The water will start to cool down this month and it will make the surf fishing really good. This should be the hottest month for catching Pompano in the surf. Live sand fleas are the bait of choice. However, they will hit live shrimp, frozen shrimp, frozen sand fleas and Pompano jigs. Bonita, Spanish Mackerel, Skipjack (ladyfish), Bluefish and Redfish will be in the surf as well. Cast

November surf fishing will be great. The bull reds will be cruising the beaches at sunset devouring all types of cut bait and live bait. The fall run of pompano will be happening and the whiting bite will be strong. Fresh shrimp on a double pompano rig will be good for both species. I recommend our custom pompano rigs due to them being made from 100 percent fluorocarbon. Use a 1 oz pyramid for line 8-12 lb test, a 2 oz for 14-25 lb test, and 3 oz and up for 30 lb test and up. If you

The big bull redfish will be running in full swing on the beaches this month. Most anglers will be using live bull minnows or small pinfish. Try using a basic Carolina rig but instead of an egg sinker use a pyramid type, which will allow the weight to stay put. Attach live bait to a 3/0 Owner mutu-light circle hook with no more than 30 pound leader. Putting your rod into a sand spike will allow you to fish multiple rods at once. Cooling gulf water combined with the warmer water pushing out of the bays this month bring spanish mackerel to the jetties in huge schools. Try using bubble and straw rigs early into the morning and switch to Gotcha plugs as the day warms up. Most experienced spanish mackerel fishermen will fish a #1 Clark spoon with 3 feet of 50 pound mono behind a 2 ounce casting weight. By letting the spoon fall to the bottom after the cast and rapidly retrieving it back you will catch more than you can eat.October brings a wide variety of species into the piers. Spanish will be caught all day long on bubble and straw rig and Gotcha plugs. Kings will show strong runs early mornings and late afternoons, try fishing live baits caught on the pier pilings with stinger rigs. Flounder will be caught using heavy grubs and live bull minnows fished right along the base of the pilings. The first of the pompano and whiting will also start to show towards the end of the month.The fall run of large wahoo will be here in good numbers in the middle of the month. Try trolling large Yo-Zuri bonita lures in purple or black and orange. Many locals also like pulling locally made Marlin Man heavy head panhandler lures because they have found that they can troll these at a bit faster pace (up to 13 knots) and cover more water this way. Whichever bait you use, be sure to check your drags frequently as the initial strike will be a rod bending, drag- screaming affair.Trout fishermen are finding some nice gator-size fish working the flats hard in the early morning hours. Try throwing floating Mirro-lure plugs for the first few hours of daylight. Big bull reds will be caught around the pass using cut bait and large topwater plugs. On an outgoing tide try the areas just off the points of both jetties. Flounder will also start the migration towards the mouth of the pass to move offshore where they will spawn. Try fishing 1/4 ounce jigheads with root beer colored jig bodies around deepwater point and the kiddie pool.

Trolling close there should be an abundance of kings and blackfin tune that have headed east ahead of the storm. If you are looking for a rodeo winning king do your hardest fishing in the first two weeks of the month. In most normal years the winning king is caught before the first real signs of fall. Once the cool snaps come, the small schoolie kings get very active but the big smokers tend to head to deeper water. There are very few years when the winning king is not caught in week one or two of the rodeo. There will be plenty of schoolie dolphin so long as we don't get an early freeze. As for red snapper Eglin Barge located at N3021.400/W8629.490 and the Frangista Reef located at N3019.655/W8622.879 are examples of two near shore sites that hold fish when the weather turns cool. Most of the other near shore sites will also hold fish. Flounder will also start to filter out of the bay and into the gulf also.Kings will be the main target but there are a multitude of other options here also. Spanish should be around most days, flounder will be very consistent on live minnows, shrimp and jigs tipped with fish bites. A few blackfin tuna should show up in the mornings and evenings of the full moon. Also expect some pompano and whiting in the shallows and plenty of blues and some sharks at night. In the surf here should be a good supply of sharks and lady fish. Also carry extra bait as there are so many small jack Cravelle that you will us plenty of extra sand fleas or shrimp Pompano will be back in full swing now , some of your choices are the big hole just east of the east jetty, Henderson Park, Topsail Hill Park, Grayton Beach Park and Blue Mountain Park. As well as Pompano expect good whiting bites, blues and ladyfish can be caught on straw rigs and Seastriker Jigfish. Some sharks at night can be caught on cut chunk baits.

