Pensacola Fishing Forum / Inshore Fishing / Surf Fishing / Surf Fishing Reports

Suggestions for surf fishing spots

SemperFi-sh — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:10:16 GMT

thinking about going surf fishing this afternoon. haven't been out too much lately as I have been really busy with flight school. anyone got any suggestions. I'm just looking to catch some fish...would love to hook a pomp (probably going to be hard this time of year) or a red. my location is in Pace, but willing to drive. thanks in advance,

Dave

johnsons beach

tcsurfisher — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:03:42 GMT

landed there about 4:30 till 10:30 the water was clear and plenty of sand fleas 2 small blues 3 lady fish one pomp and countless cats and the fire works where great

Shark Fishing at Pcola beach w/ pics

angryaccntnt — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:16:21 GMT

Went shark fishing at pensacola beach, across from portifino thursday night. Used Gulp! 5" natural shrimp to catch 5 hardtails and two ladyfish to use as cut bait.

We caught about a five foot shark and a two-three footer. What kind of shark is this? good to eat?

Sunday Morning Yak Ride Navarre Beach

need2fish — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:16:02 GMT

Got out to Navarre Beach with my yak and launched by the pier at 6 AM. Grabbed three hard tails with my second cast near the pier and trolled them on out deeper looking for some King. Wind was out of the west and kicked up a little as the morning went on. Water clarity was fair but lots of jelly fish.

Started slowly trolling that pair and immediately the cigar minnow got nailed but went immediately slack. Figured I forgot to check the drag but it was feather light. Pulled it in and the rig was kinked up pretty good - must've been a decent king but it missed the hook and the stinger. Set out one more cigar minnow and kept paddling. Tough paddling against that wind which had shifted a little southwest by 9.

Let the wind drift me back East to the east and a little to inside the pier length. While I tried to get organized with my bait rod and put a new rig on my other rod when my Penn with the hard tail started singing. The fish made a solid run while I reached back and cleared the other line with cigar minnow I just put out. Gained a little ground on him and he made another smoking run. Had to tighten the drag a little since I was afraid of getting spooled at this point. Had the drag fairly tight and got up and down on him three or four times. He pulled real hard - so much I was thinking maybe it's a jack, but each time he'd make another run dragging me out further into the gulf. Finally wore him down and could see that it was a king - and decent size. After a couple of more runs had him sufficiently tuckered out, got him boatside stuck the handgaff in him and proceeded to navigate him into the kayak trying to keep my feet out of his mouth. He did manage to snag my left foot as I was maneuvering for space and getting his head situated but at least he wasn't thrashing.

Packed it up and headed to shore. Surf had picked up considerably so as I got close I turned and started backing the yak back on to the beach when one wave caught me and raised my front end - even as I was leaning forward and paddling into it. Tumped me over but I had lashed everything down and was glad I remembered to wrap a line around the king's tail for just such an occurrence. Dragged the king, the yak and my pride back onto the beach and after recovering and icing him down I packed up the yak and headed home. Thought he was the largest I'd caught in the yak so I got the scale out and sure enough- 26# - biggest catch to date fishing from my yak. Some bull reds may have come close but doubt they were much over 20#.

Got a couple of pictures with my son who didn't want to get out of bed this morning (bud he did help me get all cleaned up by noon). Just getting ready to make some fish dip now.

Need help with fish ID

FishnGator — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:05:43 GMT

Howdy folks, I'm still kind of new to this surf fishing stuff although I've been going every weekend for the past month or so. Have mainly caught ladys, cats and blues. Did catch one small redfish and a few whiting. Today I fished past the last lot past Portofino and caught 7-8 ladys, 5 blues and this. Is it a Pomp or a Jack? Thanks all.

navarre thursday evening

tcsurfisher — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:41:53 GMT

went out past the gate to first parking lot found a wash just west of it set up and started drinking beer wishing my lawn had that much grass on it saw a couple schools of reds casted to them watched them swim around the line and keep going was a go excuse to drink some beers on a green lawn

Today Navarre Beach

weatherman — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:31:59 GMT

Waves, minimal, although yesterday was flat out there, 1-2 right now. Fished with sand fleas, one pompano. June grass was in, not bad but a severe pain.... A lot of baitfish in close, glass minnows, nice sized cigar minnows if anyone needs bait, cast net distance. 5 yakkers out there, hope they got some kings. No other fish crashing the baitfish, no spanish, no ladyfish or anything, wierd......

