Beach fishing?

I am from georgia and will be visiting Seagrove Beach in early April. I was wondering what all I would need to fish off the shore and what would work the best?

Normally the Pompano are coming close to shore in April and the best bait are sandfleas. You can find them at the waters edge using a sandflea rake or purchase them frozen. Good luck.

SoWal Fishing Guide | SoWal.com - Guide For The Beaches Of South Walton & Scenic 30A

Let us know if you have specific questions.

If beach fishing doens't work due to seaweed or rough currents Kings & Spanish Mackeral can be caught mid April from the very end of the Pier (Pier Park). I recommend titanium leaders as they chomp through many steel. Last year you could catch one every third cast on a basic spoon.

Another affordable option, Capt Steve Lathi of Affordable Fishing Adventures 850 240-4664 or email seaprize@cox.net

I am from georgia and will be visiting Seagrove Beach in early April. I was wondering what all I would need to fish off the shore and what would work the best?

Make sure you stop in at Yellowfin Ocean Sports for the local read and supplies.......

Agree with the above. I've caught pompano, redfish, ladyfish, and one small black-tip shark fishing in the surf with sand fleas. I prefer to catch my own sand fleas as I've never had very good luck with frozen ones because I found them brittle so they didn't seem to say on the hook very well. There is plenty of good info on the web about how to catch sand fleas and how to catch pompano (one of the best tasting fish around).

You can also use shrimp or squid when fishing from the beach. These baits will be attractive to more types of fish than sand fleas. That said, you will lose shrimp far more frequently than sand fleas or squid.

I found a little paperback book called "Fishing the Local Waters" by Jim Hoskins and Chris Phillips very useful when I first moved to this area. It talks about where to fish, what types of fish you can catch in the Gulf and in the bays, and how to catch them (rigs, baits, techniques, etc).

Regarding seaweed, I've not experienced this phenomenon called "June Bloom" as early as April so that shouldn't be an issue during your visit.

Lastly, keep in mind that if you fish from the shore, a bridge, or a private boat/dock you will need a fishing license (obtainable at Wal Mart and bait/tackle stores). Piers and charter boats that charge a fee for fishing have a license that covers the pier/boat.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Shore Fishing

I thought I read shore fishing required a license but it was no charge. Or could it be only for residents

Best thing to do is check with John at Yellowfin, has been very helpful over the years. All of the previous posts are helpful, I would add cigar minnows or finger mullett to the baits, can catch redfish etc, also gotchas are good for the lady fish, wouldnt eat them but fun to catch.

pensacolafishingforum.com is very informative and covers this area too.

You're right...

I thought I read shore fishing required a license but it was no charge. Or could it be only for residents

True. Only applies to residents. Check it out here: http://myfwc.com/license/recreational/saltwater-fishin

Polo

If beach fishing doesn't work...

You might want to consider a day on the Sweet Jody out of Destin. Great rates and guaranteed fish.... includes tackle, bait, and fish cleaning. I'm not affiliated with them in any way but it's a great bargain for off-shore fishing.

Make certain to check. I don't believe an out of state visitor can fish the surf without a license. It may be a 3 day or whole year, but I believe you still need a license.

I don't need a surf license because I have an actual saltwater license that covers me fishing the surf.
Those residents who only fish the surf are the ones who can get a no cost license, but they still need one.

Make certain to check. I don't believe an out of state visitor can fish the surf without a license. It may be a 3 day or whole year, but I believe you still need a license.

I don't need a surf license because I have an actual saltwater license that covers me fishing the surf.
Those residents who only fish the surf are the ones who can get a no cost license, but they still need one.

Out of state definitely has to have a license, 3 day, 7 day or year, year is less than 50 bucks

Thanks for all the advice. So my best bet is and flies, squid or shrimp? and I need to stop by the yellowfin fishing store. Also where is the pier?

That way.

Thanks for all the advice. So my best bet is and flies, squid or shrimp? and I need to stop by the yellowfin fishing store. Also where is the pier?

There are several in Panama City Beach, right off front beach rd, can't miss them.

One gold spoon can do wonders IMO!

My three year old loves fishing and we were in Seagrove last week. We were near Eastern Lake and errantly thought we would be able to find access to fish there. So when he asked one morning if we could go fishing, I took him to buy some shrimps and rigged up both my simple spin reel and his little Transformers pole and we headed to the beach.

I've never had luck anywhere beach fishing so I tried to find an area with submerged rocks reachable from the beach with even the little two foot transformers pole. I rigged my son's first, cast it out above the submerged rocks with a little float bobber so he had something to watch, and I turned around to rig mine.

In maybe twenty seconds he told me he had something. I didn't believe him (he likes to reel in every ten seconds and often acts like he has something). So I turn around and I can see that his little pole clearly has something. No way, I thought.

So I help him...definitely something there...and out comes a decent-sized crab (no idea what kind...it was sand colored and maybe eight to ten inches wide. It had taken the shrimp and hooked itself.

My son was ecstatic. I released the crab, rebaited his hook and tossed out to the same place. Soon after I got mine in too. All in all, in about fifteen minutes we had caught and landed six crabs (four on the little Transformers pole) with shrimp on a hook. It was a good time for us boys that morning.

First thing my son said to my father in law (his usual fishing buddy) when we got back to Indiana several days later?

"Papa, I caught crabs in Florida!"

Did it have one or two large claws? Sound like you might have caught a stone claw crab. While the body doesn't have much value the claws are delicious and sell at a premium. Also curious how you found rocks off of beach.

The claws were not large. They were long and narrow, actually, and it didn't look like any stone crab claws I've ever seen before. But I really have no idea.

And I suppose it might not have been rocks. Maybe it was grass. We walked East from the West side of Eastern Lake (wow, that was a mouthful) for several hundred yards until a saw a large dark patch in the water maybe 30-40 feet off the beach. The patch was maybe 10-by-30 and ran parallel to the beach. It was in front of a condo complex but the beach was nearly empty - on account of the endless highway of heavy construction equipment.

I cast off ahead off the dark patch and let it float with the current over the patch.