Great way to end March - Pensacola Fishing

Spring Break & Easter Weekend Fishing

March was cold and windy, but the fishing was still very good. We found a lot of sheepshead, some big redfish and tons of bay snapper (some big some small), but a lot of fun.

Hopefully in June these snapper will still be in the bay. If they are and they are keepers, they will make a nice addition to the ice chest and grill.

March is nearly over, and although we had some tough conditions with wind and below normal temps, we had mostly good weather and calm seas for fishing. We usually aren’t still wearing long pants this time of year, but we managed to make the best of it.

As April arrives I’ll be in the pass for a week or two more and then I’ll be back on the flats having fun with trout and reds.

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter, and a great start to April.

All over sized fish and snappers released.

Tight Lines.

John

Pensacola Fishing - Bent rods, screaming drags, and smiling vacationers.

Bent rods, screaming drags, and smiling vacationers.

Today’s trip was a late afternoon trip with perfect weather. We fished the last 5 hours of the incoming tide and the bite was very good.

My clients were from Birmingham and wanted to see what our inshore fishing was like and they got a big helping of our Pensacola fishery. We had lots of double hookups and lots of smiles. It was an all-round great trip.

We only kept a few sheepies for dinner and let the rest go.

All oversized fish and snappers were released.

Here are a few pics from the trip.

 

Tight Lines.....John

Mega-Bite Inshore Charters, Pensacola’s Premier Inshore Charter for the surrounding area – Perdido Key, Navarre, Pensacola Beach.

Drag Screaming Spring Break Family Fun!

What a great day March 19^th 2013; I met a very nice family from Kansas. They booked me for a 5 hr trip, and after I looked at the weather I decided to run a mid afternoon trip. Launched at 11am out of Perdido Key and headed to the pass. We made our way across Big Lagoon and the wind was still blowing a bit, but I had a good feeling that it was going to lay down in an hour or so. I arrived at the pass and it was still a bit bumpy, so I decided to go to one of my little snapper holes that was better protected from the wind. It was perfect for the kids to warm up on before we hit the pass for the bigger fish.

 

They had a blast catching one snapper after another. They weren’t big fish, but perfect for them to get used to the style of fishing we would be doing in the pass. After they had their fill with the snappers, we stowed the gear, and they ate a quick bite on our way back to the pass. That is when the fishing really got fun. The pass had calmed down nicely and the kids were having fun catching fish after fish. The bite was really good this afternoon. Emily was the big winner of the day with a 31” redfish.

Here are a few more pics from the trip.

Tight Lines.

Capt. John

Mega-Bite Inshore Charters, Pensacola’s Premier Inshore Charter for the surrounding area

 Perdido Key, Navarre, Pensacola Beach.

Fishing Charters Pensacola - 10 Hrs of Fun!

10 hrs of fun two trips back to back with drag screaming fun.

The morning started out with calm seas, blue bird skies and great fishing; that’s what spring break is supposed to be like, but again someone flipped the switch and the wind started howling again in the afternoon. They were calling for 6-9 winds, but it wasn’t even close.

My morning trip was Jason from Michigan who tried to book me last year and wasn’t able to go due to very rough conditions. So he was well overdue, and he had a great trip. He crushed the redfish, and had fun with the sheepies, although they stole more bait than we could count, but we had a great time anyhow.

After he wore out the reds and caught a few sheepshead, he wanted to try catch a few more species, so we hit my snapper holes in the bay and had fun with them and also landed a few black drum.

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The afternoon trip was a nice family of five from Tennessee. We hit the jetties for sheepshead, but it was pretty full up with boats already. So I moved over to the main south ledge and it wasn’t too long before we had a big redfish in the boat.

 

A few more drifts and we caught a few more fish. The kids wanted to do more catching than fishing so to keep them entertained I went again to one of my snapper holes and the kids had a blast pulling up small snappers one after another. Sometimes it’s not about the big fish or how many, it’s about having fun. While we were catching the snaps, we watched a pod of dolphins playing along the shoreline, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it.

The wind picked up and it was about time to head in, so we packed it up and made our way to the dock.

Talk about a long day, 10 hrs on the water. Came home, washed the boat cleaned up the tackle ate some dinner, and hit the hay. Back at it again all weekend and next week!

 Till the next adventure, tight lines. 

John  

Fishing Pensacola - Spring Break Fun!

Well it’s official-- Spring Break has finally arrived, only thing is it came in with cooler than normal temps, lots of wind and muddy water. Even though we’ve had some crappy conditions over the past two weeks, the inshore bite has been good for the most part.  Some days are better than others, but over all it’s been very good. Like I stated in some of my past reports, I have left the shallows in favor of the pass. I do this each March and part of April when the sheepshead and big redfish hit our pass. I’ll be back on the flats when spring break is over or if my clients want to catch trout and reds on the flats.

We’ve had some great trips over the past two weeks. Lots of big sheepshead, some nice sized red snappers that we can’t keep till June, a few black drum and some really big redfish. Spring Break trips are great for families or the pro angler who’s looking for some dinner while visiting the gulf coast. It’s lots of action on light tackle; this is one of the finest times to fish here.

