Pensacola, Navarre, Perdido Key Inshore Report
Capt. John Rivers
May 13, 2009
Pensacola - Saltwater Fishing Report
It's the first week of May and the wind is still blowing. We fishermen need a break already; it's been 4 months too long! With the wind blowing a gale almost everyday the only time I've been able to go fishing has been very early, from 6am to 11am and even then the wind seems to get blustery around 9:30 am.
Windy weather aside; if you're not out trout fishing, you need to get out there. This has been a banner year for the Mega-Bite for Speckled Trout. The past four trips have been great. We've boated close to 80 trout, and of those fish, we've had our limit or close to the limit each time. We are catching fish in the 14 – 18" range, which makes for some great light tackle inshore action.
On the last two trips, my clients hooked up two nice big fatties, one weighing in just over 4 1/2lbs, and then on Saturday my client Jim from Pensacola hooked up a nice 23" monster which had a girth of 15". I wish I had remembered my scale; it had to weigh somewhere around 5 ½ to 6lbs. Jim also hooked up my first Pompano of the year in the ICW, but again I didn't get the weight, but my guess would 3 ½ to 4lbs.
I was out a few days ago doing a little scouting on my own, and I hooked up a few nice fish. Here's a picture of my big trout; a big 5lb female, this girl hit a Bass Assassin 5" Jerk Shad Blurp in Electric Chicken. Early that morning, I was throwing a top water Mirror Lure Top Dog Jr. in blue and chartreuse. I caught a few nice 18inch trout, but didn't locate that monster like I did with the soft body bait.
The tackle I'm using for most of my inshore trips are my new Quantum Energy 20's, spooled with 10lb Berkley Big Game Braid, on Boca 7ft medium rods. Today (Saturday May 9), we were using popping corks with 1/8oz jig heads tipped with Berkley's Gulp Alive 3" shrimps in New Penny color. I was also using live shrimp from time to time and pitching a Mirror Lure suspending twitch bait in blue and sliver. The other lure that has been a consistent producer is the Bass Assassin Electric Chicken 5" BLURP Saltwater Shad on an 1/8oz red head jig head. All these different setups produced fish today, however the bite was hot from 7:00am – 9:30am, and as soon as the wind kicked in, it shut off.
With my successful trout-producing honey holes, I've not spent much time in the pass. I did manage to get to the pass on Sunday afternoon to go after some hard-pulling skipjacks and some big Spanish Macks. Slow trolling a ¾ oz Spro bucktail jig around the shallows of the pass has produced some great inshore action on the skipjacks as well as the Spanish. When the wind stops blowing so hard and the gulf calms down, I'm hoping to get out along the beaches to hook up some big Jacks and I can't wait to start hooking up on some drag-screaming Kings.
Fishing has been great in spite of the wind, and I'm sure when the dog days of summer arrive, I'll be missing that breeze, but I'm ready for some great inshore summer action either way.
Till the next report, see you on the water.
Tight Lines.
Capt. John Rivers
Mega-Bite Inshore Charters
850-341-9816
Thanks to my sponsors:
Bass Assassin,Quantum, Power-Pole,
SPRO Fishing TackleMann's Lures,
Gamakatsu Hooks,Pure Fishing & Berkley
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