Kings will be the main target but there are a multitude of other options here also. Spanish should be around most days, flounder will be very consistent on live minnows, shrimp and jigs tipped with fish bites. A few blackfin tuna should show up in the mornings and evenings of the full moon. Also expect some pompano and whiting in the shallows and plenty of blues and some sharks at night. In the surf here should be a good supply of sharks and lady fish. Also carry extra bait as there are so many small jack Cravelle that you will us plenty of extra sand fleas or shrimp Pompano will be back in full swing now , some of your choices are the big hole just east of the east jetty, Henderson Park, Topsail Hill Park, Grayton Beach Park and Blue Mountain Park. As well as Pompano expect good whiting bites, blues and ladyfish can be caught on straw rigs and Seastriker Jigfish. Some sharks at night can be caught on cut chunk baits. On the jetties redfish are consistent on live pinfish, Seastriker Jigfish, Yozuri Crystal vibes and 1 ½ oz to 3 oz spoons. Spanish and blues are biting on straw rigs and Gotchas. If you are going to try for the grouper bring heavier tackle than normal. I would suggest a Penn 4/0 113H reel and a HHT BT78MH ROD with 60 or 80 lb line. The grouper will try and take you under the rocks. A 60lb leader and a 7/0 owner circle hook with a 4-6 oz lead would be the correct terminal tackle. A large dip net is a must around the rocks also. Make sure to measure the reds and groupers and also watch the bag limits as we have seen many people get tickets lately. The shallow water on both sides of the pass, from the jetties to the bridge and beyond the Coast Guard Station, can be very productive area for flounder gigging during the fall. The shallows on the north side of the Destin Harbor also produce good numbers of fish. Many of you who enjoy hunting will find that flounder gigging allows you to combine the thrill of the hunt on the water. You will need a limited amount of equipment to enjoy this sport. You can do this by walking the flats, but gigging from a small boat is ideal. You will need a flounder light with power source (12-volt marine battery), a gig mounted on a bamboo or metal pole, and a small boat with electric motor or push pole. Ideal conditions include a night with little wind and an incoming tide. Dirty water and a ripple caused by a breeze will make it very difficult to see these fish, which bury themselves on the bottom. You will recognize flounder by their outline in the sand or the reflection of the eyes as you glide over the flats. Aim your gig at the area behind the eyes, which will quickly immobilize the fish and prevent damage to the meaty part of the fish. The minimum size is twelve inches, and the limit is ten per person per day.

The swordfish have become a staple over the past few summers and you still have about 4 to 5 more good weeks when weather permits. White marlin makes for great excitement because of the sheer numbers. You can find them in a triangle the starts at the nipple over to the flats and out to the spur and back. In the same area you are likely to good numbers of yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna, Wahoo and some blue marlin. Remember, kind of like the kings; it is better to get an early start on offshore species for the rodeo, just in cast we get an early freeze. Grouper and amberjack will be on the ledges and big offshore rocks. Natural bottom is better fight now than reefs mostly because of fishing pressure and less is know about natural bottom than the whereabouts of the reefs. Butterfly jigging or live baits will get you a rodeo fish.

The water will start to cool down this month and it will make the surf fishing really good. This should be the hottest month for catching Pompano in the surf. Live sand fleas are the bait of choice. However, they will hit live shrimp, frozen shrimp, frozen sand fleas and Pompano jigs. Spanish Mackerel, Skipjack (ladyfish), Bluefish and some Redfish will be in the surf as well. Cast

Surf fishing will be great. The bull reds will be cruising the beaches at sunset devouring all types of cut bait and of course live bait. The fall run of pompano will be happening and the whiting will be picking up nicely. Fresh shrimp on a double pompano rig will be good for both species. I recommend our custom pompano rigs due to their construction these are made from 100 percent fluorocarbon. Use a 1 oz pyramid weight for 8-12 lb test line, a 2 oz for 14-25 lb test, and 3 oz and up for 30 lb test and up. Spanish mackerel and bluefish will get close enough for anglers to throw gotcha plugs or bubble straw rigs to them. You will also be able to catch hardtails 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 also do the trick nicely.October is your last chance to fill your freezer for Red Snapper in state waters as the season comes to a close October 31st. The key will remain to use as light as tackle as possible using long fluorocarbon leaders and adding a little stinger hook for the short strikers. Chumming them up over wrecks and free lining your baits down among the chum will be a good method for bringing home the big ones. If you don

The king mackerel will be the hottest bite near shore this month. Troll lipped plugs or cigar minnow/duster combos for best results. Find the bait clusters and you will find the kings. Mahi-Mahi dolphin will still be in the area around weed lines and patches. Usually September is the last month you will find them in our inshore waters, as they will migrate to warmer waters for the winter. Usually in September we see the red snapper bite turn on a bit as well.The water temps offshore should still be warm enough this month to still hold plenty of wahoo, dolphin, marlin (white & blue) and swordfish. The offshore bottom fishing generally picks up this month as well.September is typically a very good month to be fishing in the bays. The water is starting to cool off just a bit and you can generally catch nicer fish throughout the day. Live shrimp and finger mullet or small pinfish should be great bait for both the trout and redfish. Spanish mackerel will still be caught in the bay this month, but if you want them, this will likely be the last month of the year you can find them in our waters, as they will begin to migrate out of our area. Speaking of migrating, towards the middle to the end of the month the flounder will begin their fall migration out of the bay and into the gulf to spawn for the winter. This is an excellent time to target them around most sandy areas of the bay using a live bull minnow or plastic grub for bait.

