Florida’s Forgotten Coast Seasonal Fishing Report

Summer 2021 Fishing Report

School is out.  Vacation time is near. It's the time of year when the sun, sand, and waters call you, and the desire to get out in it is almost unbearable.  The Forgotten Coast is the perfect place to shake your kids loose of their devices, get outside, and go fishing.  Not much beats the thrill of a great day on the water catching fish, but don't underestimate the value of making memories that will never fade spending time outdoors together.

The fish feel the summer vibe and heat too.  The biggest fishing tip for this season is… as the temperatures rise, you should fish on the low tides or when the temperatures are cooler (morning and evening).  Fish tend to conserve energy when the weather is hot, just like we do, and they prefer to eat in the cooler times of the day.

Bay Fishing

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

Fish for trout and redfish from the flats and the bridges.  Or you can wade fish.  Cast and retrieve spoons or suspension lures like Mirr O Lure or Chug Bug, or use shrimp under a popping cork to catch redfish, trout, and flounder.  In the deeper areas of the bay, you can fish for whiting, pompano, and mackerel.

Target sheepshead and drum by the bridge pilings.  You should use fiddler crabs to catch sheepshead, but first, scrape some of the barnacles off the piling to chum up the water.

Fishing for tripletail can be easy.  Any floating structure or crab trap inshore might have a tripletail or two hanging around it looking to feed off small fish and shrimp.  Turn your engine off and drift by slowly.  Use a small J-style hook with shrimp, artificial shrimp, fiddler crabs, mud minnows, or baitfish (not frozen), and don't let your bait sink more than a foot or two.

Surf Fishing

You can catch pompano, mackerel, whiting, redfish trout, or bluefish when you are surf fishing.

Pompano like sand fleas, mackerel like a silver spoon which resembles their natural food source, greenbacks, and you can catch whiting with almost anything.

For bigger fish from the shore, like redfish, trout, and bluefish, look for the troughs between sandbars.  They can be seen every 200 to 300 feet along the beach.  This is where the bigger fish lie in wait.  As always, both the east end cut and west end cut (Bob Sykes Cut) are great for catching big reds.

Offshore Fishing

Red snapper season is open in June and July!  Red snapper and grouper can be caught in 80 to 100 feet deep waters.  You will need to use squid with cigar minnow or Spanish sardines as you bottom fish.  For vermillion snapper and kingfish, chum the water with sardine chum and use a 2 alt circle hook into a cigar minnow.  Then freeline behind the boat (this means no lead weight on the line, just let it feed out.). You can also troll for kings and grouper with a stretch 30 line or Magnum Rapala.

River Fishing

Even if the water is rough, you can fish up the river.  Use crickets or worms to catch brim and shell crackers.  They linger over stump holes and downed trees.

If ever there was a time to visit the Forgotten Coast for fishing purposes, now is that time! It's summertime and the fishin's easy!  If you prefer someone to take you out and show you the ropes, call one of our experienced fishing guides.  They know the honey hole spots and can take you far out for snapper and grouper fishing.

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