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smally7

Beach Comber
Jul 22, 2008
5
0
Hi, My name is Keith, and my family and I will be coming down Aug. 10th for a week. We are staying is Seagrove. I would like to do some fishing if possible, and was wondering what my best bet would be from shore. I do not mind a short drive, or getting up at the crack of dawn. I have a guide service myself, on Dale Hollow Lake in TN for smallmouth bass, so I am familiar with fishing and have my own equiptment. I will deffinatly be stopping in a yellowfin after reading this board to pick up some lures. I really prefer artifitial vs live if I can get away with it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated :D
Thanks in advance,
Keith
 

polo

Beach Comber
Jul 15, 2008
34
5
Fishing from the Gulf from shore.

Hi Keith,

Welcome to South Walton County and there is definitely good fishing to be had here. If you want to fish from the shore you have several choices: pier, bridge, jetty, or surf. You also have the option to fish Choctawhatchee or St Andrews bays if you don't mind driving a short distance from Seagrove.

I lived here for five years as a kid and we did a lot of salt water fishing (mostly in the bay but also in the Gulf trolling for King Mackerel) but I had never fished in the surf until I moved back here recently. It has recently become probably my favorite way to fish for a number of reasons but more on that later.

First things first. All charter boats and some piers have a boat/pier license that's included in your fishing fee but otherwise you will need a non-resident salt water license to fish in the Gulf or the bays. These are readily available in all tackle shops as well as Wal Mart, K-Mart, etc, and can be purchased for several different time periods. While you are there, pick up a copy of the salt water fishing regulations which contain the size limits by species and the number you can legally keep. It was a bit confusing to me at first but once you know which species you are likely to catch where, it narrows the number of possibilities you have to watch out for. It's not a big issue except when fishing from bridges or piers where you may hurt the fish getting it up only to find out it's outside the size window and you have to release it.

Light to medium tackle (6-7 foot rod, spinning/baitcasting reel, 8-15 lb test line) is adequate for just about anything you might catch from shore or bridge/pier other than the largest of King Mackerel or something unexpected like a big Tarpon or shark.

Which lures/baits you use will depend on what you are targeting. That said, if you want to buy a few things that will give you a relatively wide applicability, I would recommend the following:

One or two Mirrolures (maybe one swimming and one floating) and I seem to have best luck with white with red head. They will get various fish in both surf and bay including speckled trout and red drum as well as some others. Some people like Yozuri lures in the same category and I have a few but haven't been as lucky with them.

A couple of Gotcha lures. I've had best luck with gold and silver with red head and you should really look for the ones with gold hooks. They are good in all waters and will catch various things but for sure Spanish Mackerel and Ladyfish (poor man's tarpon) among others. Some guys like Clark spoons and I have a couple but haven't had much luck with them... yet.

One or two clear floats which you can partially fill with water for casting weight as well as one or two ratlling floats. You can tie a jig head with grub, an artificial shrimp, a Mirrolure, or even a soda straw piece over a treble hook on a leader about two feet behind the float and these are good for attracting many different kinds of fish depending on what you put behind the float.

Believe it or not, the soda straw piece and treble hook rig is deadly when fishing for Spanish Mackerel and you will also get Ladyfish and the occasional juvenile King Mackerel with these. I've only ever seen them used from piers but I'm sure they are fished from boats and bridges, too. They can be bought pre-rigged or you can make your own. I've heard a lot of guys swear by the red and white striped McDonalds straw. The Gotcha lures will target the same fish but they are more expensive. A rubber shrimp or grub behind a rattling or water-filled float is good for speckled trout and red drum, particularly if you are fishing the grass flats in the bay. Drift fishing an artificial shrimp around structure is also very effective for several different kinds of fish.

I'd also pick up some 1/4 jig heads, shrimp heads, as well as some soft grub tails, and some artificial shrimp (I've had better luck with DOA brand but know guys who swear by Gulp shrimp, too). For hooks on rigs, I prefer circle or Kahle hooks because they hook the fish nearly automatically, are harder for the fish to throw, and usually get them in the mouth which makes them easier to release.

You don't need leaders for everything you catch in the Gulf but if you might catch mackerel, blue fish, lady fish, or sharks... you probably want a leader because they all have sharp teeth which will easily cut virtually any line. I've used twenty pound and thirty pound and have not lost a fish on either due to the fish biting off the lure/hook. Since 20lb is smaller and less visible, I'd probably go with that and just tie your lure/rig onto one end and a black swivel on the other. Conventional wisdom says half the length of the largest fish you expect to catch is good so I usually use about 18" and it hasn't let me down yet.

Now, after all that, I have fished the bay from bridge and shore as well as the Gulf from beach (surf), jetty, bridge, and pier. For my money, the most fun is from the beach/surf and it gives me a way to spend a day at the beach with the family as I'm not really a beach person. The number of fish you can catch there is a little more limited but really like it. I usually target Gulf Pompano which is a great fighter for its size on light to medium tackle and nothing tastes better, in my opinion, especially when simply grilled the same day you catch them. These are bottom feeders that will take shrimp, sand fleas (mole crabs), clams, or other small crabs. I usually catch live sand fleas (mole crabs) at the water's edge and fish them with a two or three hook drop rig and a pyramid sinker on the bottom. You want to fish the beach side of the sand bar as that's where they school looking for food surfacing from the sandy bottom as the waves break. I have also caught two oversize (longer than 27 inches) red drum, several ladyfish and one shark fishing for Pompano in this fashion. I've never caught one on an artificial shrimp, sand flea, or crab but don't know why they wouldn't take one.

If you fish with shrimp, you will open up the range of fish you might catch to include flounder, speckled trout, whiting, croakers, and some others. The downside is that the bait stealers like shrimp, too, but that isn't so much of a problem with artificial baits.

I usually have a second rod rigged with a Gotcha lure to pitch out when there is a feeding frenzy going on as indicated by a the bait fish thrashing about trying to avoid the predator bluefish, spanish mackerel, or ladyfish. I don't target the ladyfish because they aren't good eating but they are fun to catch when you get one by chance because they fight pretty hard and they come out of the water trying to throw the hook.

As for locations, you have lots of choices. I'm not familiar with the eastern end of 30A down where Seagrove is but I'm sure the things I have said above apply equally to the beaches at Panama City as well as the piers, jetties, bridges, and bay there.

My favorite spots are the channel under highway 331's small northern bridge for Choctawhatchee Bay and the beach at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park for fishing in the surf from the beach (cost's $2 to enter park but worth it for the virtually empty beach). I have fished from the jetties at the east pass (Destin) without much luck but have fare better wading and fishing the grass beds in the bay on the northwest side of the Destin bridge near the Coast Guard station.

Finally, there are two little booklets which have helped me a lot. The first is called "Fishing the Local Waters" by Jim Hoskins and Chris Phillips. It is a good reference on fishing the Gulf/Bays from Pensacola to Panama City from shore, pier, or boat along with what you might expect to catch as well as what baits/rigs to use for what. It also includes maps, hot-spot coordinates, and information on some tackle shops. The other booklet is called "Surf Fishing: Catching Fish from the Beach" by Joe Malat. It is not specific to a region but gives good information on any/all the fish you might catch in the surf and how to target them. Most of my information on how to fish for Pompano came from an online article called "How to Surf Fish for Pompano" by David Fitzgibbon. I don't have a web address for it but I'm sure you can find it with a simple web search if you want it. There are also a couple of good web sites which outline the tides (best fishing is generally around high tide at dawn/dusk), etc.

Well, this has been a long post. Sorry, I got carried away but I hope it provides you some useful information. Feel free to email me back channel if you have any more questions.

Paul
 

rblessed1031

Beach Lover
Jul 14, 2008
156
130
Dune Allen
That is awesome information. We will be down the first week of August and want to fish from the beach in the mornings before the kids are up. We have never done this before, so your post was just what we needed. Thank you for taking the time to type it all out. SoWallers are great! See you on the surf.
 

polo

Beach Comber
Jul 15, 2008
34
5
Keith,

Contact me at guzowskip at gmail dot com and maybe we can hook up while you are down here to save you some tackle costs and maybe a little frustration looking for fish. That said, I'm an amateur so don't hold me to guaranteeing fish but I have had had good luck on the surf, particularly at Topsail Park on the west end of 30A so would be happy to show you what I know if you are interested.... Perfectly free!

Paul
 

smally7

Beach Comber
Jul 22, 2008
5
0
Paul that was great of u too take the time to post all of that information. I certainly apreciate it. I will be in contact.
Keith
 
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