Slow trolling for kings and Blackfin tuna in or near the southeast rocks, broken bottom and pier rubble can produce some wonderful summer action if you really want some of the action from these near shore blackfin tuna you are going to have to sacrifice some hooks and a few kings. As we all know for kings a wire leader is a must but for blackfin tune this doesn't work well. You need a 3-4 foot 40lb fluorocarbon leader and a live bait slow trolled either on the surface or on a downrigger. The best action is the first hour of daylight and the last two hours of daylight when visibility for the tuna is at a minimum. You will lose some hooks to the kings fishing this way but the end result is worth while if you get a blackfin and not have to go more than a few miles from shore. Snapper will move a lot this month looking for better supplies of food and cooler water temps. I find September to be a good time to find the red snapper and red grouper on the shallower reefs and wrecks to the east south east of Destin. Places like the Grayton reef and Seagrove rock near shore or the hard rock bottoms to the east.On the pier king mackerel numbers should improve dramatically this month along with the Spanish mackerel. The kings are usually caught drifting live or frozen cigar minnows on the end of the pier. The Spanish are caught casting bubble rigs, gotchas or strip baits. There should be a increase in the flounder around the pilings using jigs tipped with Fish Bites or bull minnows. Expect a few pompano in the shallows and some blues at night. Now that fall is approaching there will be several opportunities for the surf fisherman. The most highly prized species in the surf is of course pompano which will begin to bite better this month that the last couple. The best baits to target them with are freshly caught sand fleas using a sand flea rake, fresh peeled shrimp purchased here at Half Hitch Tackle or frozen shrimp. There should be a good supply blues and small sharks to catch in the early evening using frozen menhaden, cut pieces of ladyfish or frozen cigar minnows. Lastly there will always be the supple of ladyfish, hardtails and now with fall approaching small jack Cravelle to entertain anyone castin gotchas, spoons or bubble rigs. The jetties will be much like the pier and surf with some pompano and some blues in the afternoon on the out going tide. The reds both puppies and bulls will be around and bite best on the out going tide also. They can be caught bumping spoons off the bottom, drifting a pinfish or cigar minnow and occasionally on plugs. Some mornings will produce good Spanish and bonito runs.Well this is the month to pile up some numbers on marlin especially white marlin is you have the patience to hook them up. White marlin take over the area from the nipple across the flats and out to the squiggles and over to the spur. The white marlin get thick at times but can be very difficult to hook even though some days you might get 6-12 chances a day. If you want to improve your hook up percentage try the Central American sailfish trick of using circle hooks. Rig a naked medium ballyhoo and run on your riggers with a very light rubber band. Also it works well to have a pitch bait ready. With the circle hook rig let the white marlin pick up the ballyhoo and run to a 10 count and then slowly push the strike lever ever so slowly pointing the rod at the fish until he jumps. Once the fish jumps or comes tight discontinue pushing the lever any farther as the fish will be hooked and ready to fight. You almost never miss one using this method. Amberjack will hang out on the larger metal man made reefs just off the edge. A good supple of live hardtails and live threadfin herring are a must of the quality bites. Grouper have moved to the deepwater looking for better food and water temperature. They are in mostly 180-350 foot depths. The current can be very strong this time of year and sometimes you will find that more than the usual 1oz for every 10ft of water depth of lead is required to hold the bottom while grouper fishing. Also with the fish being so deep a electric reel sure make life so much more enjoyable in the summer heat.Here on the flats you can find trout and reds most mornings and evenings. The first two hours of light and last three hours of light are the better times as the water temps are cooler and fish are more active on the flats. Mirrolure Top Dog Pups, Yozuri Tobi Minnows and D.O.A. are the favored baits. The top water baits are of course more fun as you get to see the bite happen but the D.O.A. fished slow across the bottom is always the number one choice. Live shrimp under a popping cork are an excellent choice for those wanting to sit back and enjoy a cool drink and catch a few fish with the least effort.

Fishing for Pompano has slowed in the last couple of months. There have been some reports of an occasional fish caught. Best baits remain live or frozen sand fleas and live and frozen shrimp. The Pompano bite should be picking up this month and next as the water starts to cool. There are a lot of Ladyfish (skipjack), Spanish mackerel and Bluefish to be caught. Bright spoons, Gotcha plugs and Straw Rigs will catch them. Live and frozen Shrimp will take them too. There is no shortage of sharks to catch on the beach, there have been a lot of reports of Bull and Blacktip sharks caught using Bonito and Skipjack (ladyfish) for bait. September and October should be great months for surf fishing.The bottom fishing for Snapper and Grouper remains very good. Live bait and frozen bait will work on both. Don

Pompano will start their fall run towards mid September, maybe a little late this year due to the warmer water temperatures this year, and some whiting and black drum will be available for the surf angler this month. Fresh shrimp on a double pompano rig will be good for all species. The redfish will start to congregate outside the passes for their annual spawning run and can be caught fishing live pinfish on stouter tackle as the some of the reds will be pushing 40 pounds. Spanish mackerel and bluefish will still be close and throwing gotcha plugs or bubble straw rigs will work well. Try trolling the buoy line with Christmas tree rigs for the Spanish. The king mackerel will be in thick around the buoy line and inshore wrecks, using the old faithful Duster rig with a cigar minnow will work great. Live hard tails slow trolled is a favorite for the bigger kings.Look for the fish in 150' of water and using live bait and Williamson jigs will work great. The hard bottoms to the south of Cape San Blas will be a popular area to visit and bring aboard some nice fish. Use a Carolina rig with 80lb fluorocarbon leader and 10/0 Mustad circle hooks for the grouper. For the red snapper, the key will remain to use as light as tackle as possible using fluorocarbon leaders. Chumming them up over wrecks and free lining your baits down among the chum will be a good method for bringing home the big ones. Triggerfish are great table fare and remain with us through out the year. Use a double drop rig with squid on #4 owner fly liner hooks. September will almost be your last good shot at some serious trolling action. Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, mahi-mahi, Wahoo, and marlin are still within reach. Offshore areas such as the squiggles will produce some serious nice mahi-mahi and Wahoo with a marlin a good possibility. Trolling ballyhoo skirted with a blue/white islander will work for all, but if Wahoo is what you are after, use a panhandler or Yozuri Bonita lure. For the mahi-mahi, use a skirted ballyhoo or Boone sea minnow.The trout and reds will still be in their summer routine of invading the flats first thing in the morning and late afternoon. Top water lures like the Mirrolure Top Dog Jr's and Heddon Spooks will work well during these times. During the heat of the day, the trout and redfish will move off the flats to the channels, so a Carolina rig with a

