Black snapper on light tackle is the hot ticket this week in Pensacola along the rock jetties in the pass and on few of the bridges in the area. Most of the fish are in the 14 – 16" range, but a few are topping the scale at over 4lbs. These tasty fish are great fun on light tackle, and using a small #4 Gamakatsu bait hook with a live bull-minnow or small live shrimp was working well. We even tried a 3" natural Berkeley Gulp which resulted in some good fish. I was using the Gulp on a 1 oz jig-head, pitching it close to the rocks in search of a redfish holding tight to the rocks. I did manage to get into one red today, but he was short and was tossed back in to grow up a bit.
Not only were the black snapper biting well, so were juvenile gag grouper. They were also holding tight to the rocks. Spanish mackerel are in the pass and in the bay along with even larger schools of ladyfish. On light tackle, these fish are great fun for family outings. Over near 3mile Bridge I've been catching a few King mackerel by drifting live and dead baits behind the boat on a float. Also on a few of my charters while we were anchored up catching kings, large schools of Spanish mackerel were showing up near 3mile Bridge. Pitching a small 1oz silver jig or spoon has proven to yield many fish.
The trout bite has been very good in upper Escambia Bay. This week the lure of choice was the Exude RT Slug in the root beer / gold, black flake; the fish were jumping all over it. I also found that they liked the Golden Pepper Shiner on a ¼ jig head bouncing near the bottom. October has turned out to be a good month so far for fishing. Make sure you hit the water early, since the wind has still been a little bit of a problem in the afternoon.
Only a few more weeks and the big redfish will start to move into our bays and just off our beaches. These awesome brutes are great fun to fight. If you have never hooked-up a 25lb redfish, then November and December are great months to be here, just give me a shout and we will get you hooked-up on the Mega-Bite.
Till next time, here's wishing you bent rods and screaming drags.
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See ya on the water!
Professional Fishing Guide
Capt. John Rivers
850-341-9816
Pensacola, Fl.
Thanks to my sponsors:
Mann's Lures, High Roller Lures, SPRO Fishing Tackle,
Gamakatsu Hooks,Pure Fishing - Berkley & ABU Garcia,
Shakespeare , Sea Pro Boats