Report from Perdido

sleepyluke — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:05:27 GMT

Well thanks to your help, I spent the past week trying to surf fish. First night we got shut out and did not know what we were doing, second day caught 2 small sharks and then caught a flounder with a bass fishing rogue. Caught several lady fish, then a few whiting and then Thursday caught a stingray. It was cool, about 3 feet across, could not get it flipped over to get the hook out, but the line snapped on the beach and he flopped back in so maybe will have rusted out by now. I am completely addicted. I will post pics when I get them off the camera. Thanks for all the help and I will check in for the next year when we return to the coast!!!!

Perdido Key 7/01/08

Halfmoon — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:36:19 GMT

Went to one of the public access spots. Put out a couple of lines to see what's bitting.

Caught a few cats and some baby sharks with a whiting (Spell check) here and there.

But the grand prize was this hungry Pomp!

World record!!!! Smallest Pompano caught on hook and line.Hooked through the lip. As you can see the shrimp is almost bigger than him.

He was release to fight another day.Or year.

Friday evening past Portofino

FishnGator — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:06:32 GMT

Went out today to my favorite spot past Portofino. Got there at about 5:30 p and caught nothing but Ladys and Blues until about 7:30. Then I decided to wade out on the sand bar and throw out into the deeper water. First cast landed a 13" Pomp. He's in the fridge now and will be dinner tomorrow night. Nothing much after that. That's my second Pomp, maybe I'm starting to get the hang of this. Oh yeah, I caught him on a live sandflea. The fleas are everywhere out there now, could have caught a hundred if I wanted but just caught what I used. I can't wait until the Pomps start getting thick in the surf later this year. I'm thinking about buying a Hobie Kayak next, I'm going to rent one a few times first and give i a try. That is all for now.

Chris

Beach Sharkin in the Morning

GoVols — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:08:03 GMT

Won't be able to get out late to catch sharks, but my window per the wife is 5-8 am. Anybody had luck with sharks early in the morning? I know just about every freshwater fish can be had early in the morning. I plan on catching a few lady fish, cutting them up, then wading into no mans land to make a cast.

Friday AM Surfin

Photon — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:19:25 GMT

[size=2]Spent a couple of hours surf fishing this AM. Got out late, it's the wife's day off and she wanted to go. I figured with the surf up a bit we'd just chase the ladyfish around. Caught a ton using a bubble rig with a soda straw. Saw lots of sharks. Most were surfing in on the waves and cruising close. Lots of blue runners and other bait in as the current was running hard to the west. Next time I'm bring a shark rig and put those lady fish to work. :doh

Report from Recent trip to Gulf Shores

Sling Wade — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:12:03 GMT

Just got back from my annual trip to Gulf Shores, AL. Thanks to all of you I caught my first of several Pompano and got lucky and caught my first Sheepshead!

Even though I live in St. Louis, I read your reports and tips all the time. I must confess, even us yankees dream about living in the south. You don't know how lucky you are.

I caught three nice Pompano using fresh shrimp I bought at the fish market. Also caught a bunch of small blues and several whiting. I was using circle hooks and 12 lb. Power Pro line with a 20 lb. flourocarbon leader. When the surf was calm I used a egg sinker and carolina rig. When the surf got rough (which it did) I used a pyramid sinker on a slider rig I bought at J&M in Orange beach.