The king mackerel bite will be hot this month. Near shore, you will see a lot of boats trolling for them around the whistle buoy, which is approximately 4 miles out of the St. Andrews Pass. This area holds a lot of bait, thus draws the kings. Be prepared for anything while fishing this area. Every year some very large wahoo and a few sailfish are hooked by people either trolling or flat lining baits for kings. Bottom fishing near shore will be slow, as the areas have been hit hard all summer. You will be best off traveling down the coast a bit then heading off a few miles, where there are a lot of natural bottom areas. Mahi-mahi dolphin will be caught near shore around weed patches.Blue marlin, white marlin, wahoo, swordfish and dolphin should all be caught offshore this month. Fish the areas around the Point or the Squiggles for the pelagics. It is a little further, but if you have the fuel capacity to take you there, the Desoto Canyon is another excellent spot to troll - or set-up for a night drift and a chance to catch some swordfish. Offshore bottom fishing should also be good this month in 200+ feet of water. Keep a flat-line out for Mr. Wahoo when he comes by.If you are fishing for trout up in the bays, you will want to be out there right at daybreak and fish a top-water plug over the flats. This technique will usually work good for the first couple hours in the morning and then just prior to sunset. During the day, you will be best off fishing live bait such as LY's or shrimp either under a popping cork or fished right on the bottom on a jig-head. Redfish can be caught in the same manner in the same areas you are finding the trout. Mangrove snapper will be around most bay structure and can be caught on light tackle and small live shrimp. Spanish mackerel will be available, but they will be spread out throughout the bay. Flounder will be caught throughout the bay as well. Live bull minnows or plastic grubs fished in the sandy holes of the bay should produce a bite.

Hot august temps make for long hot days surf fishing. Pompano are a possibility for early morning hours either on sand fleas, fresh peeled shrimp or fish bites. One or the most productive activities will be catching ladyfish using spoons, bubble rigs or pompano jigs. There are some whiting this month bottom fishing and some blues to be caught at night on cigar minnows or menhaden. Sharks are still in abundance and are easiest to pursue at night using chunks of ladyfish or bonito for bait. The sharks range in size for several feet in the 20-30lb range up to ones in excess of 10ft weighing up to several hundred pounds. The sand sharks, bulls and black tips are excellent table fare also. Black snapper are one of the prime species for the savvy jetty angler. Drifting either a small piece of cut cigar minnow, menhaden or live shrimp when available along the rocks is a great way to find some snapper for dinner. Fishing to far from the rocks only gets you trash fish so real, real close to the rocks for the best chances at snapper. The reds will be active on the outgoing tide, spoons or live baits are the best for them. Blues and ladyfish are around most afternoons and can be caught on cut baits, jigs or spoons. The bonito will be around on some mornings and drifting a live cigar minnow or tossing a bubble rigs will entice the most activity.These are truly the dog days at the Okaloosa Island Pier. The summer kill of Lys has begun and this can be considered by many beach goers as a bad thing as they wash ashore and smell. To the pier fisherman this can mean the thoughts of catching a real smoker king. Overall kings will be slow this month with only a few caught each day but the larger kings get lazy in the heat and all the dieing Ly make easy pickings for them. Drift one along with the other dead ones and chances are good at picking up a nice smoker one afternoon. There should be a few tarpon still and some bonito. The ladyfish and hardtails will be abundant if you have the need to entertain some kids for a morning or afternoon. They should get the occasional pompano or whiting but only in small numbers.Kings can be difficult when the want to be in August as the hot dog days keep them fairly inactive some days. To be the most productive at catching them you must fish very early if you are going to surface troll for them. Once the sun gets going the kings move to deep water drop offs and edges looking for a cooler place to spend the day foraging for minnows. A planner or better yet a downrigger is the key to a successful day on the water. The downrigger unlike a planner allows the angler to fish relatively deep but still use very light tackle. The lighter tackle is more fun to fish with and the lighter the terminal tackle the more bites you normally get. The Braid Runners and Yozuri plugs can be effective when live baits are hard to come by. Make sure to run your Yozuri plugs with a trolling lead from 4-12oz.

