Ozarks Fisherman Headed To Destin, Fl

[Ealy]

I'm leaving Friday for Fort Walton Beach, FL (5 minutes from Destin). I plan on going drop fishing on a head boat one day and doing some pier fishing at least one other day. I'm an avid freshwater fisherman, and I've been fishing the Ozarks for Bass, Crappie, Whites, etc... for years.

The local fishing pier rents out rods and reels, so I'm thinking about doing that. I have a ridiculous amount of fishing tackle, and was thinking about taking some stuff with me. Does anyone have any experience fishing down there off the pier? I'm looking for suggestions on what to take with me. I'm thinking a chrome red fin, super flukes, a couple of rogues, drop shot stuff for live bait...

Anyone?

[jpb2187]

When I was younger I went down there and fished with live bait... all we caught were channel cats. My dad joked that we drove all that way just to catch what we could've caught at home. Last year I went to Marco Island, and had some better success with crankbaits catching some snook and redfish, but still ran into catfish when using live bait (shrimp). The big thing with the ocean fishing is watching the tides. Alot of their feeding patterns are based on that as well as the little channels between sand bars.

[UnCivE]

I was down near there last year. I had the best luck grabbing some circle hooks and large sinkers and baiting with cigar minnows and cut squid. Throw out at dusk and standby. There's really no telling what you'll catch. I'd recommend using their rods for sure. I caught eel, shark, redfish, sail cats and various other stuff doing this. I basically just went the the local bait shop and asked for directions to some decent shore fishing.

I took all my gear down, and ended up using one pole and a rod I bought down there. If I had to do over, I'd leave everything home, I ended up buying all new stuff to use because my stuff was too small. Not only that, if you do end up using any of your own stuff (rod/reels) make sure you clean it before you come home.

Good luck!

[trouthog]

i did an inshore trip last year, to gulf shores, it was great! my 10 yr old had a blast! all you need to know from what the taught me is med lt to med pole & live shrimp hooked right behind body/ tail joint...

we caught everything black tip shark, puffer, trout, sail catfish, flownder, crabs, northern kings... it was a lot iof fun.. main thing is if you take your stuff is wash asap.. get home & clean & iol ..i asked a lot of questions so next time i do buy or bring my stuff

[Fish Ogre]

My favorite way to fish in Florida was fishing the surf from the beach. I caught several different species on a large inline spinner using normal bass tackle.

The redfish in the picture was caught using 6 pound mono.

I went out every morning at sunrise and caught fish eveyday.

Needlefish

As other have said just make sure you rinse the salt water off of your equipment at the end of the day.

Good Luck to you.

[dennis boatman]

...the Jetties are fun, but be careful...Mackaral, bluefish, and redfish...and many more...I take my own equipment...I mostly catch fish in the 1 to 3 lb range...tons of fun...

[Ealy]

Fish Ogre, that's a wicked looking Needlefish. I think I'll leave my rods at home and just rent theirs. I used the circle hooks last year during my offshore trip and they are hard to get used to. I'm conditioned to setting the hook and that'll pop the fish off every time. If live bait's the way to go, I'll just take my wallet with me and buy the hooks and sinkers there. I don't think Redfish or Grouper season even starts until the first of June, but it looks like a ton of other possibilities from the pier. Here's a video of a guy at Okaloosa Island Fishing Pier that hooked a Hammerhead Shark. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldXsb0vNH-s

[UnCivE]

Yeah, and I actually caught so many sharks fishing at night I was about tired of em after awhile. They're fun to catch, but a bit of a pain to handle.

[Kee sims]

We are headed to Panama City beach Saturday night I plan on just renting a rod and reel and doing some fishing off the pier