Tropical Storm Fred has came and gone and now it's time for us to take advantage of the fishing after the storm. It's gonna be a rainy weekend, but that will just help us cool down with this heat we have going right now.

 

The pier has slowed down a bit. The water is just too hot for much to want to be running. Mangrove snapper should be moving out there soon. Hardtails and Spanish seem to be the main things being caught right now with some bonita mixed in here or there. Use a stronger sabiki rig, gotcha plugs, or diamond jigs to get in on the bite.

 

The surf is also a little slower due to the water heating up at the waves. First thing in the morning or evening time seem to be getting better results with quite a bit of whiting with some pompano, redfish, small shark, and jack crevalle moving through occasionally. Pompano rigs tipped with live shrimp, fish bites, or fish gum. If you want to have a little more active take on the surf, you can throw out some larger poppers or top water plugs to see if you can get the jacks and reds fired up.

 

The sound is producing a little more but if you are on foot you are going to have a bit of a hard time due to the shallow waters being too hot to be able to swim through. If you don't mind wading out a little to throw more on the drop offs or deeper waters, use some live shrimp on a carolina rig or even some soft plastics bounced along the bottom for your try on some redfish, black drum, trout, and flounder. If you happen to be going by kayak or boat, fish the deeper docks with some popping corks or suspending twitchbaits to see what you can get fired up.

 

The bay has been getting in on the action too with schools of jack crevalle and spadefish moving through. Throw a skitterwalk or popper into the school of jacks to get them boiling and slamming the top. Get ready for a heck of a fight once you get one on. The spadefish will be caught best on carolina rigs and live shrimp or even some fish bites or fish gum. Just throw it out and reel it in slow to get one on your line. If you move towards the Pensacola pass you can get in on some bull reds. Chumming up the water a little bit will help them get all worked up then you can throw in your bait. Live bait works best for these guys, whether it's shrimp, pinfish, pigfish, croakers, you name it. Throw it on a hook and chunk it into middle of the fray.

 

Have a fishing report for us or want to show off pics of your latest catches? Send them our way at [email protected] or stop in the store to tell us all about it!