Panhandle - Panama City, West Bay & Port St. Joe

Rough Weather Redfish!!! Over the last couple weeks the weather in our neck of the woods has been a bit rough. Last week it rained hard for a couple of days and the week before that the wind blew pretty hard for most of the week. All the rain we had last week dumped a ton of fresh water into our bays. This fresh water turned our normally clear water into more of a tea brown color. Most people decided to let the tides flush out the bay and wait to fish another day. The boat ramps have been almost empty for the last couple of days. For those die hard fishermen out there who decided to brave the elements and change up their techniques just a bit, most of them were rewarded with some nice shallow water action. When the water conditions change for the worst you need to change with them. Last week during the high winds but mostly clear water conditions I had my clients stick with the Gulp sinking minnow and suspending mirror lure baits. This week during the darker water conditions I had my customers switch up to topwater plugs and spoons. The topwater plug will make that surface noise that can attract fish and the spoons side to side wobble in the water creates a vibration that the fish can feel. When nature reduces the fish’s ability to see its dinner, the fish will use its other senses to feed. Vibration and noise can be the best answer during rough conditions. Capt. Todd used Cajun Thunders with scented Gulp shrimp this week during his trips. He concentrated his efforts on fishing the inside of some of the larger bayous and inlets. Often times during rough weather/water conditions the fish will choose to seek shelter. Capt. Todd zeroed in on these fish with a combination of sound producing corks and scented plastic shrimp. This resulted in his customers catching some nice trout. Here are some pictures of this weeks action. Jim & Brenda Looker with a nice copper colored redfish! This was Jim's biggest red to date. Great job. Remeber you need to be able to change techniques with the changing weather conditions. Have a couple topwater plugs and spoons in your box just in case. Don't forget to slow down a bit before you get too close to the shore. Prop scars kill the sea grass and that grass takes a long time to grow back. The same grass that the redfish and trout live and feed in. As always look out for the other guy and be safe on the water. Capt. Rob Womble & Capt. Todd Jones Back Bay Adventures