Forgotten Coast Fishing Report

Well folks, I wish I had some enthralling, page-turning fishing stories to entice you with as you sipped your coffee preparing for your day, but alas that is not the case. High winds and unfavorable weather are among those necessary evils we Floridians must endure from time to time. If I think about it hard enough, I can remember the all-encompassing cloud of depression and desperation I felt staring at the troubled waters of the Gulf through the sliding glass doors of our Mexico Beach rental house. What had I done to deserve this? Being landlocked on your family’s annual fishing trip was a very tough pill for a 13-year-old boy to swallow; and if I’m being honest, it’s still tough now that I’m in my 40s. 

As in most cases, there’s always a silver lining. While NOAA reports the seas are currently 5 to 7 feet, they are dropping to 1 foot or less.There will be a chance to get out there and hopefully the bite will be as good as it was before bad weather came through. Get out there and get some of those red grouper and a box full of Beeliners. Though I’ll be stuck in the office over the weekend, Bluewater’s own, Jake and Doug, will be making a long trek out to try their hand at some deep drops. The jealous side of me hopes they are followed by a pod of ravenous dolphins and try only in vain to put fish in the box. 

Fishing inshore you’ll find things have remained much the same with just a few exceptions. It is my opinion we need the water temperature to rise a few degrees. The nice bait minnows have not arrived yet but I’m thinking it could happen in the very near future. Right now, there seem to be just baby glass minnows everywhere; what we want to see are some big schools of LY minnows. If you find yourself without access to a boat, hooking up on some big trout can prove a little difficult (a problem that will go away with the arrival of bait minnows). 

Redfish have continued to run under the bridge and along inshore structure so that’s one to go after, you just have to be there at the right time. A lot of Spanish mackerel have been caught off the seawall. The mackerel are plentiful, but they seem to be running small averaging about one keeper per 10 caught. The word on the street, or the beach rather, is that the flounder bite is starting to pick up over the last two weeks. At first, they were all running small, but now some folks are getting into the ones that aren’t quite door mats but big enough (14 inches) to throw in the cooler. 

The crappie bite is still on around the Depot Creek area. I’m meeting more people that like to fish them with very small Betts spinners. If it were me, I’d just buy a couple dozen minnows and a cork, but I’m old fashioned that way. A few customers showed me pictures of pretty impressive bass they caught. They didn’t tell me where exactly, but I saw their truck heading in the direction of Wewa later that afternoon. 

Jeremiah Beasley – BlueWater Outrigger