todd in the bay

Now Jason, tell us about those particular 6. From what I gather, that's a typical day, You horsefly! Ha! I admirehow you get the time to get to the beach that often!

Here's the Q:

Starting thiscoming Wed, Thurs & or Fri , I have a full crews arriving from Maine, Maryland, San Antonio & Minnesota Thousand Lakes. These are folks with high expectations to fish. I will beplanning the fishingtours based on Wind, tide AND SURF.

PLEASE POST YOUR MOST LIKELY GOOD BEACH DAY OF 3/18 TO 3/22

For surf fishing I'm looking for a North wind, moving tide, right?

j_purdy

Whew! No pressure! My favorite conditions are an incoming tide in the morning with a little chop to the waves. I fell the incoming tide brings the fish a little closer while a falling tide pushes the fish to the backside of the bar more often. If the wind is from the N, it tends to lay the waves flat, but thats okay. Smooth water is pretty easy to read so use that to your advantage. Spend some time and find a nice washout, hole in the bar , dropoff, etc. That way when the waves do pick up a little(after the suns comes up and the winds shift), the spot you've found should really produce. Also, if you're just wanting to show your "Yankee" visitors a little more action,fish a rod or two with some fresh cut mullet, finger mullet, or pinfish. IfI were close to a point I'd wade one of those rods out and cast it WAY OUT. Fish the 2nd rod where you're fishing for pomps. Blues, maybe a big red or two should find the baits. If you guys go out in the afternoon, again, spend a little time looking at the water. Check a few places to see what's the best.The best spotmay be the first placeyou stopped, but you won't know that unless you look around. Better to lose 10-15 minutes of fishing time and still end up in amore productive spot, than to stop straight away and only have a fish or two to show for the effort. If you can find a good looking spot in conjunction with a little tidal movement, then there should be some fish feeding rightpast the sunset and into the night. As for beaches Navarre is the big producer right now, with the beaches past portofino coming in 2nd. I haven't heard of any consistent numbers coming down by Pickens yet, and I haven't been to Johnson's Bch in more than a month soI can't really say. With these warm days ahead it should help the bite all over the coast. One last thing, FRESH bait, FLOUROCARBON, never the store bought rigs with crimps and a ton of beads(too much for the fish to see), try painting your weights with a little flourescent pink or yellow nail polish(you might be suprised), and HANDS DOWN THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR ANY FISHING TRIP...HAVE FUN. Tight lines.

-Jason

Boatjob1

Have I been living in a cave or what? I've never heard of painting your weights? Please advise. TB

j_purdy

I know some guys that do it over on the Atlantic coast of Florida. Somtimes a big float or bead right next to the hook can spook the fish. I still like some kind of attractant, so I will tie my rig with the weight a little farther from my baits than normal and add the pink or yellow weight. The fish see the color, come to check it out, and notice a sandflea or piece of shrimp. It seems to help on calm clear days(less hardware on the rig). Just my .02

-Jason

snakeawave

I agree with Jp on calm days like yesterday morning I went with straight flouro no beads,that afternoon it was rough hit the same spot with beads on no other hardware , I usally go with line to line no swivel, never heard of painted weights but I do have some seashell wieghts that I poured lead into to help hide it.

JoeZ

Jason nailed and he's dead on about scouting.

If you've got family and frineds coming in, don't waste their time looking for spots.

More than once, I've spent my extra 30 minutes or so scouting locations I plan to fish in a day or two. Get on a dune, get some glasses on the water and look.

That way when it's time to fish, you can fish and not stumble through the sand with a pile of crap in your arms.

Rover2cool

Try this



http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com...=34457&start=1

Telum Pisces

Copy and pasted for the non-clickers:

In case your like me and need to see what these guys are talking about.....check theses out.



This picture is common of what you may see at lowtide. Scouting the beach at lowtide helps you after the water rises.
The arrows show which way the water is moving. "B" are sandbars "C" are suckouts, where the water starts to return back and "D" is where the water breaks due to the rapid incline of the rising bottom.



This photo shows the break in the sandbar. Between the arrows is where the water is deeper. As described by the other folks, white water or tops of waves will indicate where the water becomes shallower.




Here is a cutout or side view. Notice the nearshore and outer sandbar. Both can have some wave action above them. Baits should be presented in the sloughs as the fish travel in them.



In this diagram, the breakers move towards the beach and over the sandbar. The water collects in the feeder area and returns through the neck where it finally returns at the head. This is a dangerous place often refered to as a rip current. Thats why you swim across it and not back to the beach. Fish wait in the head as bait is flushed back out. *Hint*

When you get to the water, take a moment to look closely as to what is going on. I hope this helps you read the beach....

JoeZ

I think I'll go scout it out right now!

Telum Pisces

Ok here's a recent overhead pic of the beach in front of Portafino. Would I be correct in saying that the red marks show the best fishing areas. I am thinking about getting out and doing more surf fishing this year. It's very easy to get my wife and daughter out there when we don't feel like loading up the boat etc...Wife suns, daughterplays in sand, daddy drinks a beer and fishes. Damn, I like the sound of that already. Not to mention, it's a little cheaper.