You guys were saying that fleas were hard to find, and you were right. I got lucky and found a small crab in the sand and thats what I used to catch the Sheepshead. Wow! What a fight. It was awesome!

I've attached a picture of the Sheepshead along with a picture of my son with his first Flounder from last year. We caught a lot of Flounder last year, but none this year? Can't wait till next year when the pier is finished.

Thanks again everyone for all the great advice. :clap

Bluefish,Pompano,whiting

EG94 — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:13:05 GMT

These Past weekend at Perdido key on the Florida/Alabama line I caught 1 pompano which was my first pompano ,1 whiting, and two decent sized bluefish I caught a lot of bluefish but they were all small and were released . I also caught a bunch of baby blacktips in the 6inch-2ft range which were released . And saw two more big ones in the 4ft range .

More beach sharkin' 6/14

Turd Ferguson — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:32:18 GMT

We started out down past portifino catching bait and tried to catch some sharks down that way but the sargasm weed was too bad so we relocated to the intercostal across from chicken bone. We thought about walking over to check out the forum get together, but it looked like space was at a premium and we already knew the weeds were too bad. We ended up doing pretty well, nothing huge but we landed every fish that hit.

[IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w103/02taco4x4/P6050296.jpg[/IMG]

Me John and Jed

[IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w103/02taco4x4/P6050298-1.jpg[/IMG]

John and Jed with a monster!...and some random who walked into the shot

[IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w103/02taco4x4/P6050297.jpg[/IMG]

Jed pretending he is Jeff Corwin

[IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w103/02taco4x4/P6140300.jpg[/IMG]

Cliff, Dan, Jed and Myself (Yes, I know how redicuously white I am). This was Cliff and Dan's first time shark fishing, I think they're hooked now!

Sharkin' Navarre 6-21

Turbow — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:03:52 GMT

Last night the Infidel Fishing Team landed some behemoth nurse sharks. Three total. I have no
idea the length or weight on these guys. All were caught and successfully released between 830pm-1am on hardtails yakked 200-300yds.

June Grass

GoVols — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:26:41 GMT

Is the June grass around in Destin right now. Will be there fourth of July week and hoping it is not heavy.

my dad is coming in town and wants to catch some fish, thought I would

bamagun — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:35:08 GMT

take him out to the beach and get on some lady fish. Is anyone catching any right now out at navarre?

roll tide

Sharkin' 6/20

Turd Ferguson — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:36:02 GMT

Went out to the beach early yesterday afternoon to see what the water looked like and try to catch some bait. The sargasm weed had moved out and the lady fish were everywhere. After wading out and hooking probably 30 lady fish I managed to land 3 :banghead to use for bait last night.

We set up in our usual spot about 8pm and fished until 11pm or so. Landed these two guys, we also had 5 or 6 other runs but we couldn't get those hooked up.

This is the first one we caught, his first run was pretty impressive espcially for his size

[IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w103/02taco4x4/P6200004.jpg[/IMG]

This was the last fish of the night, he was still a little green by the time we beached him. I think we all got tail whipped at least once by him.

[IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w103/02taco4x4/P6200006.jpg[/IMG]

alabama point report

kingfisher09 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:17:07 GMT

went out last night, using shrimp caught the elusive sail cat.lol. of course as anyone i got tired of that and decided i would come back in the morn, woke up a lil late, but still got out there. caught some cats, a monster hardtail, a puffer fish on steroids, and a weird rock fish. the dude next to me was catching grouper next to one of the bridge pillings, they were ranging 12 to 18 inches and respectively throwing them back, when i headed over there to try and catch some the bite deminished. also the guy caught some decent sized redfish.

