Panama City Florida! February Redfish and Trout!
Capt. Rob Womble
February 21, 2009
Panama City - Saltwater Fishing Report
The redfish and trout bite has stayed about the same. We have been fishing the shallows and hammering the redfish. Of course the time of day and the tide depends on the person fishing the flats. I like an early morning low tide set-up. During the low tide the reds are as shallow as they can get waiting for the water to get high enough for them to get back in the grass were they like to feed. I like the early morning for several reasons. As every fisherman knows early morning and late afternoon are usually good feed times but I also like the early morning because the fish have not been spooked by other boats or fishermen. This usually works out in my favor allowing me a nice stretch flats to myself or maybe sharing with one or two boats.
Scott form Kentucky with his 1st Red!
OKhis 1st Trout too!
We are still catching Flounder too!
This brings me to my next topic…..sharing the flats with other boats. Those of you who fish the flats from a flats boat knows that working a school of reds from the tower with a customer or friend on the bow can be a tough deal. The last thing you want is another boat jumping in front of you possibly scattering the fish you are trying to catch. AT the same time you cannot expect to tie up a 900 yard stretch of flats just because you're a guide or your boat is pointing in a certain direction meaning everything in front of you is yours. I bring this up because the other morning Ronnie and I wanted to fish the flats between West Bay Point and Johnson Bayou….this is a very long stretch of flats. As we approached the flats we could see there was a boat, motor up, guide on tower, with customer on front so we decided to go past the boat and start ahead of them about 500 yards. This would ensure we did not spoke any fish they may have been working and Ronnie and I wanted to fish closer to the bayou anyway. Well after fishing for a couple minutes the other boat started up and motored over our way. The captain asked if we could give them more room next time because they were going to "eventually make it this spot" and they had spent the last hour working from the point. I guess he was assuming that because he started polling at the point 900 yards away that everything along the West Bay flats was his. Look people we all have to be realistic. Give the other boats a couple hundred yards if you can but at the same time there are more boats on the water than ever before so sharing the flats is going to be important. Give and Take guys.
The trout bite has continued to stay productive. With the weather going from hot to cold and back to hot again the trout have not been adversely affected. They continue to hammer anything from top-water plugs to clouser minnows on the fly. The hot water canal has been producing some nice trout on top-water plugs and the creeks in East Bay have been real good for trout on the fly. With the weather slowly warming up the top-water bite on the open flats is just around the corner. Nothing beats a large trout hammering a top-water plug in inches of water.
More Reds than we know what to do with.
Tim down from Illinois with his 1st Trout.
OK so here is what has been working for us. Low tides, early morning for reds. Get shallow with some very quite low profile lures or baits. For the trout, top water plugs for the larger fish in the hot water canal or jigs with 4inch Gulp shrimp in the creeks or deeper water.
As always good luck on the water and in the woods.
Capt. Rob Womble & Capt. Todd Jones
Back Bay Adventures
Panama City Fishing Forecast:
The fishing is going to start picking up even more now that the spring time weather is around the corner. Look for the trout to start spreading out onto the flats. The reds are already there.
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