Trout, Reds and Snapper - Rods are Bending in the Panhandle
Capt. John Rivers
June 7, 2013
Pensacola - Saltwater Fishing Report
Been swamped with trips, so just a quick report. There have been some very big trout being caught and some nice redfish. When my guests don't want to hit the flats, we've been doing some light tackle snapper fishing in the bay. The gulf was a little to rough with the tropical storm for me to get out so we stayed in the bay and snapper fished. I've only been to the pass a couple of times, since the flats bite has been too good to pass up.
A lot of my clients are bass fishermen and they like tossing artificials, and when I give them a choice whether to deep drop in the pass or trout fish, they pick the flats 99% of the time.
Baits used:
ZMan Paddler Z & MinnowZ, MirrOlure 17MR, Catch 2000 & Paul Brown have been super this season.
Sometimes I'll use a popping cork with either a MinnowZ from ZMan or a live shrimp if my client wants live bait on the boat. But a majority of the time my charters are all artificial.
Depths: Redfish 1.5 – 3.5 ft --- trout are 2.3 – 4.6 ft
Areas Fished: Santa Rosa Sound, Big Lagoon, Escambia Bay, and Blackwater Bay.
Most of my clients only keep what they can eat that night and some just catch them for fun and let them go. I'm happy with that, with the big female trout spawning right now, the more put back is more trout for us to catch down the road.
I'm a catch and release guy, but if my clients want fish for dinner, then we'll keep a few back in the live well.
Specialize in Light Tackle Artificials for trout and reds, but if you just want to take the family out and catch a variety of fish, we can do that to.
At Mega-Bite Inshore Charters, we do it all !
Bait used for snappers was live shrimp and cut menhaden.
It's was a great spring, and I'm looking forward to the summer season.
See Ya Out There,
John
www.captainjohnrivers.com
850-341-9816
Target Species:
Redfish, Trout, Snapper
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