Pensacola fishing

[BuckWild]

Been down here since Sunday and the wind has been brutal. 20mph to 30mph and temps have dropped like crazy.
Been helping my friend renovate his house but today the weather is breaking and we are headed out in an hour or so.

Wind chill is 38 degrees right now and my Florida raised fishing partner is waiting for it to warm up a little before we hit the water. I told him he'd never make it back in Tennessee...

Wind still strong from the north but we are gonna try inshore for some sheepshead then hit the gulf around 1pm when the wind is forecast to be 2mph or less.

Plan to do some sight casting and probably try the triggerfish and mackerel.

Either way at least I will be on the water.

 

[Big Pop]

First March I haven't been there in about 10 years. Go for the sheepshead.

 

[cbhunter]

Good luck and post pics!

 

[RUGER]

Good luck !

 

[bluball]

Good luck,have fun

 

[redblood]

Going in a couple
Week. Hope it warms up!

 

[TX300mag]

Sounds fun! Looking forward to some pics from a successful trip.

 

[BuckWild]

Didn't get on the water until 10:30 after stopping for ice and fiddler crabs.
Put in by the Navy Base and headed out for an old concrete jetty for sheephead. Along the way, ran across schools of feeding Bonita in the Bay and pulled out the light tackle and lit into them. It was crazy. We caught several dozen that we used for bait for the Triggerfish. Finally head to the old jetty Pulled up and hit the spotlock and I yelled at Bryant...Look at all the sheephead. There were hundreds about 4 feet deep all around the boat.

We put on some fiddler crabs and it was on. We had our limit of 16 in just under an hour.

Wind had laid so out in the gulf we went. Pulled up to one of his spots and dropped down and both hooked up instantly. My first Triggerfish was 14.75 inches so back it went. We sat there and caught over 30 Triggerfish and at least 20 Red Snapper. No keepers and Red Snapper are out of season.

Ran 3 miles to next spot and I dropped in and landed a 19.5 inch Triggerfish on the first drop . Bryant said it was the biggest one ever caught on his boat. Caught 8 more on the next 8 drops but all 14.5 inch fish. Again, we caught over 20 Triggerfish and 15 or 20 Red Snapper.

I did manage to catch 4 huge Mingo Snapper that went 4 to 5 pounds each.

Ran to spot 3 and once again hammered the Triggerfish and Red Snapper but no keepers.

We caught some monster red snapper at the last stop but had to release them. We had 4 over 10 pounds.

Triggerfish limit is one per day per angler over 15 inches. We caught over 60 with only the one keeper.

Short but very active trip. Wind is forecast for 15-20 tomorrow, but we should be able to fish the Sheephead spot tomorrow afternoon in that wind.

Overall great day.

 

[TN Song Dog]

Sounds like a blast! Congrats

 

[RUGER]

Awesome !!!

 

[TX300mag]

Awesome! Thanks for keeping us updated and letting us "tag along." Hopefully today is productive, too.

 

[sgtwebb1]

AWESOME!!

That looks like some good eating right there!

 

[WTM]

cool

 

[tree_ghost]

Hey turned out to be a good day with good times! We love Pensacola! Got me thinking about a lil Fort Pickens trip next month when the pompano start running good…

 

[BuckWild]

We couldn't fish yesterday due to prior commitments and today is forecasting 20-30 mph out of the south.
We are staying at a beach front condo on Pensacola beach and the wind woke me up this morning.

Looks like today is out...tomorrow we have a wedding reception to attend and head back Sunday.

Looks like my fishing is done here. Had a blast while it lasted and have an open invitation to come back anytime.

 

[Bo Diddley]

Looks like a fun trip! I'm right down the road in Gulf Shores. We caught Redfish, Trout, croaker, stingray, and catfish off the dock where I'm staying yesterday afternoon. Nothing huge, but good times. Biting live shrimp the best.

 

[spoonie]

Awesome! Thanks for the report. I've got a bad itching for a bay boat and getting back to doing some saltwater fishing

 

[Billboy]

Saltwater fishing is addictive! Just sold my Stratos last year and bought a Mako so we can do lots of inshore in FL and SC. Love it!