Panhandle - Panama City, West Bay & Port St. Joe

Capt. Rob Womble
May 14, 2007
Panama City - Saltwater Fishing Report

Fishing Report For the Week of

7 to 13 May 2007

This has been another good week for trout and redfish. Tuesday Capt. Todd took a morning charter and boated several slot sized redfish with top water plugs and a nice limit of decent sized trout. He says the trout and redfish are still working in and around the shallow flats close to the standing grass along the shore line.

On Thursday we both had morning charters and decided to fish together. The wind was blowing a little but that didn't stop the redfish from attacking our top waters. We stayed with last week’s pattern and looked for schools of bait fish getting hammered by reds and trout in the shallows. Once we located the schools of bait it was only a matter of putting our plugs in the right spot. We ended up boating 9 keeper sized redfish with a couple smaller ones as well. Although we had a number of really exciting top water strikes from trout we couldn't get them to take the plugs.

Our customers had a really good time and mine wanted to try his luck again on an evening fish. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the wind had picked up a little so we had to change tactics. I decided to fish in and around the mouths of some of the creeks to stay out of the wind. This proved to be a good choice. John (the customer) cast his top water plug up current into the creek and worked it out with the wind and current. His efforts were rewarded with a nice trout weighing in at around 3 lbs. That trout may not be a Gator by many standards but a biggie none the less. I followed up with a cast into the same area and boated a nice trout over 4 lbs. We stayed with this pattern and fished 4 creeks before night fall. We ended up landing 7 trout, 4 of them nice sized keepers. The last two fish of the evening were redfish. We both cast up into the creek and scored a double on the redfish. All in all we had a good afternoon fishing trip.

Capt. Todd had a Saturday trip with a dad and a couple kids. They fished close to a grass patch back in the marsh. The redfish didn't disappoint. They landed 5 slot sized redfish within an hour and one 22 inch trout. After the sun had started to come up they moved out into about three foot of water and switched up to a Cajun Thunder popping cork with a 3 inch natural Gulp shrimp. They ended up catching approximately 20 to 30 school sized trout (13 to 15 inch) trout. This is an extremely easy way to catch trout and the kids love it.

TACKLE TIPS: Remember to shut your motor off about 75 to 100 yards from the area you want to fish. This will ensure you do not spook the fish or damage the sea grass on the flats. Try doing this up-wind of your intended target area and drift, poll or use your trolling motor the rest of the way. Use long cast to help separate you from the target area. Again this will help reduce the chance of spooking the fish. Try to cast your lure up wind or up current and work it back with the current. This will give the lure a more natural presentation seeing how your top water plug is suppose to mimic an injured baitfish that would be helpless in the current. Finally try to match the size and color selection of your lure to the bait fish in the area. As always tread lightly on the flats and good luck on the water.

Be sure to check out this weeks photos on our website at www.backbayadventures.com.

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