No monster, but great eating!

New report about light tackle fishing on the rock jetties.

I went out on Sunday to do a little fun fishing with my friend, Ed Mashburn, and we had a great day. First we hit Fairpointe for some trout and redfish, but came up empty- handed. I did have a few good strikes, but no real takers. We really didn’t spend enough time to see what was there, but hey, I wasn’t working and I wanted to have some fun and get in to some light tackle action. I was using top-water plugs like chug bugs, (mine was red and white and Ed’s was green and silver). I even tossed a Berkley Gulp Shrimp on some of the docks and still didn’t get any takers.

We decided to go after some fun fighting Spanish mackerel that I’ve been catching lately just east of Ft. Pickens in the sound about 600yards off the beach. The Spanish have been very spooky; they would stay up for a few minutes and then sound, only to pop back up far away from the boat. It was driving me crazy! I kept having to chase them down while trying not to spook them in the process. The only way we were hooking up fish was to slow troll small lures. I was using a lure called the minnow made by Tormenter. It’s a great lure for Spanish, bluefish and ladyfish. Sometimes we would get lucky and the Spanish would pop up near the boat and we would get to toss the lure into the feeding frenzy, and we would both hook up, but most of the fish we caught on Sunday were caught while trolling.

Check out Tormenter’s website under the catalog section.

www.tormentertackle.com

We also tried slow trolling a small white bucktail jig, and this seemed to work very well on the Spanish, too. By the way, I was using a mono leader 50lb; I tried using wire, but didn’t seem to get as many strikes.

After we stopped chasing the Spanish schools, I headed over to the rock jetties. I was surprised when I arrived at the jetties that I didn’t see any boats anchored up working the south jetty. So I positioned the boat just off the jetty about 70 yards off the beach and started to work live shrimp off the bottom. Maybe there weren’t any boats working the jetties because the current was ripping, but in this case, current was a good thing.

My rig consisted of a bait caster spooled with 30lb braid, a 7ft medium hvy rod, 2 - 3oz egg weight, 40lb leader and a medium kale hook like a #1 - #2 with a live shrimp. Now the key was to toss the shrimp up near the south side of the rocks as the current was ripping by and let the current take it. Here is where it gets tricky, but you will get the strike as it’s drifting by, but you need to be ready. You will feel a tap tap and you better set the hook fast or they will have gotten a free meal. We were hooking some nice black snapper and losing a few, too, and we even hooked a few small redfish. The reds that day were all too small, so we let them go back to grow up, but a lot of the times when I fish this area, I get a few keepers. I’ve even caught some nice black drum and sheepshead from time to time. I don’t fish the jetties much on an incoming tide, but I will. I have done better on an outgoing tide, but that’s my preference.

This one went about a 1-1/2 lbs. We caught a good mess around this size.

 If we don’t get much rain from Hurricane Ike, the fishing should be very good this next weekend. I had a few friends that were out fishing the north rock jetty last week and got into the grouper pretty good and had some nice keepers. They were using small 2” live pinfish, and said the grouper were hammering their baits. If we’re lucky, more fish might get pushed in with the large swells that we may get. The bay is still a little murky with all the rain water pouring out of the rivers up north, but it should start to clear up soon, depending on where Ike goes.

As the water cools from the more moderate fall weather, the black snapper bite will only get better. I love fall for its fishing, the weather, and candy corn!

Hope this little report helps you put a few black snapper in the fryer.

 Tight lines. Capt. John

 

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Capt. John Rivers
850-341-9816
Pensacola, Fl
Mega-Bite Inshore Charters

And no controversy!!

I've been wanting to hit the docks between Fairpointe and Deerpointe, but the wind hasn't been right when I've been able to go and it takes time to fish that area. when i do i'll post!

good luck.

KEEP AN OCCASSIONAL RED HERE AND THERE FOR DINNER, BUT FOR

THE REST, PRACTICE HEALTHY CATCH & RELEASE TECHNIQUES

SAVE SOME FOR THE FUTURE!

(except for the candy corn, gross.)

                  

Donny Hanto

War Eagle!!!

Team Kickin Assphalt

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Jon

I have been hearing some really good reports from that area as well. Been planning on fishing that area pretty soon. Awesome report Capt. and thanks for all the information!!!!!!

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2101 Century Bay / 150 Yamaha - Team "Reel Gooder" Inshore

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