Pensacola Fishing Forum banner

Moving to Escambia Bay - Need Fishing Advice

1K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Fielro 
#1 ·
I'm going to be moving to the East side of Escambia Bay in March. I've always been a freshwater fisherman and never had much opportunity to fish saltwater. But now I'll have an opportunity to fish off of a private pier into the bay whenever I want! I'm looking for some beginner's advice. What kind of tackle do I need? What kind of line is good? What exactly can I catch? What's good to keep and eat? Etc etc. Do I need a fishing license if I'm fishing off of a private pier?
I'm also thinking about getting a kayak when I get down there so I can putter around the bay and fish different spots.

Any advice is welcome! I'm excited to move down to the Pensacola/Milton area!!!
 
#3 ·
Thanks, Gallant! I've been clicking around the forums here and learning a lot. I'll take a lot of the key words and techniques y'all talk about and look them up on youtube to see some of them put into action. It's been quite helpful!

I'm real curious to get out there where I'll be living on the southeast side of Escambia Bay and see what kind of fish bite consistently in that area. I was told that not long ago a ~50lbs black drum was caught off of the same pier that I'll be fishing from.

Being mostly a bass fisherman I haven't had much reason to use leader line. I reckon the easiest thing to do is just connect the main line to the leader with a swivel, add enough weight to keep your live bait down on the bottom and wait until something pops it.
 
#4 ·
Hey JSRTR and Welcome to the area. I've been here in Milton since August. I was fortunate to be able to fish August and September before having to go off to a school. I am back now but have been told right now is a pretty slow time until March or April. I would advise getting a kayak. I have a 16ft Carolina Skiff and a Kayak that I mainly fish out of and have been learning a lot about escambia bay and the different creeks and holes that hold fish. North of I10 on escambia bay is pretty shallow ranging from just under a foot to able 2 1/2 to 3 ft in other areas. If you can get a kayak and attach a depth finder this will save you a lot of time in finding out where some of the holes are that will hold fish. I use braided line attached to about 2-3 foot of fluorocarbon leader. To do this I was using an albright knot but have found the improved FG knot to work better and is a little smaller for going through your guides like butter. I really like using a carolina rig with live bait on the bottom. When fishing artificals I will go with fish bites shrimp, its just a little strip, in either white or green. I also had good luck with vudu shrimp and vudu mullet. Of course gulp will always catch fish on a jig head as well. Here is the video for the improved FG knot. http://youtu.be/pjzUb5QRKuk
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top