A few whiting and redfish will be available for the surf fisherman during the month of August. Fresh shrimp on a double pompano rig will be good for both species. Spanish mackerel and bluefish will get close enough for anglers to throw gotcha plugs or bubble straw rigs to them to have some serious fishing fun as these fish can fight. You will also be able to catch hardtails 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 also do the trick nicely.Be aware that in Federal Waters fishing for Red Snapper will be closed starting the first week in August. State waters will remain open. For the red snapper, the key will remain to use as light as tackle as possible using fluorocarbon leaders. Chumming them up over wrecks and free lining your baits down among the chum will be a good method for bringing home the big ones. Live bait for the grouper will be readily available around the buoys and over the shallow wrecks, but make sure you bring some frozen cigar minnows/northern mackerel as backup and use a Carolina rig with 80lb fluorocarbon leader and 10/0 Mustad circle hooks. Trigger fish never leave us and are great table fare. Use a double drop rig with squid on #4 owner flyliner hooks. Amberjack will stick around wrecks and the towers, a favorite lure is the AJ glow jig.Trolling will be hot as the Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, mahi-mahi, wahoo, and marlin move into our realm of reach. Offshore areas such as the squiggles will produce some serious nice mahi and wahoo with a marlin a good possibility. Trolling ballyhoo skirted with an blue/white islander will work for all, but if wahoo is what you are after, use a panhandler or yozuri bonita lure. The Spanish will be running the buoy line along with the kings. Try trolling the buoy line with Christmas tree rigs for the Spanish. The king mackerel will be in thick around the buoy line and inshore wrecks, using the old faithful Duster rig with a cigar minnow will work great. Live hardtails slow trolled is a favorite for the bigger kings.The trout and reds will be hitting topwater plugs like the Mirrolure Top Dog Jr

On the pier tarpon are the most prized catches from the pier but they provide a challenge. The first challenge is to get the bite. Many days the tarpon come in just out of range of most casters. It takes a 9-10 foot rod to reach them most days. The favored lures are Braid Runners, large 4 oz spoons, cedar plugs and the like. Live hard tails and ly's work if they come close enough to reach with these baits. Once you get the bite having enough line and strong enough line to handle the battle of an hour or more with a tarpon is key. Power Pro line will help immensely here as its small diameter allows plenty of line with good strength and does not tend to blow up reel spools like mono will on large species. The other target fish from the pier are king mackerel which are generally caught between 4:30 am and 8 am or in the afternoons if the trade winds blow above 10 mph. any time we have a weather front pass is a good time to try your luck. Live Ly's are the best baits but are harder to get now that they don't allow the use of Ly ribbons anymore. Plain gold hook rigs will work to get baits but are no real substitute for a Fluorocarbon Sabiki rig rigged with a 2oz lead. There always seems to be an abundance of sharks in the surf in summer. There are several sizes of sharks that roam the beaches that you can catch. First there are the black tips and sand bar sharks that are generally just the right size for large spinning tackle using a 4-6 foot leader and a porgies or ½ a ladyfish for bait. The other species like the bull, hammerhead and dusky generally require much heavier tackle to catch as they can be from 4-12 foot in length. For the larger one, a Penn Senator 6/0-12/0 filled with 80lb line is best. Your leader should be longer than the targeted size of shark. Again ladyfish whole or ½ of a bonito make the best bait. Most of the sharks are caught during the evening hours. For fishing in the day time, the pompano will bite from time to time on shrimp, sand fleas or Fish Bites. There are plenty of lady fish and some Spanish to catch jigging lures. There are some reds around but not as numerous as the cooler months. The jetties will have some black snapper hanging around the rocks. They can be caught drifting fresh cut porgies or cigar minnows and even live shrimp. The reds and blues will bite on the out going tide either on cut baits or lures. They should be a few Spanish and pompano around but not nearly the numbers we experience in the spring months. 

Kings should be steady all month. Some real smokers were caught in June. Early in the mornings you will find the kings on the inshore spots like the airplane rock, Billy spot, broken bottom, pier rubble and El Matador gulley. Once the day heats up the fish move off to the Nickey Grounds, 18"s and Timber Holes looking for cooler water to escape the heat of the day. This is also the month where it is not unheard of to catch a sailfish, black fin tune or whaoo in shore also while trolling or live baiting for kings. Plenty of schoolie dolphin should be prevalent also. Do you want snapper? We most would have you believe they have all moved to deep water because of heat. But check those inshore wrecks and see if you don't see something on the bottom machine. A lot of times the snapper are ther but is hard to get a bite, if this is the case get a light spinning rod with like 20lb line and a 3-6oz lead with a live shrimp. a lot of times this is a excellent way to get a bite. If live shrimp are in short supple because of summer heat cast new a few small menhaden in the bayous as they work good on a light rig to. Sometimes in the summer heat the snapper like a smaller snack rather than a larger one.

Wahoo and dolphin can be found anywhere from just inshore of the edge and out. The rock cliffs, steps, flats, the nipple and the squiggles have all had their share of fish. White marlin and blue marlin have picked up around the spur, squiggles and the mouth of the canyon. Yellow tuna have been fantastic with lots of black and skip jack tuna around the spur, canyon mouth, double titty and rigs have all been good. If you get lucky enough to find an offshore shrimper or whale shark, try you best to stay with them. Shrimpers normaly cull the catch twice or three times a day and the tuna will normally be around for that. As for the whale sharks, they only hang out in areas with a lot of plankton, and where there is plankton there is squid. Where there is squid offshore, there are tuna and usually lots of them. There have even been a couple of bluefin tuna caught this year. Troll spreader bars of squid or bullyhoo to attract the tuna and use small soft heads, islanders or jets to get the tuna. Wahoo wasters in black/red, black/green and black/purple have all been good. Also the new Voodoo jets and highspeed lures have worked well. Grouper and amberjack will be good in water over 150 deep. Water temps have heated up and will require live hardtails for amberjack and live cigar minnows or threadfin herring for grouper. Use a extra long leader for more action. A couple good places are the large rocks south of Destin around 22 miles. 3000.027/8631.687, 3000.194/8631.521 and 3000.118/8631.671.

