Bay Fishing - HalfHitch.com

www.halfhitch.com • www.legendarymarine.com • 05-16-2014
Bay Fishing
If you have not given bay fishing a chance, you are definitely missing
out on a year-round fishery. Here along the Florida Panhandle we
have some exciting opportunities— whether you chose to spot cast
redfish on the flats, fish dock and flats for trout, try the bridge pilings
for sheepshead, bust the flounder in the pass or get in on the Spanish
mackerel run. The possibilities are endless!
Access the Bay by boat, kayak, shore and bridge, or from the dock.
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Rods & Reels
Shimano Stradic and
Clarius rod combo.
Shimano Sahara and
Teramar rod combo.
Penn Battle and
Squardon rod combo.
A medium
sized
spinning
reel 2500 to
4000 sized
on a 6’6
to 7’6 light
to medium
light action
will get you
covered.
Filling your
reel with 10lb
to 15lb mono
or 20lb to
30lb braid
and rigging
you lures and
baits with
15lb to 25lb
fluorocarbon.
Mullet.
Fiddler crab.
Lures & Rigs
Rigging all your
lures and rigs with
Fluorocarbon over just
regular monofilament
will greatly enhance
you chances of getting
Seaguar fluorocarbon.
bites and catching fish.
Fluorocarbon looks and
feel much like regular monofilament. The difference
is fluorocarbon is the same density as saltwater and
does not refract light making it virtually invisible to
the fish, hence you get more bites and more fish.
Natural Baits
Live shrimp.
Bull minnow.
Pigfish.
Live shrimp, bull minnows
and fiddler crabs are by far
the most popular, mostly
due to the fact that they
work great and you can
buy them at Half Hitch.
Pinfish, mullet, menhaden
and pigfish will require you
to get out your cast net,
Even though they require
much more work to get,
there are many days when
they are the best baits. If
you don’t know how to
throw a cast net, come by
the shop to learn.
Vudu Shrimp.
Yo-zuri Shrimp.
Yo-zuri Crystal Minnow.
Savage Shrimp.
Pinfish.
Menhaden.
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Who Dat spoon.
GOT-CHA lure.
When and What to Catch in the Bay
While most of the species are here year round there
are some definitive seasons on how we target them.
Of course we have the spring, summer,fall and
winter and we will cover the seasons by species.
Hopkins spoon.
Johnson Silver
Minnow.
Redfish
DOA Shrimp.
From early
spring to late
fall the redfish
roam the flats,
to deepwater dock, channels and Bridges. During
the winter months the reds are mostly a deepwater
fish due to water temps. By far the most exciting
way to get reds is spot casting them on the shallow
flats. Not many species give you the opportunity get
get your heart pumping and adrenalin flowing like
seeing the redfish tailing on the flats when the tide is
moving.
LIve Target pinfish.
Mirr-o-Lure.
Popping cork rig.
Popping cork.
We cover a few different ways to catch redfish,
first lets go with flats fishing and specifically spot
casting. From early spring through late fall you will
find reds tailing on the flats looking for food during
the tide change. Casting at these fish with soft
plastics under a popping cork is one of my favorite
ways. Savage Shrimp, Vudu shrimp, Berkley Gulps
and DOA shrimp all do well. Other lures that work
are Yo-Zuri Crystal Shrimp, Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows,
Hopkins gold spoons and Johnson Silver Minnows
in gold.
GOT-CHA grubs and jig heads.
During the winter and and the other months you can
also get Reds around the bridges, deepwater boat
docks and pass using live shrimp, fiddler crabs and
pinfish. Fish these on a Carolina Rig, with a Owner
Mutu Light 1/0 or 2/0 hook, 18’ Fluorocarbon leader
and a 1oz to 3oz lead depending on current.
Berkley Gulp!
Lets not forget about bull reds. While most of us
target keeper reds those between 18’ and 27’
because we love to eat them bull reds those over 27’
make for some great fun. Bull reds can be caught
two ways, either trolling deep running plugs around
the pass, bridges and channels or bottom fishing
these same areas with pinfish, menhaden or mullet
bigger than you hand. If you are going to troll plugs
most come with treble hooks. I would like to see
you switch the trebles out for single hooks. In many
cases you actually catch more fish on single hooks
and when it comes time to release them the survival
rate is much higher.
Popping cork.
Popping cork lure.
Carolina rig.
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shrimp in bayous and docks with mud bottom. for
every pigfish you catch you have to wade through
catching 50 pinfish.
Speckled Trout
Flounder
Trout are here year round with several distinct
seasons. We have the spring to fall season where
trout roam the flats, docks and bridges, then we
have the winter season when the trout move to
deepwater holes, creeks and river systems.
Flounder
some in two
seasons with
the fall winter fishery the best. We catch flounder
all summer the the fish are very spread out over the
entire shallow area of the bay. During the fall and
winter the flounder migrate to the gulf for the winter
and can be caught in big numbers fishing the pass
area just inside the bay to just outside the pass and
near shore wrecks.