Looking for big fish

Fishermon — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:15:10 GMT

>Me and my boy been hitting the beach and Sound everynow and then...nailing ladie's, and hard tails on every cast almost. We are working on getting shark bait for the most part, but also hoping a pompano will hit again, but as we all know Pompano are hard to find as hot as it is.... Huge schools of hard tails can be seen close to the brakers if you look hard. Saw two small sharks chasing them too. We kept a couple of lady fish from Navarre Beach and later took it to the sound and flew it (with a kite,SW winds) trying to hook a shark or a big red or even the Tarpon you all talk about, but didn't stay long enough , it got dark , my son was tired form pulling over 20 fish that afternoon, went home. ... We'll try it again next time. Talking about kites, I have these kites that will fish places you only dream of. A fisherman must have. I'm working on getting me a shark (or any kind of BIG fish basically) from land before bragging more about the kite, but you can get an idea. PM me if you'd like more info. Im working on a website as well. soon to come. I really want to land a shark/Tarpon/kingfish/cobia etc after reading all these posts here....and yes the challenge will be from land. how? using a kite. yes.!!!! :clap

6/16/08 Portofino!!!

joe bag o donuts — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:45:55 GMT

Got a little past Portofino around 12 and stayed till around 5:30. Had a nice soft breeze out of the south that slowly turned pretty strong by the end of the day. The water was fairly calm for most of the day. No jellyfish by the way...

Started off trying to sight fish for a pompano or two with a pink jig, but only saw one and after about 30 minutes I quit that venture. Ate a sandwich and went back out with a MirrOlure suspending MirrOminnow and proceeded to catch probably 30 small jacks and ladyfish. The jacks were all under a foot by a good bit, but were tons of fun on my light 7' rod and 2500 Stradic. It was amazing to see a school of hundreds of tiny jacks come swimming right around you. As the wind picked up I switched to a Gotcha and then to a gold spoon and caught fish on both. I could've thrown out my sunscreen bottle and they wold have hit it. All I had to do was cast out whatever I was using and reel in as fast as I could. I spent a total of about 4 hours catching jacks and ladyfish and can't remember a better time I've had fishing. I even had a double hookup on the MirrOlure.

Overall I caught tons of fish. Trash fish, but they were still a blast. My shoulers are already sore form all the casting and speed reeling. I'm still waiting for the time I go and the big jacks are out there. One day......

Gate at Johnson's Beach! 6/16

Halfmoon — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:16:12 GMT

Well around 6:00 this evening headed out to the beach with my Daughter to see what we could rally up. Moon high in the sky and tide come'n in.

Not much to report. For about two hours the 6inch sharks would not give me a break. After that, the hard tails had their fun with me. Until the kittens and I mean kittens showed up. Three at a time. About 3 inches long didn't even know they were hooked they were so small. Other then that had some good quality time with my little girl and she caught her first shark even if it was tiny. she was excited.

I'm beat.. sit'n down getting up sitting down getting up ............ The fish worked me tonight.

Using peeled dead shrimp and a hard tail.

Whiting

EG94 — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:22:14 GMT

I caught these 3 whiting yesterday at the Florida/Bama line at Perdido Key . I was useing frozen shrimp , I also caught a little pompano but I threw him back . I also lost a few whiting .

Orange Beach/Perdido Pass 6-8/6-14

xl883lo — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:52:04 GMT

Took my wife,grandkids(G10&B7), daughter#2(not the mother) and her boyfriend to OB for the week.

1)Started out the week at a friends house in Fairhope went to the city pier on Sunday AM and absolutely nothing was hitting. Only saw one guy get a couple of mullet with a cast net.

2)Monday AM city pier same results.

3)Tuesday AM I left the condo at about 5AM and had the second most succesful day of the trip as I went by Mo's Tackle and landed a 7' 0" Tidemaster(St Croix)........I needed another inshore rod for a made in USA Penn 260 Slammer I picked up the other day. Mo's had a little sale on so I could not resist. Later I went down to the PP Bridge without my gear and a couple of folks were catching Grey Snapper on live shrimp but all and all pretty slow. Took my grandson (7) down to Zeke's to see the boats come in with the fish. He was less than enthusiastic at first but then he got to touch the fish, see a 77.2# yellowfin(from Summer Breeze II) and feed scraps from tha cut-up table to the pelicans. As we left he asked if we could go back tomorrow.