Trout will be moderate to good during the day and best at night. Live shrimp, menhaden, D.O.A. lures and Yozuri minnows work best. Best of all are the number of black and or mangrove snappers around the bridges and jetties. If you just want a good pull on the line look for large schools of jack cravelle in the mouths of the bayous in the early mornings.

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.

Kings at the pier are going to be biting good for the same reasons they are good while trolling. The best days at the pier are the days the wind blows for the south or southwest. There will always be a few kings caught early in the morning and a few right at sunset but for the rest of the day the mid morning will be slow. On those afternoons the wind blows good (10 miles or harder) the afternoon bite should be really good. Spanish we be biting most days on gotchas and bubble rigs. Tarpon will also beginning to show in numbers in June. Tarpon are fantastic pier prizes but remember they need to be released in good condition, this means no gaffing them. Once you get them to the pier you need to get a quick picture of them in the water and then break the line as close to the fish as possible to ensure there life for future generations Pompano in the surf will become harder to catch sometime this month as the June grass takes over but there is a good chance it won't happen until either late in the month of maybe even into July sometime. We call it June grass because it usually comes in June, if you surf fish much you know what I'm talking about. It is the green slime seaweed looking stuff that takes over the beach for 2 to 3 weeks every year. What it actually is a bloom of algae that looks like seaweed and happens when the water temperature and salinity come to a certain point with just the right amount of rain water. We all hate it as it gets all over your rigging and is a slimy nuisance if you are swimming but it is a natural happening and refurbishes the beaches and water. So don't be disappointed when it happens as it is a good thing. There are other things to catch when the pompano bite slows, there are whiting near the beach, plenty of ladyfish and all the sharks you want late in the afternoon and early evening fishing with cut chunks of the ladyfish you caught earlier in the day or a whole porgies that we sell here at Half Hitch Tackle. Spanish mackerel have invaded the jetties and should continue to bite all month. The black snapper should be making the appearance this month and are a prized target for jetty anglers because of there excellent table fair. Bonito will make off and on appearances at the jetties along with all the hardtail and lady fish you could ever want. Reds will bit on the out going tides along with the blues. The blues are fun and good eating. The reds are here but not in the numbers you find during the cooler months.Snapper, triggers and mingos should good on the inshore reefs. If you want triggers I would make some rigs say 30lb out of the new Yozuri disappearing pink fluorocarbon. Then use a # 4 live bait hook and tiny pieces of squid. When looking for triggers the smaller the hook and the bait the better, if you use too large a hook and bait it is much easier for the trigger to nibble the bait away and not get hooked. Triggers are very adapt at this because of their exceptional maneuverability in the water. Their size and shape make it easy for them to hover, turn sideways or upside down to nibble the bait from the hook and not get hooked. You should also find a good supply of mingos using this same technique. Red snapper will be caught using slider or egg lead rigs using 60lb leader and a 5/0 Mutu Light Owner cheater rig fishing in water depths between 75-150 foot deep. The kings have been late showing up this year so I expect June to be a better than normal month for king fishing. The water did not warm up nearly as fast in May and the bait fish are just now starting to show in really good numbers. There will be a steady bite of threadfin herring just north of the Destin Bridge, then some on the south side. Farther out towards the jetties you will find regular herring and cigar minnows for live bait. With cooler water temps than some years I would think you might have an excellent chance of limiting out on kings most days trolling the new Braid Runners, Yozuri Tobi minnows or even a duster rigged with a frozen cigar minnow. If you go during the heat of the day it would be best to use either a planner or downrigger to fish deeper. There is also the opportunity to catch a black fin tuna, wahoo or chicken dolphin inshore this month.Now here is where I start to get extremely excited now that the blue water has fully moved in. Opportunities are abound for those wanting to venture deep. This is truly big Dolphin month as large weeds lines consisting of Sargaso weed bunch up in light to moderate wind conditions. I have seen weed lines inside of 12 to 15 miles but these most hold only chicken dolphin, an occasional wahoo, bonito, barracuda and hardtails. The real action on big dolphin happens on the weed lines that form offshore of the 100 fathom curve. This is the same area as you will find the larger wahoo, blue and white marlin and tuna. Smaller juvenile whaoo (15-40lb) can be caught on the south or southwest edge as well as the rock cliffs but the larger more mature fish will be in open water as they become more solitary and less school oriented. I concentrate more efforts on wahoo, dolphin and tuna because of the dinner table factor. But the blue marlin fishery is as good as it gets in June and all the tournament winners will attest to that. There is almost a tournament every weekend in June somewhere along the coast and I would never feel comfortable with a fish on the leader board unless he was a solid 500-600lbs. The grouper (keeper sized any how) will have moved to the edge or deeper (165-300ft) range. Amberjack will get more finicky as the water temps warm; you will need either live hardtails there favorite or extremely lively threadfins to get the bite. The Bait fish have become more available and the AJ's get to where the really want a bait with a lot of movement to attract the bite.Specked trout and red fish at sun up or just before sun down on the grass flats. Live shrimp drifted over the flats underneath the popping cork works wonderful. If you like lures yozuri, crystal minnows, DOA shrimp, fin's lures and top dog lures work also. Mid day and afternoon find the trout and redfish near deep water docks and bridge pilings. Live bait is a must during the heat of the day, shrimp or menhaden are the first choices during these times. At night under dock lights is the time to find a gator trout. Black snapper can be caught around bridge pilings, chumming with menhaden milk and live shrimp or menhaden. Flyfisherman will fin June to be a great month.Green and white clousers, shrimp and crab patterns work very well. Good numbers of Spanish mackerel around bridges, jetties and surf. Spanish can be caught on spoon flies, glass minnows, and red and white deceivers. Along the surf, look for pompano, lady fish and hard tails. Pink or orange crazy charlies, small shrimp and crab patterns. Off shore fly fishing should produce lots of bonitos and some king mackerel. Best bet for offshore fly fishing chumming over natural reefs or wrecks to get fish up to the surface. Bonitos and Kings regularly take large streamers, blue and white or green and while or very small glass minnow patterns. On offshore weed patches you should find plenty of small school dolphin. They will take almost any fly, they are not very picky and are a great deal of fun on a 5-6-7 fly rod.

