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Destin Fishing Report 3-9-26
It was a pretty exciting week along the Emerald Coast! Both the Okaloosa Island Pier and the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier reported their first cobia of the year. Those anglers earned a free pier pass for the rest of the season, which is a great way to kick off the spring cobia run.
We also just received a fresh batch of cobia and pompano jigs in all colors and sizes, just in time for things to heat up.
Bay Fishing
Sheepshead are still the highlight.
Best baits:
• Live shrimp
• Fiddler crabs
• Oysters
Fish bridge pilings, jetties, and rock piles.
For trout and redfish, fish soft plastics on a 1/8 oz jig head around the sand holes on the flats.
Surf Fishing
The pompano bite keeps improving every day.
Best baits:
• Sand fleas
• Shrimp
• Fishbites
If you can catch ghost shrimp, they are excellent pompano bait.
Pier Fishing
Of course Ken Carpenter landed the first cobia of the year from the Okaloosa Island Pier.
Pier anglers are also catching:
• Pompano
• Spanish mackerel
• Sheepshead
Bottom Fishing
We had a few good weather windows this week, with last Sunday being especially nice.
David Saito and crew reported:
• Nice almaco jacks
• A few scamp grouper
• Vermillion snapper (mingos)
• Triggerfish
Other boats also reported good catches of mingos and triggers.
Offshore Trolling
Rumor has it some of the new FADs are starting to hold “chicken” mahi. I haven’t seen many pictures yet, but the reports are starting to come in.
FADs 5 and 6 reportedly had:
• Mahi-mahi
• A few wahoo
Things should only keep improving as the water warms.
Nearshore Trolling
More Spanish mackerel are starting to show up in the harbor and around Crab Island. Some large bluefish have also been reported in the back of the harbor.
Try trolling straw rigs with a Clark Spoon.
A few blackfin tuna were also reported around the Navarre kayak reefs.