4)Wednesday AM I went back to the West Jetty.....a few people were catching the typical ladyfish, gafftops, grunts...one guy caught a small Spanish. I went with my Buddy from Fairhope back the the seawall on the westside and there were several huge baitballs. We caught a few grunts on dead shrimp. Something about 13-18 inches long kept running the base of the wall and busting the baitballs but I could never tell what it was.We saw 3 or 4 good size spanish cruising about 20-40 yards out but I never could get their attention. The Jellyfish were as thick as flies.....saw two guys spearfishing on the inside of the rocks....one guy was in a shorty....they must have been Yankee Tourists......I couldn't have stood it.Took my grandson back to Zeke's to see the charters come in.

5)Thursday was the best, although not very successful. My buddy from Fairhope and I launched his boat from Cotton Bayou Ramp about 8 AM. Took my grandson and his girlfriend. We anchored off the west jetty fished till about 10 am(live shrimp mostly).....missed two strikes and caught a big Ladyfish(3/4 oz gold spoon)......Porpoise were everywhere. My grandson started getting seasick(I think he was water watching too much looking for the Porpoise). We went back inside the Bay to Robinson Island to let him get his land legs. While he was in the water he got really nailed by a jellyfish.This is 3 days later.

http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll38/xl883lo/?action=view&current=jelly.jpg

We decided he needed to eat so we got him an early lunch at Tacky Jack's. I called the wife to say after lunch I would get my Buddy to drop us off at one of the marinas and she could come get us(my marching orders were be back by noon). My grandson chimes in "but granpaw...grandpaw....I want to fish some more". My wife hears him and says "well if he wants to go out again okay". What a trooper......seasick, jellyfish stung and sunburned and what does he wat to do......go out some more.My grandson is on the right and my Buddy's son is on the left.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll38/xl883lo/buddyatTJ.jpg

6)Friday was actually the most productive fish catching day. I went out in front of Poenix VII & VIII. There is a little sandbar the goes from over by the west jetty and ties into the first sandbar in front of VII. I was casting dead shrimp, dead sandfleas and live sandfleas to the edge of the little sandbar where they are 30-70 yards apart. I got cut off twice(using light mono leaders) hooked two spanish one spit the hook and one broke off, landed two pompano one about 8"-9" and the othe 13"-14". All my strikes were on dead shrimp.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll38/xl883lo/pomp.jpg

Shark report w/ pics

Turd Ferguson — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:05:35 GMT

Caught these two on two different nights last week. I think both of these came off a halfed lady fish. None of us are too familiar with shark species, but I'm assuming they were both black tips??

[IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w103/02taco4x4/P6020206.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w103/02taco4x4/P5300205.jpg[/IMG]

Navarre 11 june

allen_perkinson — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:15:34 GMT

Took the wife and kiddoes out to navarre to do a bit of fishing untill the sun went down and it turnmed out to be great night for everything but what i wanted! The surf was calm and the tide moving in so we waded out about 20 yards to cast and before we even hit botom there were lady fish, blues and hard tails eating the shrimp two at a time! every cast resulted in one or more of the three. No pomps or anything else worth mentioning. But if you want to take your kids out, you will have a blast. So thats the report, Tight Lines!

6-12 navarre beach report

pirate@40something — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:45:57 GMT

well i was going to post here but just read allen perkinsons report. it pretty much says it all. non stop hard tails, lady fish and blues. just wish i had an airator with me to hold some of those for bait this weekend in the hargraves. till next report, another day living here in paradise.

