Destin Fishing Report 2-9-26
It was a somewhat slow week, mostly due to the weather, but we still have a little to talk about.
Thankfully, we are starting to get some water back into the bays now that we are on the back side of the moon and no longer dealing with a howling north wind. This should allow the guys who catch live shrimp, bull minnows, and fiddler crabs to get back out and load up on bait. Having a good supply of live bait will definitely help anglers put more fish in the boat.
Preparing for the Season
While many of us are cooped up waiting on warmer temperatures and better fishing, now is a great time to prepare some gear for the season. Painting your leads with plastic dip or vinyl lure and jig finish helps in a couple of ways. It adds an attractor for fish and also helps protect the boat from nicks and dings.
This is also a good time to service your reels, check rod guides for nicks, replace any damaged guides, and respool reels with fresh line.
Seminars
Our next seminar will focus on vermilion snapper and triggerfish. It will be held Tuesday, March 3rd at Legendary Marine at 6:00 PM.
Fishing this Week
Now let’s talk fishing and what we saw this week.
On the pier, anglers caught a few flounder, redfish, and whiting.
In the surf, there were a few pompano caught, but the best action came from black drum and redfish. Cut mullet and blue crab chunks were the top baits for those fish.
Bottom fishing was mostly limited to vermilion snapper.
In the bay, there was a decent bite from redfish and speckled trout, with the best numbers coming from white trout. Sheepshead should have been good, but the lack of live bait made things tough for most anglers.
Looking Ahead
Looking ahead, the weather this week should give some anglers a chance to make a run and target swordfish and deep-water groupers like snowy, yellowedge, and barrelfish. We also had several people in the shop planning tuna trips to the FADs and rigs, so we may have something to report on that in next week’s report.
