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Some pompano and whiting will still be available for the surf angler during the month of July. Live sand fleas or fresh shrimp on a double pompano rig will be good for both species. Pompano jigs in chartreuse or pink will work ok, but the natural bait is definitely your best option. You will also be able to catch Spanish mackerel, bluefish, hard tails, and ladyfish from the surf as they chase the baitfish right onto the beach. Bubble straw rigs, Clark spoons, and the most popular gotcha lures will do the trick nicely. Trolling the buoy line with Christmas tree rigs for the Spanish and the old Duster rig with a cigar minnow for the bigger Spanish and King Mackerel is a favorite way to fish this month.

Red Snapper and grouper will be in good numbers a little farther out as they head to the cooler water with 30-50 miles producing the best fish. The shelves 40 miles south of Cape San Blas will be a great area to bring aboard some fish. For the red snapper, the key will be as light as tackle as possible using fluorocarbon leaders. Chumming up over wrecks and free lining your baits down among the chum will be a good method for bringing home the big ones. Grouper fishing will still be strong in July with the bigger fish still moving out to deeper water as the water temperature reaches the high eighties. The best fishing will be at 150' to 200'. Live bait will be readily available around the buoys and over the shallow wrecks, but make sure you bring some frozen cigar minnows/northern mackerel as back up and use a Carolina rig with 80lb fluorocarbon leader and 10/0 Mustad circle hooks. Triggerfish never leave us and are great table fare. Use a double drop rig with squid on #4 owner fly liner hooks. Amberjack will stick around wrecks and towers, my favorite lure are the Shimano Butterfly jigs. Trolling will be hot as the Spanish mackerel and king mackerel move into our area in force. Live hard tails slow trolled is a favorite for the bigger kings. Dolphin will be making their presence known at about 15 miles out and Wahoo will be at 50 miles out. The best area for everything including marlin will be the squiggles at 75 miles out. Trolling ballyhoo and small Boone jets will work on the dolphin and deeper running lures such as the Yozuri Bonita and Marlin Mans panhandlers will work wonders on the Wahoo.

The trout and reds will be on the flats first thing in the morning and late afternoon and this is a great time to use your topwater plug like the Mirrolure Top Dog Jr. or the Rapala Skitter walks. During the heat of the day, the trout and redfish will move off the flats to the cooler water and will be on the bottom in the channels. Fishing live LY's and shrimp will be the bait of choice, but the Berkley "GULP" will work great also. Just be aware the ladyfish and bluefish will be thick, so I would not balk at using 30 lb fluorocarbon leader to save a lure or so. Spanish mackerel are in the bay and will be an easy catch as they will devour most anything thrown to them. If trolling is your cup of tea, troll a Christmas tree rig with a Clark spoon around the bay up into the buoy line. The redfish will be invading the flats as the bait fish move in. Flounder will be spotty and your best bet will be at the entrances to the canals and bayous and under the George Tapper Bridge and off the oil docks at PSJ marina. Fishing with live bull-minnows or if your choice is artificial use a DOA shrimp or CAL jig in red and root beer colors.

FRESHWATERLook for the largemouths to be along the edges of the weed lines first thing in the morning with the best lures being the spinner baits and top waters. As the afternoon heats up, the bass will move to the edges of the drop offs and your best lure choices will be crank baits and soft plastics fished along the bottom.

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