Pensacola Fishing - Major Cold Front Approaching!!

First report for 2014:  The New Year came in with some seriously cold temps!!!

22 degrees in the mornings one day and on Tuesday it’s going to be in the teens, Brrr!!!!!!

The temps should be back to normal in a few days. This cold weather will kick off some good trout fishing in the rivers and upper bays. Of course, it will take a few days after the cold front for the fish to adjust and then it will be on.

If you have been wanting to learn more about the fishing in our area, whether you get here a couple times a year for vacation or if you are a local looking to master the fine art of flats fishing, then perhaps a private instructional trip is in your future. I run Saltwater Fishing Academy, one of the finest instructional technical guided trips along the panhandle. It’s an addition to my regular family style charters, and an instructional trip is more of a tutorial on how to correctly fish the flats, including tackle choices, artificial vs. live bait, and watching the tides.

See link for more details. http://www.megabiteinshore.com/saltwateracademy.htm

This weekend should be good for the big reds in the bay and for specks and slot reds in the upper bay areas before the next major cold front. There is going to be another serious cold front on Monday and Tuesday and it will affect the fish some, so if you do go out remember to slow down your presentation with your twitch baits or soft plastics. During the winter months I gradually slow down my presentation, which has absolutely put more fish in the boat. Here are a few baits I use in the winter, a drop-shot rig rigged with a Z-Man  Hula StickZ (http://www.zmanfishing.com/cms/). Colors I like are mud minnow, green pumpkin, and white. I also like small 4” grubs rigged up. The hook I use on my drop-shot is a Gamakatsu #1 Kale Hook. http://www.gamakatsu.com/.

One of my other go to baits in the winter is Mirror Lures Paul Brown; it’s a suspending twitch bait and in the winter and early spring, it’s deadly for big trout! Colors I like are pink metal flake and the two-tone mullet color, just remember a very slow presentation is how this bait is worked in cooler water.

http://mirrolure.com/

Remember to put some Pro-Cure on the bait; this stuff is like candy to the fish, and one coating pretty much lasts all day long. http://www.pro-cure.com/

Here’s wishing everyone a great year of fishing and tight lines!

Capt. John

850-341-9816

2013 Comes to an end - Pensacola Fishing

Let me start out by thanking all my clients from 2013 for such a great year. Thank you for choosing Mega-Bite Inshore Charters for your customized fishing trip. It was a pleasure meeting you and your friends and families. I hope you had fun, and hope I helped to create some special memories that will last a lifetime.

It always amazes me on how fast the year flies by, and I can hardly believe 2014 is just a few days away. This year was a great year for fishing here on the Gulf Coast, and December was no exception.

My last trip of the year was today 12-26-2013, and brrr it was a cold one, but the fishing was red hot. Caught some big reds and then hit the trout hole for some fresh dinner for my clients to take to back to the condo for the family. It was a great way to end the year even though the weather was not the best. I’ll be back out after the New Year. Some routine maintenance to both the trailer and boat, and then back at it for 2014. I’m already booked a bunch in January and February; Spring Break is just around the corner, so start booking now.

 

Let’s talk about the big reds and what I use to hook these monsters. I use Spro Jigs 1.5 –2 oz white or pink with small 4” curly tail grubs attached. I use these jigs because of how well the jigs are made and their extra strong hooks and don’t lose fish with them.

With the New Year here I’ll be both in the upper bays and rivers doing some trout and slot red fishing, and I’ll be in the bay for the big reds. January and February are great months for big trout in the upper bay/rivers. The key to fishing the winter months in the panhandle is watching the tides and cold fronts and picking the right times to go out. As a veteran guide in our area, I pride myself on making sure your fishing trip is at the right time to provide you the best possible opportunities to catch fish.

As you can see, the fishing in the winter months in Pensacola and the surrounding areas can be very good. And if you missed out this past November or December for the big reds, buy a new 2014 calendar and then mark your calendar and make it a point to come visit me to enjoy some of the best red fishing on the planet.

Happy New Year.

John

Monster Red Fun Pensacola Bay - Mega-Bite Inshore Charters

The first week of December has been off the charts with the bulls. I’ve put the trout fishing in the upper bay areas on hold, because most of my clients are wanting to pull on big reds. Even my more advanced anglers from up north that primarily bass fish are choosing to chase the big reds. Can you blame them?  It’s some crazy-awesome-fantastic- fun action fishing! We’ve had some really foggy days and some perfectly sunny days, but so far the weather hasn’t affected the bulls’ bite. The key is to watch the tides with the reds, because even though they are here in the bay by the thousands, you have to fish moving water and good tidal movement similar like you do when fishing the flats.

I always ask what style of fishing my clients would like to do, whether they prefer artificials for trout / slot red fishing or if they would like to go after the big bulls. As soon as they hear the options, they usually can’t resist the lure of the big red trip. When else are they going to get the chance to hook in to a 30” –45” monster fish like they can during our bull redfish run?  I have to admit, it is awesome to see their faces when they see the water boil up with a huge school of reds, and when that bull strikes, they are so excited and can hardly believe the strength of these fish! I fish for these bulls with artificials only using buck tail jigs (1.5 – 2 oz Spro Jigs) and 7’ to 8’ MH to heavy spinning rods.

As I mentioned earlier in the report about the upper bay areas, the trout and redfish bite is very good in the winter. When I fish the upper bay areas, I fish all artificials with both soft and hard plastics. I’ll fish both shallow and deep holes depending upon the cold fronts.