June 10 Portofino

joe bag o donuts — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:31:19 GMT

Got out there around 10:30-11:00 and stayed till about 1:30. Started out throwing a topwater for ladies and got nothing, switched to a jig after about 10-20 minutes. My dad landed a tiny jack on a fresh shrimp and shortly after I saw a pompano chase my pink jig in. I cast back out to him and he obliged me by taking the hook. He was in the slot and went into the cooler. Went back out with some fresh shrimp and a plain hook and hooked about 7-8 ladyfish. Getting stung by jellyfish the whole time. Perfect day at the beach and one fresh pomp for later. You gotta love it.

Florabama Report

jacko'fishes — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:40:56 GMT

Hit the water across the border about 4 p.m. Caught 15 to 20 cats until about 7:00 then caught a black grouper and a bluefish. Never caught a grouper there before. Lost two other bluefish and a ladyfish. Fishing with pinfish.

Navarre Beach

DGsurffishn — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:42:37 GMT

Went out Sunday 2 hours caght 3 ladyfish and one pompono.

johnsons beach

tcsurfisher — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 19:13:33 GMT

went last evening got there about 6 and left at 11;30 caught 15 ladyfish and 7 cats didnt see but 2 jellies and lots of star fish no sharks

jellyfish fish still in surf?

dangermon — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:57:59 GMT

jellyfish fish still in surf? Lots on Saturday p.m. It was bad.

Aleah's First (late post...31 May)

allen_perkinson — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:24:14 GMT

Told my daughter to get to bed early so she can get rest for an early morning surf fishing trip. So Saturday morning i wake her up at about 5am so we can get everything together and head out to Navarre. I never planned on hooking into anything except maybe a random red or ray, but low and behold only about an hour after we set up (0630) one of the poles is bent over! It was a little pomp probably barley pushing 11 inches. Then only about 15 minutes later, my other pole is bent over so i tell Aleah to grab it and start reeeling it in. Another Pomp about the same size as the first! Her first one! It was amazing, im so proud! We were the about 2-3 hours and ended up yanking 2 pomps, one skip jack (on shrimp) and a hard tail. Not a bad day for my daughters first trip. BTW, she lives in alaska with her mom, so i have her for the summer. Enjoy the pictures...

This was the first one...

Fighting her Pomp!!

There it is, after a face plant in the sand...

And finally, the mess she left me with... wouldn't trade it for the world! Tight Lines!

P'cola beach 6/7

SemperFi-sh — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:00:01 GMT

Time: 0600~0900
Tides: seemed to be rising, I think high tide is noonish today
Surf: light to mod
Wind: Var from S to SE I believe
Fleas: caught plenty, but most were small
Fish: nothing but Hardtails and baitstealers, few cats

*a few Jellis in the water hither and thither...

sharkin navrre beach

Iceman — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:00:45 GMT

caught two bulls 120lb hooked a spinner shark est 120lb but broke off but it was good day of fishing

pompano

winkle — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:25:10 GMT

what is the limit on pompano and size limit too?

fishing in destin and santa rosa beach

winkle — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:27:29 GMT

Hey guys Im coming down first week in june to fish for a week. would like to catch spanish and pompano maybe even some mangrove snapper do yall know of some places to fish and do anyone know of some spots to fish? any info would be appreciated cause Im coming down with the in-laws to fish. Thanks

Navarre beach 5/19

fishingnoob — Mon, 19 May 2008 12:36:34 GMT

headed out this morning to the beach about half way down ...using shrimp on 3 diferant rigs 1 fishifinder 1 bottom rig and a pomp rig double hooks ...fished for about 2 hrs when i ran out of bait ... caught 15 ladyfish and 4 catfish then headed home

Weekend reports?

FishnGator — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:26:11 GMT

Has anybody done anything this weekend. I guess we were all forced out of our spots on the Portofino side, looked to me yesterday that every surf fisherman and woman was on Ft. Pickens side. Saturday was very rough but yesterday was pretty nice. I only saw one Whiting and one small shark caught by anyone near me and I only had one hit. Any positive reports?