Some pompano and whiting will still be available for the surf fisherman during the month of June, but be aware the catfish and crabs will be thick. Live sand fleas or fresh shrimp on a double pompano rig will be good for both species and to stay away from the catfish and crabs, use a light pompano jig tipped with fresh shrimp. Pompano jigs in chartreuse or pink are always a good choice for our area. 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 the old Duster rig with a cigar minnow will work great for the kings. Live hard tails slow trolled is a favorite for the bigger kings.Red Snapper and grouper will be caught 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 them 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 be great in June with the bigger fish still moving out to deeper water as the temperature rises. 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 are here thick and can be caught on a double drop rig with squid on #4 owner fly liner hooks. Use the Shimano Butterfly jigs for some Amberjack around wrecks and towers. Trolling will be hot as the king mackerel move into our area in force. Dolphin will be making their presence known at about 15 miles out and Wahoo will be closer than ever at 15 miles with the reports we have had so far. 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 bigger trout will be cruising the flats and normally I would be telling you to hit the area around Pompano Point, but this year is a little strange and most all the nice fish are in the head of the Bay (South End), so concentrate south of Blacks Island to Pigs Island. Fishing live LY

King mackerel will be the main target this month. Those catching live baits at the pilings and hooking them up to #4 Malin wire with a #2 treble hook will have the most success. Don't forget the big spinning rod, as there will be a few pier-dwelling cobia still around. These fish are usually smaller than the main run so make sure they meet the 33" minimum before gaffing them. Pompano, redfish and Spanish mackerel will also be caught from the pier this month.Everything is pretty much in full swing during May. A few cobia will still be around and can be caught along the beaches. Red snapper season is open and there should be plenty to be caught on the inshore wrecks. Along with red snapper, expect to catch beeliners, triggerfish and amberjack over the same structures. King mackerel will make their presence during this month. People will generally slow-troll a lipped lure like a Mann's stretch 30, or a duster/cigar minnow combination for the kings. Another very popular and effective way to catch king mackerel is flat-lining a live cigar minnow. Spanish mackerel will be caught along the sand bars as well.As the warmer waters move inshore the tuna, dolphin and marlin become reachable. Watch the satellite temperature charts to see where the warm waters are to save time and money. Wahoo and dolphin will show up first with tuna right behind. Many people will troll high- speed lures, such as the panhandler, to find the fish or tide line then use natural or live bait to really focus on the fish. The grouper and red snapper bite should be very good in water 150+ feet deep.The speckled trout and redfish will return to the grassy flats. As the water gets nice and warm during this month the fish will become more active and start hitting top water baits. Live shrimp is still the preferred bait but top water plugs like Yo-Zuri crystal minnow are lots of fun to use. Generally, the better tide to fish is the high tide and the first few hours of the outgoing tide. Bull redfish can be found in the past between the number 5 buoy and the jetty, again on an outgoing tide. Mangrove snapper will be around most structure in the bay as well as at the jetties. Spanish mackerel will be around all month, and it best to troll with a mackerel tree with a Clark spoon. Early in the month use a size 00 Clark spoon and change to a size 0 mid month as both the Spanish and the baitfish get bigger.