From early spring to late fall the trout will feed on
the flats much like reds on the tide change. There is
no one way that is the best but it is hard to beat a
live shrimp or live menhaden fished under a popping
cork. Focus on the sand pockets scattered over the
flats. Trout like the sit in the grass and ambush bait
moving over the sand holes.
During the sumer months the flounder are spread
out and most are caught fishing docks with soft
plastics rigged on a jig head.
Lure on the flats are another good choice. Throwing
Savage Shrimp, Vudu Shrimp, DOA and Gulps
rigged under a popping cork is a favoried way to
target them. Topwater baits like Yo-zuri Crystal
Minnows, Mirr-o-lure Top Dog jr. and floating
Rapala’s.
The fall and winter fishery is the one that really get
people excited as you can catch good numbers with
little effort. Normally in mid October the flounder get
ready to head from the bay to the gulf for the winter
following the bait fish out of the bay. During this time
the flounder feed aggressively on soft plastics in
the harbor, around the pass and docks close to the
mouth of the bay. Once the flounder reach the pass
most fish are then caught on the bottom fishing live
bull minnows. It is not uncommon for anglers to get
there limit in just a few hours fishing just inside the
pass and just outside the pass on the drop off near
the buoys.
Once the day heats up the trout will move to deeper
cooler water, now you need sinking baits like Yo-zuri
Crystal Shrimp, Rapala Suspending baits and Live
Target Pinfish.
In the winter expect to find the trout moving to
fresher water in bayous that have creeks that feed
in, mouth of the river system and deep water holes.
Target these fish with live shrimp and pinfish. Use
soft plastics fished very slowly on the bottom. I hear
people all the time say they don’t catch many trout
on a DOA lure, my first question is show me you
jigging motion and 90% of the time they are jigging
to hard and two fast. Remember a shrimp walks
slowly on the bottom until scared by a fish and the
dart of backwards. So when working any soft plastic
it is slow, slow and slower.
For tournament trout fishing there is no more sought
after bait than pigfish and finger mullet the size of
you hand or larger. These baits do not produce as
many fish but they do produce larger fish. Many
tournament anglers spend 2 or 3 days before the
tournament doing nothing more than catching
bait. Mullet are not that hard you just have to get
out, scout around and spend some time with your
cast net. Pigfish are much harder to come by
and require endless hours fishing little pieces of
By Thanksgiving the flounder bite is peaking around
the pass and on the near shore reefs. While I know
we are talking about bay fishing there are many days
this time of year the open gulf is like a sheet of glass
and most any bay boat or kayak can fish here safely
and catch hugh numbers of flounder. This action will
last well into February many years.
Lets not forget on flounder many
people decide not to even use a
rod and reel to catch but prefer to
go gigging to get theirs. During the
summer flounder can be gigged
in the shallows of the bay. In the
fall when the start there migration
to the gulf they can be gigged in
good numbers. All you need to
enjoy a peaceful night under the
starts and moon is a small flats boat or jon boat that
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floats in shallow water, a gig
with pole that is stiff enough
you can pole along and a good
underwater flounder light.
Sheepshead
Again while we have the chance to get sheepshead
year round the biggest number are caught winter
and spring. Sheepshead fishing is fairly simple, you
fish live shrimp or live fiddler crabs on a Carolina rig
with a hook no bigger then a dime. In most cases I
always prefer a circle hook but because of the way
a sheepshead mouth is full of molars for crushing a
tiny straight hook is best. you want to fish straight
up and down by the pilings of bridges or docks
and or jetties. It is always a good idea to get some
shrimp, oysters and crabs and make some chum, us
a chum bag to keep some chum close to you and
occasionally toss over some small pieces over to
attract the sheepshead from all the near by pilings.
Spanish Mackerel
While there are some spanish through the bay most
are caught in spring. During the spring the spanish
invade the bay and you will see schools that cover
several acres. there are several ways to catch the
guys. Most fisherman chose to troll as it requires
the least effort. Troll with a Clark
Mackerel Tree rigged with a Clark
Spoon and 4oz trolling lead. Troll
inside the pass, the harbor and
around channels and buoys.
My favorite way to catch them is
by casting Gotcha Plugs, Spoons
and topwater lures. Gotchas are
the most effective, just cast them at
schools or Spanish mackerel or in
areas where you see birds working
schools of bait fish. Let sink about
half way to the bottom and jig at
a quick pace. My favorite way to
get them is tossing topwater plugs,
Spanish are aggressive and seeing
them attack a topwater plug is just
plane fun.
The old wise tale is start looking for spanish shortly
after the third straight day of fog. Remember spanish
have a mouth full of razor blades so make sure to rig
your lures on 50lb or 60lb monofilament leaders or
risk losing lots of lures. When removing hooks, while
there teeth are not as big as their big brother king
mackerel they can still draw blood, handle with care.
Spanish are good in the fry pan but their flesh is soft
and using a slush brine of ice, saltwater and salt to
lower the temp of the cooler will make them easier
to clean and make for better table fare.
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