2024 Summer Fishing Report

School is out, and vacation time is here! The sun, sand, and waters of the Forgotten Coast are calling. It’s the perfect destination to disconnect your kids from their devices and reconnect with the outdoors through fishing. Not only does a day on the water offer the thrill of catching fish, but it also creates lasting memories.

The summer heat affects fish behavior too. Our top fishing tip for this season: as temperatures rise, aim to fish during low tides or cooler parts of the day (morning and evening). Fish, like us, conserve energy in the heat and prefer to feed when it’s cooler.

Bay Fishing

The Apalachicola Bay is teeming with trout, redfish, sheepshead, drum, whiting, pompano, mackerel, and tripletail during the summer months.

• Trout and Redfish: Fish from the flats and bridges or try wade fishing. Use spoons or suspension lures like Mirr O Lure or Chug Bug, or shrimp under a popping cork to catch redfish, trout, and flounder. For deeper areas, target whiting, pompano, and mackerel.
• Sheepshead and Drum: Target these fish around bridge pilings. Use fiddler crabs to catch sheepshead, and chum the water by scraping barnacles off the piling.
• Tripletail: Look around any floating structure or crab trap inshore. Drift by slowly with your engine off, using a small J-style hook with shrimp, artificial shrimp, fiddler crabs, mud minnows, or baitfish.

Surf Fishing

When surf fishing, you can catch pompano, mackerel, whiting, redfish, trout, or bluefish.

• Pompano: Use sand fleas.
• Mackerel: Use a silver spoon resembling greenbacks.
• Whiting: Can be caught with almost anything.

For larger fish like redfish, trout, and bluefish, look for the troughs between sandbars every 200 to 300 feet along the beach. The east end cut and west end cut (Bob Sykes Cut) are also prime spots for big reds.

Offshore Fishing

Red snapper season is open in June and July! In waters 80 to 100 feet deep, you can catch red snapper and grouper using squid with cigar minnow or Spanish sardines. For vermillion snapper and kingfish, chum the water with sardine chum, use a 2 alt circle hook with a cigar minnow, and freeline behind the boat. You can also troll for kings and grouper with a stretch 30 line or Magnum Rapala.

River Fishing

If the water is rough, head to the river. Use crickets or worms to catch brim and shell crackers near stump holes and downed trees.

Now is the time to visit the Forgotten Coast for an unforgettable fishing experience!

Special thanks to Mr. Rex Pennycuff, Owner of Fisherman’s Choice in Eastpoint, for providing these tips.