the spoon. A quite trolling motor or a good drift with the wind usually helps in keeping the reds from spooking. If you have a polling tower and a push pole….well that works even better. On the shallower tides patrol the flats as shallow as the boat will go and don't get too focused on looking for them against the shoreline. Sometimes they will sneak up on the backside too. On the slick calm days you may want to go with a suspending twitch bait first and back that up with a sinking minnow or a spoon.
Capt. Todd has gotten himself into a new boat this year. He is running a 18ft Key Largo with lots of room and a very comfortable and dry ride. It will still run extremely shallow but handle the rough stuff well enough to get out there and troll for Spanish, Kings and sight fish the Tarpon. It is truly a beautiful boat that everyone will enjoy.
Remember that this time of year the bays and flats will be getting a little crowded so be patient and use a little common sense when fishing around other boats. Try not to cut off someone's drift or slip up right on their six. Hopefully they will return the favor.
As always good luck on the water and in the woods.
Capt. Rob Womble & Capt. Todd Jones.
Back Bay Adventures.
Panama City Fishing Forecast:
As the water continues to warm and the baitfish continue to move in the bite is only going to get batter.
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