The primary targets in May are King Mackerel but again many other opportunities abound on the pier. Come cobia should be hanging around especially when the big bottom rays, turtles and sharks move in. Spanish will be around all month and can be caught jigging Gotchas, Braid Runners or Sea Striker slab spoons. Pompano should be near the shore break at the pier and take jigs, sand fleas and shrimp, and somewhere near the end of the month the whiting should also be moving in good. There is always a chance of a few black fin tuna in May and late may offers a shot at a tarpon. As I said earlier the King Mackerel are the primary target and can be caught best on drifting live or frozen cigar minnows or using the medium size Braid Runner or Rattle traps. May is still a time of optimism and opportunity for the surf angler as many options abound. If you like evening fishing there will be plenty of small sharks to entertain you from late afternoon into the evening. Using a spinning rod rigged with a wire pulley rig and a cigar minnow you can target sharks from 15-50lbs. you have the opportunity to catch several in a couple hours this way. If you want to try for larger sharks using a 114H 6/0 senator reel or larger you can target the larger bull and sand sharks using either a chunk or ladyfish or bonito. You will need to pick a north wind day so you can use a balloon to drift the bait out or swim the bait as it will be to large to cast out. Pompano will continue to be the main target of surf anglers using sand fleas, jigs or Yummy fleas tipped with Fish Bites yellow, pink or orange crab flavor. For the angler who likes jigging May is an excellent month to spot cast pompano and offers good practice for fly anglers targeting Spanish and ladyfish. The jetties in May provide multiple chances at many different species ranging from Pompano, Spanish, Bonito, Reds, Ladyfish and hardtails. Most of the fish at the jetties take a variety of lures but Gotchas, Braid Runners in the small size, bubble rigs and Calcutta jigs tipped with shrimp are best. Bonito will take lures but if you take a Sabiki rig and get live cigar minnows you will do even better. While fishing for bonito you may occasionally run into a grouper or cobia also but either of these will require a net of gaff or some sort to land at the rocks. Black snapper will show towards the end of the month.May is excellent for bottom fishing for several reasons. 1 The weather is normally wonderful in May, light breezes and small seas. 2 The snapper season has just recently opened and inshore wrecks hold good numbers of fish still. 3 Because it is early in the year the water has not really heated up and the fish are much more active and aggressive and can be caught Jigging with Clouts and Sea Striker Slab spoons unlike later in the year when live bait is a must. Trolling inshore (inshore I mean 10-15 miles or less) you will find exceptional numbers of King Mackerel. Some of the more common places to find kings early in the year like this are the southeast rocks, broken bottom, El Matador Gulley, Nicky grounds and the 18"s. kings can be caught trolling many different lures or cigar minnows (live or frozen).Offshore truly turns on in May, the wahoo, dolphin and tuna are very close (as close as 25-30 miles at times in fantastic numbers. The dolphin and wahoo prefer to feed near tide lines, weed patches and rips. They like these places because weed patches provide shelter for many small bait fish, tide lines and rips also attract bait fish because of extra nutrients collected in the areas from the mixing or ocean currents. White marlin will range to within 35 miles or so with the Nipple being one of the hot spots. The Blue marlin typically likes to feed in the deeper areas close to the spur, the steps or the squiggles. The tuna can be almost anywhere food can be found from around weed patches, tide lines rips and just plain old open water. Why open water you may ask well it really isn't just open water as many schools of offshore squid and anchovies are present over deep structure and it appears to be just open water. Water color also dictates where fish will be as they like the dark blue to cobalt water over the green water, the blue water is much saltier and carries more nutrients for bait fish there for producing more predators. Grouper will be along edges and natural live bottom. As for the jacks the often prefer the larger offshore man made reefs. The reason the jack like the man made reefs is many of them are old metal hull boats, barges and tanks (metal). The metal reefs for some reason attract large numbers of what we call Speedos or chum mackerel and amberjack love them. Moral here is attract and have the right bait and you will get the jacks the biteMay is the month you really want to be bay fishing as plenty of trout and reds roam the flats early every morning and in the evening hours. Try a Yozuri Tobi minnow, DOA shrimp or terror eyes. Reds sneak in also. As the day warms the trout and reds move to channel edges, deepwater boat docks and bridges. Large jack cravelle roam the bayous most mornings and can be spotted chasing menhaden. Large spoons, mirrolures, and rattle traps work well here. Get your fly rod out for some early morning fun on the flats. Spanish, trout and reds all take flys good and May is an excellent time to get them to bite - the water is still pleasant and fish are aggressive.

Whiting are still available for the surf angler during the month of May, but the focus will be on the pompano as the make their annual migration into our waters. Live sand fleas and fiddlers make great baits and pompano jigs tipped with fresh shrimp work great. Some redfish and black drum can be caught on the beach using shrimp on a surf rig. 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 will be hot as the Spanish mackerel and king mackerel move into our area in force. Troll inshore near the buoy line with mackerel tree rigs for the Spanish and the old Duster rig with a cigar minnow for the big Spanish and kings. Trolling Yozuri Hydra-Mags and stretch 30's also work well on the king mackerel. Live hard tails slow trolled is an all time favorite to catch the bigger kings.Red Snapper season is in full gear during May and the key will be as light as tackle as possible using fluorocarbon leaders. Chumming them up over wrecks and free lining your baits down among the chum will be the key to bringing home the big ones. The cobia search will continue also and will be the central target for a good many anglers this month as the annual cobia run will finish this month. A cobia can't turn down a live eel hooked with an owner 9/0 SSW hook with at least 60lb fluorocarbon leader. Grouper fishing will be great in May with the bigger fish still moving out to deeper water as the temperature rises. The best fishing will be at 150' to 200'. Live bait is everyone's favorite 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. Trolling will be hot as the Spanish mackerel and king mackerel move into our area in force. Dolphin, Wahoo, and black fin tuna make their way in to our waters as well. Trolling ballyhoo will work for all three species, but if you want to target the Wahoo, go deep with Yozuri Bonita lures and marlin-mans panhandlers.Spanish mackerel are here and will are an easy catch as they will devour most anything thrown to them. The all time favorite place to fish for the Spanish mackerel from shore will be from the oil docks using a double speck rig. If trolling is your cup of tea, troll a Christmas tree rig with a clarkspoon around the bay up into the buoy line. The trout and redfish will be hungry and will be invading the flats as the bait fish move in. Fishing live LY