Perdido Key to Cape San Blas
Includes Pensacola, Gulf Breeze, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Panama City and Port St. Joe.

Sept. 5-7

Panhandle

Inshore

Once the beach calms down you can expect for the schooling fish to hit the beaches in large numbers again. Most of these schools are a mix of ladyfish, hardtails, bluefish and Spanish mackerel.

Fishing for redfish has been very good around the bridges. The rubble around the Bay Bridge has been great just before dark and at night. Many of the fish have been too big to keep, but there have been some keepers mixed in.

Flounder and black snapper are consistently being caught around structure. Try live bait around deep docks, rock piles, and bridges.

Offshore

As everyone knows, the weather has kept everyone out of the Gulf of Mexico, so offshore reports have been non-existent. It's very likely that the rough seas and storm surge blew some bottom feeders into shallower water, so don't be surprised to find grouper on spots where you normally don't catch them. You can also expect for snapper fishing in state water to be better than it was before the storm.

The tuna bite at the rigs was red hot prior to Gustav. Just about every one of the floaters have been holding both blackfin and yellowfin tuna. Chunking and live baiting have both been productive techniques, but if you plan on using hardtails you'll need to catch them on the shallow water rigs before heading out there.

By Captain Chris Phillips, Hot Spots Fishing Charters hotspotsfishing@hotmail.com | 850-255-7288

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