Two Days of Great Fishing - Saltwater Fishing Academy
Capt. John Rivers
October 6, 2012
Pensacola - Saltwater Fishing Report
With fall upon us and the summer tourists gone home till next March, it's brought me back to the fishing that's true to my heart; inshore upper bay fishing. Next season I'll still be running basic tourist charters out of Pensacola, Navarre and Perdido Key, but when I'm given the chance to run a Saltwater Academy Charter, you can bet I'll be out on the flats showing them a great inshore adventure.
Saltwater Fishing Academy – 10-4-12
We hit the water again this morning in upper Escambia Bay and the bite was excellent; lots of trout and a few reds. We lost a nice flounder at the boat that spit the hook just before we were going to land it. Almost had an inshore slam. Oh well, maybe we'll get one tomorrow. Going back out again early for trout /reds and flounder in the upper bay areas. I'm checking a few spots I've not fished in a long time to see how the bite is.
Baits I've been tossing the last few trips are MirrOlure's Top Dog Jr., MirrOlure's Top Dog Jr., MirrOlure's Paul Brown and MirrOdine 17MR. I'm also using Berkley Gulps jerk shads and 3 inch shrimps, spinner baits and spoon. Another good bait I use is Bass Assassin's 4" Sea Shad Paddle Tail in Copperhead color. I'm working murky water in depths from 2 –6 ft. Early fall is a great time to fish; the bite's better and it's not too hot outside which makes it comfortable to fish longer if you like.
I'm running another instructional trip tomorrow for trout, redfish and flounder. If I don't post on this site, check my other reports pages.
Saltwater Fishing Academy – 10-5-12
Today I fished Blackwater with repeat client AJ to do some inshore fishing for trout, reds and flounder. We launched the boat at 5:45am and school was in session before sunup.
Every trip is different and is geared to my client's skill level and what he wants to do and learn during his fishing adventure. As I do for every lesson, I explain what baits we will be using, and I show the proven and proper techniques to using specific lures for the variety of fish we are targeting for the day.
So let's talk about the trip and how the bite was. With the fog thick in the wee morning hours, we took our time to get the to the fishing grounds which was a few miles away. The fog didn't lift till around 8am, which was nice and cool to start out our morning. We started tossing top-waters but really didn't get any takers, so I swapped out the top-waters for a soft plastic medium paddle tail. As always I keep a wide variety of lures in my tackle bag because each day is different and some days what may have worked yesterday won't work today. The lure I was using most of the day was Bass Assassin's 4" Sea Shad Paddle Tail in Copperhead color. I had noticed all the bait in the area and it was similar in size. So the old saying is still true to this day, "match the hatch and you'll catch more fish." The hook I matched up with this swim-bait was a 3/0 Gamakatsu weighted EWG Worm Hook 1/8 oz. I've used this style of hook for a long time and it's produced some quality hookups.
Since the water was really murky and the tide was ripping out, I concentrated on points and small indentions on the bank that I felt would hold fish. I explained to AJ why I felt these areas should hold fish and just as we were talking, he bows up with a stud flounder. I grabbed the net and we had our first fish of the day in the live well. It wasn't long and we both were catching a variety of fish from small rat reds, a few bass and we landed another nice flounder. We worked this area for a good two hours and caught lots of good fish, but not many trout. I had a feeling the trout were down the bay a little farther and my gut was right on target.
I went to an area that showed good signs of life and within minutes of being there I hooked up on a nice 22" trout. It slammed a MirrOlure Paul Brown Pink Metal Flake.
AJ was tossing a similar lure near the bank and I told him to switch sides, that the trout were out off the bank in deeper water. Sure enough, on his second cast he was bowed up with a nice 17" speck. We worked this area for a good hour landing some really nice trout with some keepers and some throwbacks. It was another great inshore adventure at Saltwater Academy with another happy student.
I'm so excited about how many calls and emails I've been getting about this new venue.
The classroom is getting packed for the next month and looks like anglers are also excited about this new style of charter I'm offering. I especially enjoy sharing my expertise with novice anglers that want to learn how we fish this area. With over 30 years of fishing knowledge and 14 years fishing the northern Gulf Coast, I can assure you I've got the credentials to provide you a well-qualified instructional trip. I absolutely love fishing this time of year, and can't wait to get out on the water for each and every trip.
Stay tuned for more classroom reports.
If you are interested in fishing as much as I am and want to learn about inshore fishing, take a look at my website www.saltwateracademy.com
Thanks for stopping by.
John
www.saltwateracademy.com
www.megabiteinshore.com
850-341-9816
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