Anyone surf fish Pensacola/Destin area?

last summer in Destin id go out to the beach in the am and throw plastics and catch a ton of ladyfish. was a lot of fun. They were easy to spot in the water and the birds also gave their position away. Also caught about a 4.5 foot blacktip shark one evening.

Couple years ago we had a 5th floor condo in Destin, late July. After 2 days of watching schools of bait getting shredded with the binoculars I ran down to Wallyworld. A cheap spinning rig, a couple of long square spoons later and I was smashing Spanish Mackerel. Caught about 50 over the next few days

I just got back from Cape San Blas (pretty far east of Pensacola) yesterday. I fished just about every day for several days and didn't catch a single pompano. I'm not a pro. I just take my bass gear, tie a double dropper pomp rig, wade out, and throw it out past the sandbar. I can usually catch a few decent fish. This trip, all I caught was a boatload of catfish and a very few whiting. No pomps, or anything else good. Most of the time, the catfish would start biting it before it had sunk to the bottom and continue biting until they'd either eaten all the sand flea/fish bite, or one big enough to get the hook in its mouth came along. I don't know if it's just the time of year or what, but it was worse than I've ever experienced.

I did see a shark longer than me swim by about 15 feet away. That's always fun.

Search this site.

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Would like to try to haul in some pompano from the surf

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Very late for Pompano. April/May is the best time. You may hit the occasional this late but highly unlikely.

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I did see a shark longer than me swim by about 15 feet away. That's always fun.

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I watched a guy reel in a small bonnet head shark on San Blas one time. Took him forever to get him to the beach on such light tackle but he did it. Releasing him without him taking a chunk out of anybody's leg was tricky too.

Hush your mouth about this place. We have to keep it a secret.

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Hush your mouth about this place. We have to keep it a secret.

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I just gave it a bad fishing report. That should help.

we were in Navarre July 20-27. fished with my daughter every morning from the beach and once from the bay. We kept 2 poles out in pvc rod holders rigged with pompano rigs using fresh sand fleas we catch, or fishbites in sand flea/shrimp flavor. While those lines are sitting out, we fish using artificials on bait casts into the surf. No bites on the sand fleas or fish bites other than a couple hard heads. We caught some bluefish and small mackerels on spoons casting into the surf, but that was only for about 20-30 min while the tide was moving and the baitfish were close to shore. I did hook a small blacktip shark on a sand flea under a cork as one morning the small blacktips were all over (saw about 12-15 of them).

Long story, but its late in the year for pompano, too hot, not running. Maybe you can get lucky and hook into a hungry bull redfish or whiting. That said, we walk the Navarre Pier each year as well and there are literally hundreds of redfish close to the shore that ive watched many people cast all types of bait in the middle of the school and they ignore. If they aint biting, they aint biting no matter what.
and in Florida, you only get to keep one slot redfish per day anyways...not like Louisiana
Good luck.

Thanks for all the tips guys. Looks like I may switch up and try to get some mackerel on the surf instead. Any tips trying grass flats on the bay side? There are some in walking distance, but I've never fished anything like that in LA.