In this week’s Northwest Florida Fishing Report, host Joe Baya tracks a true early-spring shift across the Emerald Coast with help from Justin Reed of Justin Reed Surf Fishing Charters, Brandon Barton of Emerald Waters Kayak Charters, and Capt. Tyler Massey of Hot Spots Charters. The headline this week is that the surf-side pompano migration is finally underway, Pensacola-area trout are feeding aggressively in transition zones, and even when wind keeps boats from running far offshore, there are still good options from the beach to nearshore waters.
Conditions Recap
The big setup this week is classic spring change. Sea-surface temperatures along the Emerald Coast have climbed into the upper 60s, the April full moon is lining up with warming weather, and that combination is helping push new fish into the system. On the beach, that means migrating pompano rather than just scattered resident fish. Inshore, bait is pulling out of creeks and bayous and setting up the kind of transition-water feeding windows that can produce better trout. Offshore, east wind and choppy conditions have limited how often boats can get out, but nearshore Spanish mackerel and short bottom-fishing opportunities are giving anglers something to work with while they wait for better weather.
Surf Report: The Pompano Run Is On from Pensacola to Navarre
Joe starts on the beach with Justin Reed, and the update is the one surf anglers have been waiting for. Justin says the pompano run is on, with schools of fish moving through and plenty of 11- to 12-inch class fish showing up, a strong sign that the migration is underway. His advice stays simple and practical. Find a stretch of beach where waves are breaking hard on the bar, then look for a place where that bar pinches closer to shore so anglers can more easily cast beyond the breakers. That backside of the sandbar is the travel lane, and when a school moves through, multiple rods can go down at once.
Justin says anglers should not just blindly launch every bait as far as possible and sit back. Instead, spread rods intelligently, track where bites happen, and use that information to reposition the whole spread. On calmer days he likes sand spikes about five or six steps apart, then spreads them farther apart when current is stronger to avoid tangles. Because the fish are moving in schools, a slow hour can flip fast, so patience matters unless everyone nearby is catching and you are clearly out of position.
For bait, Justin says fresh sand fleas and go shrimp have both been producing, but he is also paying close attention to color. Right now orange and white are standing out, and he recommends carrying multiple combinations so anglers can quickly match what fish want that day. He also talks about the value of mixing natural and synthetic options like Fishbites so anglers can dial in both profile and color. On the terminal side, he prefers Sputnik weights, usually four-ounce models, but says recent current has made five-ounce versions necessary at times. For anglers buying local surf rigs instead of tying their own, he specifically mentions the Bruno rig from Frisky Fins as a good option.
Justin’s setup also reflects how dialed-in surf anglers stay during the run. He likes double-drop rigs because they let him fish two baits, two colors, or even two positions in the water column at once. On rods and reels, he says a 10-foot rod is easier for beginners to learn with, while a 12-foot rod is often the best all-around option when rougher surf demands more reach. He runs 20-pound braid with a mono shock leader tied with an FG knot, then finishes the rig with a simple uni knot to the swivel. Once a fish hits the sand, Justin recommends bleeding every keeper quickly and getting it into ice to improve both cleaning and table quality.
Inshore Report: Big Trout in Pensacola-Area Transition Water
From there Joe checks in with Brandon Barton of Emerald Waters Kayak Charters, who says this is one of his favorite times of year to target larger trout. He is focused on transition areas where fish are moving from winter patterns toward their summer locations. In his recent trips, that has meant bait showing around creeks, bayous, and nearby staging areas, with trout using those zones to feed heavily during short but high-quality windows.
What stood out most this week was the topwater bite. Brandon says he first tried smaller-profile baits to match the glass-minnow-type forage he was seeing, but the better fish told him quickly what they wanted. Once he committed to a walk-the-dog topwater, he started connecting with trout over 22 inches, including fish around the 25-inch mark. He believes the appeal is not just profile but also range and commotion. The topwater lets him make long casts, stay farther off spooky fish, and draw strikes from trout that may be tracking bait in skinny water.
Brandon’s retrieve is mostly steady, but he likes to build pauses into the presentation. Some fish are eating while the lure is moving, and others seem to use the pause to close the gap and commit. He says many of these bites are coming from shallow water in the 1- to 3-foot range, so stealth matters. That is where the kayak helps most. It lets him slip into smaller areas quietly, cover similar-looking transition spots, and avoid overpressuring any single area during a productive stretch.
The gear recommendation here is straightforward. Brandon is leaning hard on a walk-the-dog topwater as his search bait when he sees bait activity and fish blowing up in these staging zones. When fish miss the surface plug, he follows up with a subsurface presentation such as a jerkbait or MirrOdine-style bait to try to finish the strike. The larger takeaway is that anglers should not overcomplicate the inshore pattern right now. Watch for bait, look for similar transition water, stay stealthy, and cover enough ground to find the right stretch.
Offshore Report: Spanish Mackerel Arrive and Scamp Season Reopens
Joe wraps up offshore with Capt. Tyler Massey of Hot Spots Charters, who says spring wind has slowed the offshore program this week, but it has not shut down the fishing. When conditions will not let boats run far, he says Spanish mackerel are now showing up near Pensacola Beach and providing a great nearshore option for all skill levels. The fish are feeding on small bait and often reveal themselves with surface activity, birds, and obvious showers of bait on top.
Tyler says anglers can catch these fish either trolling or casting depending on the skill level on board. For casters, he likes a medium to medium-heavy 7- to 7 1/2-foot rod, a 4000-size reel, and 15- to 20-pound braid for throwing lures such as Gotcha plugs, spoons, and glass-minnow-style jigs. The plan is simple: cast into the visible action and burn the lure back. For trolling, he likes a small planer paired with a Clarkspoon, usually a basic silver or gold model, and says around five miles per hour is a good speed to start with. He also mentions mackerel trees, drone spoons, Sidewinder spoons, and trolling leads as productive tools depending on the crew and the spread.
When boats can get offshore, Tyler says the bottom-fishing picture remains solid. Water is gradually warming, bait is becoming easier to find, and with scamp reopening, anglers again have a premium target in play. He says his most reliable spring scamp zone out of Pensacola is generally south to southwest in deeper water along the edge, where live bait and varied presentations can pick off scamp along with bonus fish like Almaco jacks, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, and other reef species.
His rigging advice for scamp is to not rely on only one presentation. He still likes a standard Carolina-style setup, but he also puts out a single-drop rig to change how the bait rides in current and keep lines more vertical in deeper water. That flexibility matters because some days fish clearly prefer one look over another. He also says anglers should stay open-minded about bait. Cigar minnows, sardines, and other live options will only get easier to find as the season moves forward, but productive trips can still come together right now with a mix of live bait, cut bait, and jigs.