I’ve still got a few days left open in March and in April, so if you’re heading this way give me a shout.

All over-sized redfish and out of season red snapper were released.

Thanks for stopping by, now get off the laptop and let’s go catch some fish.

Tight Lines.

John

Pensacola Fishing Charters- Big Reds on light tackle

Another great day on the water. I met up with Ben, Kate, Rob, and Michele from NC who wanted to see what our Spring Break fishing was all about. With somewhat calm winds in the morning, we made our way to the fishing grounds where we fish every March for a variety of fish, including Redfish, Sheepshead, Black Drum, Snapper and Grouper. The bite was off and on all day, but we managed to hook up some good fish and enjoy a nice day on the water.

No Sheepshead today, but that’s okay. The sheepies were a little less aggressive and made it tough to hook for my anglers who were not used to this style of fishing to feel the bite.
We didn't start until 8:30 and when we got to the fishing grounds the jetties were packed with boats, so it was kind of hard to get the sweet spot I wanted. We fished the jetties for a while, and hooked a few sheepshead, but my guests kept getting hung up, so I moved to a spot where I thought we would have a little better luck. The move was a good one, and we found lots of small to medium sized snappers. We played around with them for a bit and then went after some big reds in the middle of the pass when the tide got right. It was a good move as we had a few more good bites and landed some nice redfish.
 
My crew had a good time and I'm looking forward to taking them out again next season.

Back at it again tomorrow and the rest of the week.

Stay tuned for some more reports.

Tight Lines.

John

Over Cast Windy and Bowed Up - Pensacola Fishing

Today’s Trip was ok, not lots of fish. The conditions were not the best. My clients knew it was not the best conditions but wanted to give it a try anyway so we hit the water at 8:30 am sharp and made our way to Pensacola Pass. The wind had not started to blow yet, but was on the verge any moment. We started at the rock jetties and there was not much going on there, lots of small fish, no sheepshead today.

 

So I made my way to the North Ledge and hit a hole that was holding some sheepies on my last trip. Today it was loaded up with under-sized red snapper, it’s only in 30-ft of water so we fished it for a bit letting the boys have fun with them. While we were having fun with the snappers the wind started to pick up and it got a little bumpy out. After we had our fill of the snaps, we made our way to the South Ledge in search of some big reds in deep water. It wasn’t long and I heard Duke say I’ve got one, and it was a good one, it gave Duke a good fight and after a short battle he had his first ever bull redfish in the boat.

 

The conditions continued to get worse so we called it a day and cut the trip short. All in all it wasn’t too bad a day, better than sitting on the couch.

All out of season and over-sized fish were released.

Till the next adventure.

John

 

Duke with a nice 15.5" Snapper - Colton with a just under-sized Snapper

 Duke with a big Pensacola Bay Redfish!

 

1st Spring Break Trip of 2013

We'll it's official the sheepshead run has started in Pensacola Pass. The water still looks like coffee because of all the rain we had last week, and  it should clear up in a few more days. Even know the water was a little dirty, we managed to have a good day.

Today we caught a few big sheepshead, along with some black drum and some under sized out of season red snapper. No redfish today, but we did have a nice one on that spit the hook.

 

 Stay tuned for more reports from this years Spring Break Trips.

Tight Lines..
Capt. John

Cold, Windy, but still found the reds.

Cold, windy and a slower than usual bite, but we still managed to have a great day.
Mitch and Jen came down from VA to visit relatives and do some fishing. No sheepshead today, but we did get into some redfish.

We've got some bad weather coming in the next two days including rain and high winds. Back at it near the end of the week, all weekend, and next week. Stay tuned for some great spring break fishing pics.
Tight Lines.
John

March arrives with a major cold front - Pensacola Fishing

With one last cold front hitting our area this weekend, I guess I’ll have to keep the facemask out for a few more days. We had a lot of rain last week and it’s muddied up the bay a good deal. The influx of freshwater has pushed some of the fish down towards the lower end of the bay. There are still a lot of fish in the upper bay areas and they will stay there all year, but with so much freshwater moving in, some will move out of the area towards the lower flats in the sound and the lower part of the Escambia Bay and Blackwater Bay.
Here’s what’s getting ready to happen over the next few weeks; we will be going after big Sheepshead and drag-screaming Redfish.

Over the next month I’ll be out in Pensacola Pass with the rest of the boat pack, and we will be bowed up! Sheepshead migrates at the start of March and the good bite lasts for about 5-6 weeks. If you enjoy bending a rod, this is some of the best light tackle fishing around.

This is one time in the year that I put up the artificials and pull out almost exclusively live bait. But no worries, if you are looking for an inshore artificial trip, I’ll still be running those on the flats for trout and reds. 

 If you've not heard about my inshore instructional fishing trips. Check out this link:

www.saltwateracademy.com

 

Stay tuned for some great Sheepshead and Redfish action along with a mix of other fish caught including snapper, grouper, black drum and whatever else we can sink a hook into.

I’ll be posting a report with pics once a week on how it went and what we caught.

See you out there.

John
www.megabiteinshore.com
850-341-9816