Panhandle - Panama City, West Bay & Port St. Joe
Capt. Rob Womble
September 5, 2007
Panama City - Saltwater Fishing Report
Panama City Falling Tides and Tailing Redfish
Although we have still been picking up pretty good sized trout in the mornings our focus this last week or so has been on the redfish. For those of you who fish this area on a regular basis you may have noticed that the redfish have started to group up a little more. Capt. Todd and I have spotted several schools of redfish with approx 35 to 40 fish and one school over in East Bay that had to of had 150 fish in it. This week the tides have been falling in the morning and moving a pretty good amount of water. This moving water has grouped up the bait forced it out of the creeks and marshes and on to the flats. In turn the redfish have literally lined up for the feast. Now don’t think you only have during the falling tide to fish. The bottom half of the falling and well into the low tide the redfish will still be there waiting to ambush the bait. Once the tide falls from the marshes the bait can’t get back in and they are stuck out in the open seeking the deeper cuts and pot holes on the flats. Of course it’s no accident that the redfish are also in the cuts and pot holes. These skinny water reds have been tailing like crazy, giving us plenty of targets to drop our baits on. This is going to be a great time of year to get out there and sight fish with light tackle and fly.
You may have also noticed that more and more boaters are fishing the pass on the falling tide and catching some pretty awesome redfish. Well you don’t really need a boat to get to those big reds in the pass. All you need to do is drive on up the Saint Andrews State Park, grab your rods and bait and head on out to the jetties. If your going to fish the jetties use some heavier rods with at least 20 to 30 lb line and bring some ( a lot ) extra weights, leaders and hooks because you will need them. Also be sure to wear a good pair of sneakers or boat shoes, the rocks can be tricky.
In an effort to keep this weeks report short I’m just going to show some pictures. Enjoy.
Buck Brady from Georgia witha couple nice reds on topwater.
Ronnie learned the hard way not to put your rod down with the lure still in the water. To his credit he did perform a perfect Forrest Gump dive into the water and recovered the rod with redfish still attached.
Remember to boat smarter on the flats. Trim up that motor so you don't eat up the sea grass. Drift or pole the flats if you can. A quite boat will catch more fish. As always good luck on the water.
Capt. Rob Womble & Capt. Todd Jones
More Fishing Reports:
