In this week’s Northwest Florida Fishing Report, host Joe Baya covers an early dog-days summer pattern from Pensacola to Panama City, where heat, humidity, stormy weather, dirty surf, sargassum, and fishing pressure are all shaping the bite. This episode features Capt. Blake Nelson with Last Cast Charters, Capt. Harris Scruggs with Triple B Fishing, and Justin Reed with Justin Reed Fishing.
The big theme this week is covering water and adjusting quickly. Inshore fish around Choctawhatchee Bay have pushed deeper, offshore anglers are dealing with a tougher bottom bite, dolphins, sharks, and heavy grass, and surf anglers around Pensacola are working through dirty water and post-storm beach changes. The fishing is still productive, but the easy June pattern has already shifted into something closer to late July or August.
Conditions Recap
Northwest Florida is already feeling like the dog days of summer. Hot mornings, heavy humidity, stormy forecasts, and tropical weather influence have made fishing more of a grind across the region. Capt. Blake Nelson says the inshore pattern around Choctawhatchee Bay has shifted quickly, with redfish, black drum, mangrove snapper, and other fish sliding into deeper docks, bridges, bayous, and grass flat edges. Instead of a wide-open June pattern, anglers are having to search until they find fish grouped in smaller, more productive areas.
Offshore, Capt. Harris Scruggs says bait has been good around Panama City, but bottom fishing has been tougher than expected. Dolphin pressure, sharks, rough weather, moving fish, and heavy sargassum have made it harder to stay on fish, especially on shorter trips and more pressured numbers. Anglers are still bringing home fish, but they may need to scale down tackle, use good live bait, and fish less-pressured areas when possible.
In the surf, Justin Reed says Pensacola-area beaches have been rough and dirty after the recent weather. The sargassum has eased in some places after being pushed onto the beach, but chocolate-milk water has created a different challenge. Dirty water can still produce fish, but anglers should expect more catfish and be ready to adjust with brighter colors, scent, synthetic baits, cut bait, and bigger offerings when needed.
Choctawhatchee Bay Inshore Report – Capt. Blake Nelson With Last Cast Charters
Capt. Blake Nelson with Last Cast Charters says the heat has pushed a lot of the inshore bite deeper around Choctawhatchee Bay. Redfish, black drum, and mangrove snapper have been holding around bridges and deeper docks in roughly six to 12 feet of water, while trout and Spanish mackerel have been more consistent over grass flats in four to six feet. Many of the same areas that produced earlier in the summer are still worth checking, but the fish have often moved a few hundred feet or a couple hundred yards deeper.
Blake says the bite is less about a perfect time of day and more about finding where the fish are grouped. His fleet may have one boat grinding, while another boat finds 14 redfish, black drum, and mangrove snapper on one dock. That has reinforced his belief that, especially in extreme heat or cold, fish group up tighter and anglers need to move until they find them. In Choctawhatchee Bay, he also believes wind can be more important than solunar tables because slick-calm conditions can make fish spooky and hard to catch.
The best search tactic right now is covering docks, banks, and bayou edges with artificial bait. Blake says when it gets very hot, he goes back to a classic 3-inch Gulp Shrimp on a quarter-ounce jig head. His go-to color is glow with a chartreuse tail, often paired with an electric chicken quarter-ounce Bass Assassin jig head. The goal is not to sit still, but to hit dock after dock and learn where fish are holding.
Live bait is still important, especially for charters and families. Greenies have been the primary bait for trout and Spanish mackerel, while pogies are a strong backup and have sometimes been better for redfish. Blake says greenies usually show a harder flick near the edge of flats and bayou mouths, while pogies are more likely to swirl on top. Anchovies can fool anglers because they flick too, but they often move side to side in a way that looks different when watched closely.
For rigs, Blake is still using knocker rigs, but some of his captains are getting more bites by lightening up with Carolina rigs, 15-pound leader, smaller hooks, and lighter weights. Over four- to six-foot grass flats, fly-lining greenies has been one of the most reliable ways to create action, with trout, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, ladyfish, catfish, and other species all mixed in.
Gear and baits mentioned in this section include 3-inch Gulp Shrimp, quarter-ounce jig heads, Bass Assassin jig heads, knocker rigs, Carolina rigs, 15- to 20-pound leader, live greenies, pogies, and fly-lined live bait over grass flats.
Panama City Offshore Report – Capt. Harris Scruggs With Triple B Fishing
Capt. Harris Scruggs with Triple B Fishing says the bait situation around Panama City has been strong, with good live bait available, but offshore fishing has still been a grind. When anglers find fish, dolphins are often close behind, and sharks have also been a problem at times. Harris says fish have been moving, so a spot that produces one day may not hold the same fish the next.
Harris believes many of the bigger legal red snapper and larger fish in the 10- to 18-pound range have moved out of the areas where they were more consistent in past years. There are still plenty of smaller fish around, and anglers are still catching dinners, but the overall bite has required more effort. For charter clients who want to fill the cooler, Harris says eight hours is a better minimum right now than six. Six-hour trips can still produce, but some days may require adding mangrove snapper, red grouper, scamp, or other species to round out the box.
For recreational anglers, Harris recommends starting with good live bait and scaling down tackle when fishing pressured spots. On charters, when he scales down to 40-pound leader, he also scales down the weight from 12 or 16 ounces to eight or even six ounces in shallower water. He also backs off the drag so fish can pull without breaking lighter leader. For recreational anglers fishing with only a few people on deck, he says longer leaders of 10 feet or more can help by getting the bait farther from swivels and weights.
Joe and Harris also discussed lighter knocker-rig setups for pressured public numbers, including a small hook, live cigar minnow, one-ounce egg sinker, fluorocarbon leader, and a braid-to-leader connection with minimal terminal tackle. Harris says this kind of finesse becomes more important on shorter trips, shallower public numbers, or areas closer to the passes. When boats can reach deeper water, less-pressured bottom, or better natural areas, the fish are often easier to catch and the rigs do not have to be as technical.
Sargassum has been another major offshore problem. Harris says trolling has required patience, because crews are having to clean grass off lures and even clear grass from the wheels. For wahoo, he has been running smaller-profile jet heads without trolling leads when possible, hoping the cleaner, simpler setup sheds grass more easily. He also discussed using cable or wire under skirts, full cable rigs, and heavy mono on high-speed wahoo lures. At 12 to 14 knots, Harris does not think cable hurts bites nearly as much as it might on slower ballyhoo-style trolling.
King mackerel have also been around, with some pier and trolling success, though Harris has not seen that bite get especially hot yet. Joe also discussed using the AFTCO Ike Jime method on king mackerel to improve table quality, including bleeding, brain spiking, using wire, chilling the fish hard, and taking extra time to care for oily fish properly.
Gear and tactics mentioned in this section include live cigar minnows, threadfin herring, knocker rigs, fluorocarbon leader, 40- to 80-pound leader options, longer leaders, lighter weights, scaled-down tackle, jet heads, wahoo cable rigs, heavy mono, Yo-Zuri Bonita, DTX Minnow-style plugs, X-Rap-style plugs, trouble-hook flat lines, stinger rigs, and AFTCO Ike Jime tools.
Pensacola Surf Report – Justin Reed Fishing
Justin Reed with Justin Reed Fishing says the Pensacola surf has been rough and dirty after the recent weather. The good news is that rough surf pushed some of the grass out, but the dirty water brought in heavy catfish activity. Justin says anglers can still catch fish in dirty water, but they need to be prepared to work through catfish and use tactics that help better fish find the bait.
In dirty water, Justin likes brighter colors and more scent. He also uses more synthetic baits because they hold up better and keep color and scent in the water. When catfish are overwhelming smaller baits, one of his favorite adjustments is to catch a small whiting, cut it up, and fish bigger pieces that catfish cannot easily eat. That can lead to bluefish, redfish, and other better surf species.
Justin says pompano are still around, but as water temperatures climb toward the mid-80s, the summer pompano bite will continue to taper. Whiting, redfish, bluefish, ladyfish, catfish, and other summer surf species become a bigger part of the daily mix. He still fishes pompano rigs because they catch a wide range of species, but he expects more bait checks and more nuisance bites as pinfish, menhaden, and other bait-stealers get active in the hot water.
Post-storm scouting is a major part of surf fishing right now. Justin says a spot that was good before rough weather may be gone afterward, with the sandbar, rip current, or trough completely changed. His scouting approach is simple: carry one rod, put sand fleas or synthetic bait in a pocket, walk the beach, and cast into holes, troughs, close bars, and rip currents. If he does not get a bite within about five minutes, he moves on.
Justin defines surf structure as sandbars, troughs, holes, rip currents, and the breaks where waves turn white. On clear days, lighter-colored water shows bars and darker water usually shows deeper holes or troughs. On rougher days, the whitewater shows shallow bars, while darker, less-broken water shows deeper lanes. Fish follow those features, so finding a castable sandbar, hole, or trough gives anglers something specific to target instead of blindly soaking bait.
Early mornings are Justin’s preferred time in the summer because the beach is cooler, less crowded, and the fish are often more active before the sun heats the water. He also recommends night fishing as an overlooked summer option. After sunset, the beach is less crowded, the temperature is more comfortable, and whiting and redfish may show up after the first hour or two of darkness. Justin recommends keeping the night setup simple with one or two rods and glow sticks on the rod tips.
Gear and baits mentioned in this section include pompano rigs, bright floats, synthetic baits, sand fleas, shrimp, cut whiting, larger cut baits, glow sticks for night fishing, and simple one-rod scouting setups.
