Destin, Navarre, Pensacola Florida inshore fishing report
Capt. Eddie Woodall
March 15, 2011
Pensacola - Saltwater Fishing Report
April 2011 is already here. With Easter being the next to last weekend this year, I'm a bit leery about what weather mother nature has in store for us. Check with the old timers about when to plant your garden; never before Easter!
Lets all take a minute to look around at the beautiful great outdoors and ponder on this; who could think there is no God!! I'm the lucky one that has a job that I love and I get to work with people of all shapes and sizes; men, women and children that all share the same enthusiasm for the outdoors as I do. Every morning I wake up and thank the Lord for allowing me to be here another day to enjoy the things that belong to him and that he placed on this earth for us to use. I wanna wish you all a happy Easter!
APRIL'S BEST BETS – The Speckled Trout bite is on; I'll be in search of the mighty elusive Gator Trout. After being somewhat dormant for the last three months these big Specks are looking for nourishment to build their row for the first spawn of 2011. Last year, it was Monday, April 5th when I caught the first big Speckled trout for 2010, she weighed 6 pounds and 4 oz and was 27 inches long. She put up a great fight on the 8-pound test spinning outfit that I was using. She ate a six inch Bio bait Fork Tail Jerk Minnow in the shrimp pattern. I had it rigged with a Gamakatsu Skip Gap Hook with a fifteen inch piece of twelve pound test fluorocarbon leader tied to eight pound test Stren Sonic Braid line. It was right around noon time and we were working a grass flat on the north side of the Santa Rosa sound in about three foot of water. She was sitting there next to a pot hole waiting for something to swim by to ambush. We released her unharmed to help keep her good gene pool abundant, which in turn helps the Speckled Trout to continue flourishing. I average catching close to twenty five Specks over five pounds every season. I strongly encourage catch and release on these fish as they are indeed our future to the Speckled Trout population.
The Santa Rosa Sound flats are teaming with schools of slot Red Fish right now. Big schools of 15 to 20 fish are in search of shrimp and crabs to fill there never ending appetite. Try free lining live shrimp on a Gamakatsu 1/0 inline circle hook. Next best thing is a 1/8oz gold Johnson Silver Minnow, worked slow to resemble a small crab trying to elude the fate of the jaws of the Spot Tail Bass. Then when the sun gets high overhead go to the docks and pitch your baits up close to the shadows. This is where they will be during the middle part of the day.
Down around the passes, the Sheepshead are eating everything that gets close to them. The big females have finished spawning and are hungry. Catching a nice mess of these fish should be fairly easy.
Out on the Beach be looking for Spanish Mackerel, Red Fish, Pompano, Sharks, Blue Fish, and a few Triple Tail. The mighty Cobia Run is about to bust wide open. The first of April is when the big push of fish should be showing up.
My prediction for the first Cobia of 2011 was close, I said March 8th, the first Cobia was caught off Panama City Beach Pier on March 3rd. There were several other fish spotted over the next few days, but none caught til' a boat out of Destin caught one on March 10th.
Prepare your tackle, for after you hook a big fish it is impossible to retie your knot then!
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