Home Again Inshore Fishing Report
The Panhandle trip got wrapped up with a day of epic fishing, at which point I called it and drove home. Then I fished two days here, for the Home Again inshore fishing report.
Sunday
When it started getting light I left the B&B and headed east. I thought if I made it to Panama City early on Sunday, there wouldn’t be any traffic. I was right!
Got to Port St. Joe about 9 AM. Folks were going to church. I parked a short distance away and dropped a kayak in the bay. A short time later, while listening to the church bells ringing, I landed my first fish of the morning, a nice red that took a DOA CAL jig.
By 1 AM I’d gotten another red, a nice trout, a flounder, and a Spanish mackerel.
I tried sight fishing, but only saw three sharks and two reds. All the fish were taken while casting blindly into deeper water.
Checked into the campground, got set up, and then fished the south side of the bay. In three hours I saw only three fish and did not get a bite.
Monday
Drove to St. George Sound and launched the ‘yak. In two minutes I had a decent trout on a jig. Put the spin rod away and started blind casting with a Clouser Minnow.
The fish were not suicidal but they came steadily, nice ones, trout to four pounds, reds to eight. Got a nice Spanish mac and had another cut me off. Could not sight fish due to clouds but it didn’t matter.
When I tired of casting the fly in the wind I switched back to spin tackle and a weedless jig. If anything it was even more effective. It was by far the best day of the trip. And I did not see another fisherman the entire day.
Tuesday
Got up in the rain, broke camp, tossed the soggy tent into the car, and drove home. It rained most of the way.
Wednesday
Had wet, messy mess to clean up, correspondence, etc.
Thursday
Took the Mitzi to River Breeze for scout duty. Water is pretty dirty. Did not see a lot. When I found clean water it was devoid of life. Got two trout the Riptide jig, one nice, the other spectacular. Hoped I would be able to find them the next day.
Friday
Met Kacky Andrews at 7 AM. While launching the boat I began conversing with a crabber on the other side of the dock. He said the crabbing right now is the best he’s seen in a 56 year career. He said one reason for that is the hurricane that passed. Another is that most of the redfish are gone, and you know how many little crabs they eat. Funny, his observation exactly reinforces my own. Only it’s sad, not funny.
Kacky and I went hunting for fish. She fly fished for four hours or so without a bite. Of course during that time we saw maybe a half-dozen fish. She switched to the spin rod. In the next four hours we saw maybe another half-dozen fish. She managed one very modest seatrout, our only fish. Tough day. She was awesome, though.
Thanks for fishing with me, Kacky!
And that is the Home Again inshore fishing report!
Life is great and I love my work!
Life is short- Go Fishing!
John Kumiski
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