Muddy Water Adventures - Pensacola Fishing Charters

May is winding down and boy has it been a strange month to fish our waters. On April 29^th we had 26.81” of rain in 24-hours. The week before that, we had 10”. We had a few more rain days in May and those totals were around 5”- 7”. So from April 29^th to now May 24^th we’ve had over 40” of rain. It really messed up the water and the fishing in a lot of areas for a while. The trout swam right out to the pass in the deeper waters to get to the salinity levels they like. They also were just off our beaches outside the pass on the shoals; most of these fish were the big females spawning. As the month went on, we didn’t have much rain, which was a blessing and the water started to clear up. Now the water is still very muddy, but the salinity levels are getting back to normal on the flats, which is a good thing. The fish have slowly started to make

their way back onto the flats where they belong. Over the past 10 or so trips we’ve boated some really nice trout, many over 20” and a few over 25”.  Not only has the trout bite been incredible, so has the redfish bite. On my last trip, we hooked 8 reds and had 5 keepers and lots of small male trout with only 3 being keepers. June is going to be a good month on the flats for trout and redfish. All fish were caught on artificials; most of my trips are artificial bait trips. I don’t mind tossing live baits under a popping cork and waiting for a bite, but I have found that most fisherman like catching their fish on artificials.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tight Lines… 

John

www.captainjohnrivers.com

850-341-9816

Muddy Water Adventures - Pensacola Fishing Charters

 

Muddy Water Adventures

Muddy water fishing adventures in the panhandle is what we’ve had here the past few trips.
If you haven’t heard or seen the news about our area, I’ll catch you up. Pensacola was hit with a rain event like no other on April 29^th. We had 26.81” of rain and about a week and a half before that we had 8 -11” of rain depending upon the area of town. The day of the big storm I had 22” at my house.  So in about two weeks we had close to 35-38” of rain, and we are still a bit soggy in places.
With an unprecedented amount of rainfall, I was very concerned on what it was going to do to my fishing spots. Some of my trips canceled that week of the storm, which I couldn’t blame them. I took off about 10 days due to cancellations, but now I’m back out on the water and I’m happy to report the bite is pretty good considering the muddy conditions.
The past few trips have been a lot of fun and surprisingly productive even though the water is still very murky from all the

rain and we’ve had some nasty winds to deal with as well. I have fished a lot of spots in 1.5 –6 ft of water and I still can’t see the bottom, but that’s ok, because we’re catching fish. The cool thing about the dirty water is I can step up my leader and another thing is the reds are very dark. In other words, they change their color depending upon their environment, so since the water is crazy dark the reds have really gotten golden dark so they are really sharp looking. Because of the water conditions I had to change up my lure presentation to where I’m using more chartreuse and dark colors. With the weather and water

conditions like they have been, it’s been a challenge to try to figure out what the fish want, but that’s part of the process, and I’m always up for new challenges.

If you think you are up for an awesome, yet maybe slightly muddy, fishing adventure, then pick up the phone, give me a ring, and we will get you out on the water.

Till the next time, 

Here's wishing you tight lines.

John