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Panhandle - Panama City, West Bay & Port St. Joe

Capt. Rob Womble
July 29, 2007
Panama City - Saltwater Fishing Report

Mixed Bag on the Flats!!

The redfish and trout bite is still going strong. The bait has started to push up onto the flats along the shore line and into the mouth of the bayous. This is both good and bad. Good because the big trout and redfish have been crushing these schools of bait and we have in turn been catching some good numbers of 4 to 7lb trout over the last two weeks. It can also be bad because some of these schools of bait are so large that sometimes the trout and redfish won't attack your topwater bait as easily. If you are working a school of bait with your topwater plugs and the fish are not connecting try to work the plug a little faster on the edge of the school. This makes it look like it is trying to escape the pack. We have had good luck trying this technique. You can also try tying on a suspending mirror lure and working it right through the center of the school. Let it drop a little below the school and work it slowly enough to drum up some interest but fast enough to keep it off the bottom. What ever technique you try be sure to match your lure to the size and color of the baitfish.

Remember when you are trying to fish a school of baitfish you need to give them some distance. If you try to get right up on top of them you may spook the school. Longer cast will help you keep your distance. You can do this by using lighter lines, rods and reels. We normally use 8lb braided line with a 7ft medium action rod and a reel to match. This type of set-up will allow you to cast even the lightest lures a good distance.

Last week I took Eric and April Snipes from Georgia on a morning charter and needless to say they wore out the redfish.....or should I say April did anyway. She handled several redfish in the 26 to 27 inch range like a pro....not to mention the several smaller redfish and a couple nice keeper trout she released. Eric didn't do that bad either. He had several nice trout and redfish on but was unable to land them. I was starting to worry he wasn't going to get a chance to boat a redfish because of a storm moving in on us. He however did come thru for us and boated a nice redfish right before the rain came in.





On an earlier trip we managed to boat a trout over 28 inches long with several other nice trout and redfish. I didn't get an exact weight on this fish but we estimate it at around 6 to 7 lbs (picture included).



Capt. Todd has been busting some nice redfish and trout as well. Last Friday he ran two trips back to back and landed a total of 10 upper slot limit redfish and 17 keeper trout ( one trout 5lbs) all in one day. He was also surprised when he ran one of his trips last week when his customer Britney busted a 10lb cobia up on the flats on the edge of a canal. Now its not uncommon to see or even catch cobia in the bay but we rarely get a chance to see one crush a Cajun Thunder bait in just inches of water.



Some of the other species we hooked and or landed this week include two 15lb or so Jacks, several sail cats, a couple Spanish and one small Tarpon. It just goes to show you never know what you will hook when your up on the flats this time of year.

Our available openings up to August 10th are getting thin so if you want to get out there and catch some of the nice fish before the kids have to go back to school give us a call. As always good luck on the water.

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At Back Bay Adventures we offer some of the best fully guided light tackle & Fly fishing trips available on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Located in Panama City, Florida, we fish the pristine waters of the Pan Handle from West Bay to Crooked Island and all points in between. With a steady year round supply of inshore species such as Redfish, Trout and flounder there is always plenty of action on our shallow water flats. So come and join us for an adventure of a lifetime.

Contact Info:

Back Bay Adventures
Phone: 850-532-7192
Alt. Phone: 850-819-5829
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