If you do like light tackle artificials for trout and slot reds, then winter is a great time to enjoy some fun light tackle action here in Pensacola.

I’ll keep this report short and let you enjoy some fun action pics.

Till the next adventure, here’s wishing you happy holidays and

Tight Lines.

John

Pensacola Bull Red Fishing Fun!

Haven’t posted in a while, been busy running trips, and going to Football games with my son; he’s a student at FSU. GO ‘NOLES!!

Ran a nice trip today with some great anglers from Louisiana. They wanted to catch bull reds and we did just that. After we crushed the reds, they asked if there was anything else to do, so I took them over to 3-Mile to catch some white trout for dinner. We caught around 40 fish, kept 25 for dinner and called it a day. 

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

I’ll post another report in a week or two,

Tight lines…

John

Big Reds are busting all over Pensacola Bay - Pensacola Fishing

Hello anglers, and thanks for stopping by.
I’m happy to say that the winter red fishing has finally arrived to our area, and it was well worth the wait.
I was out last Sunday with the wife doing a little scouting and fun fishing, and we crushed the big reds in the bay! The bite was so good and plentiful that after landing about 20 fish we called it quits. We also went scouting a few times over the past few days for trout in the upper bays and I’m excited to say that bite was just as excellent. We had a major cold front this week and even though the big reds are here and the bite is good, this cold front will kick them into high gear, and it will only make the bite better. Not only will the big reds be biting well, so will the trout in the upper bays now because of this major cold front.

Even though summer is over and the bulk of the tourists are gone, don’t think that the fishing season is over, because it’s far from over. Actually the fishing can be even better in the fall, winter and spring months than in the middle of the hot summer months. As a fulltime year round inshore guide, I fish many different ways depending upon what areas I’m fishing and what time of year it is. Over the past 17 years I’ve mastered our fishery and I feel I can provide you with a professional inshore fishing adventure.

 

99% of my charters are artificial trip charters, but if you want live bait it will be provided.

Since most of my charters are artificial trips, a lot of my clients are bass fishermen who love to toss hard and soft plastics, which make them feel right at home, but instead of pulling in a large mouth bass, they’ll be bowed up with a trophy redfish.

Thanks for stopping by. Here is a link to my main website for more reports and pics.

www.megabiteinshore.com

 Mega-Bite Inshore Charters is a full time professional inshore guide business.

John

Winter Red Fishing has arrived !

With this week’s cooler weather at night it should really kick off the reds over the next 10-15 days. For the rest of November and even into December and January will be tremendous for catching those trophy big reds. I say it each year in my reports, winter red fishing has to be on my top 3 best times to fish the Pensacola area. If humongous reds just aren’t enough to entice you off of your sofa, then how about speckled trout in the upper bays and in the mouths of the rivers? Many trout migrate up north to the upper bay areas and move into the river systems during December, January and February and then in mid March start to make their way back to the lower parts of the bays. This process takes about 6-8 weeks and then it’s summer. But let’s stay on track with winter fishing. Over the next 3 months I’ll be talking about the big reds, trout and slot reds in the upper bay areas.
If you’re heading down this way and want an exciting fun fishing adventure like no other, give me a shout and let’s get you bowed up on a trophy redfish.

Till the next adventure.

Tight lines… Capt. John

Fall fishing has finally arrived - Pensacola Fishing Reports

Fall fishing has finally arrived, and I for one, am thrilled, to say the least! Over the past two weeks, I’ve been running trips both morning and afternoon depending on the tides, and the bite has been phenomenal!  It had been a little tough to get out with the wind especially with that so-called tropical storm a couple of weeks ago, but when I have been able to get out we’ve been catching a nice mess of fish. This week was nice with calm winds and slick seas.

As the water temperature cools over the next month, the specks will migrate up towards the upper bays and mouths of the rivers. Some have already made their migration, and over the past few trips, I’ve hooked up some quality fish up in Escambia Bay. I’m fishing both upper bay and lower bay areas. The Speck bite on the flats of the upper bay areas has been nice; I’ve also been hitting some areas in the lower sound too. The redfish on the docks and other areas has also been pretty decent. The reds are not all over the place, but if you know where to look and what to look for, you’ll hook up a few, and they are certainly fun to fight.

The water is very murky in the upper bay areas and somewhat fresh in some areas due to all the rain we’ve had. I’ve noticed a lot of bait in the bay, which tells me it’s not long before the big reds will be arriving. Lots of menhaden and blood minnows are around which is just what the reds love to eat. The water temp is right around 75-78 degrees and when it drops a little more the big reds will be here in full force. I really enjoy hooking reds on artificials, and over the past five years I’ve been specializing in artificial only trips with my clients, and they really seem to enjoy the unique experience of catching these monsters on all artificial lures. Today, (October 10, 2013), we boated all the reds we wanted on jigs in deep water. Let me say that I’m not opposed to putting live or fresh dead bait on a hook if necessary and if my client wants to, but there is something about fooling a fish to hit a artificial plug that is just sweeter.

 

As you can see the fishing has been outstanding the past two weeks.  We got our first major cold front this week and it kicked off the reds in some of the areas I like to fish. It won’t be long until the bull reds will be thick in the bay and that’s when the fun really begins. During the whole month of November, large numbers of monster redfish make their way into Pensacola Bay and the upper bay areas to spawn.  This is some of the best inshore light tackle fishing I’ve ever experienced, and it happens every year like clockwork. If you would like to do battle with some of these drag screamers, give me a ring and we’ll get you HOOKED UP!

Tight Lines.

Back at  it the rest of this week and next.
John