A little Saltwater for a change

[JestersHK]

Made it down to Destin last weekend with the family. Although the weather didn't cooperate I still squeezed in a few fishing sessions. Last year I purchased a 9ft surf rod and did some googling to figure out how to catch ocean fish on my own and skip the pricey charters. I had surf fished before, and started in on some pier fishing as well, and it is an absolute blast and relatively cheap. A $200 budget/investment will get you all the gear you need for the occasional trip. It makes for a nice change of pace from slaying trout, and you never quite know what you are going to catch out there.

Had a break in the storms on Sunday and we loaded up to hit the sea side beach. Kids and I hunted for some sand fleas and after I found a few I rigged up and chucked out a number 6 circle hook on a fish finder rig. After about 10 minutes I had my first fish on of the day. A nice little sail cat.

Rain started back up, and I only managed to catch one more. Saw a nice stingray while wading out, but couldn't get him to bite.

Storms rolled in that night and the swells were huge. Red flags all over the beaches so unfortunately my surf fishing was done. Next night I headed out around 9:30 after the fam went to sleep and hit up Okaloosa Pier on Okaloosa Island. I stayed through the night and must have caught about 60 Saltwater cats of various sizes with the biggest being about 5 pounds. I literally was catching one as soon as my bait hit the bottom. I tried squid shrimp and even some bait fish caught on the sabiki rig to try and catch something else, but thats my luck. At least I was catching something LOL.

I ended up staying out all night and around 5:30 the Local guys started showing up waiting for the Spanish and King Macks to start coming by, A huge swarm of bait fish came through and I cut the weights off and tried catching a King by floating my bait towards the surface. As my luck would have it I hooked up but it was just a big lady fish. A quick but fun fight, then I was heading back to the condo to have breakfast.

On my last morning I only had a few hours to fish. Check out was late morning so I got up early and headed back to the Pier. I spent an hour or so catching bait, then around sunrise the locals began showing up to try for Spanish and Kings again. A father and son from Ohio I fished with the night before were back and while we were chatting the son hooked into something big. He had a screamer on and fish was making some huge runs. We initially thought it was a big King or a Cobia. He finally got it to the surface and it was a nice size spinner shark. Not really what we were fishing for but it was a good fight while it lasted.

At this point I hadn't even hooked anymore catfish. It was looking gloomy on my hopes for a King, and the darn dolphins had moved in and were stealing baits left and right off our lines. Around 7am I hooked up one of my few remaining cigar minnows, and cast out. After 5 minutes or so rod tip bent over and I was hooked up! Was a pretty quick fight, was hoping for a nice Bull Red, but ended up being about a 5.5ft Blacktip Shark. He made some good runs, and as soon as I'd get him to the surface back down he'd go. Wish I could of landed him on the beach surf fishing, and did not want to harm him bringing him up to the pier so I had to cut him off. Here's a quick vid of the end of my battle with him.

http://vid1066.photobucket.com/albums/u402/JestersHK/455B6834-E46D-4EAC-BC4B-9D4F413124D6_zpsl5ewazfs.mp4

Hope you all enjoy and tight lines guys

JestersHK

[Feathers and Fins]

Very nice trip. Spinner is awesome table fair

[Flysmallie]

I love the salt. I usually just end up fishing off the beach in front of the condos though. Not much of a fan of the piers. But it's a blast no matter where you are fishing and you never know what's on the end of the line.

[stlfisher]

Looks like a great time!

[hoglaw]

Just got back from Fort Morgan myself. Fished out of my kayak almost every day for a week on the Mobile Bay side. Lots and lots of small trout with a few nice keepers mixed in, some flounder, and of course rat and slot reds. It was a good time.

[JestersHK]

That sounds awesome hoglaw. I saw a few kayakers out there on my one day when the surf was down. I do regret not fishing inshore more. Those trout and gator trout look like a fun time. Saw a nice bull red get hooked up, but I never got one on the line. Def on my list for next year.

[hoglaw]

It's a lot of work. And it definitely requires a change of mindset. My goal this trip was a big trout on top water but it didn't pan out. The bull reds were in places I didn't feel comfortable paddling a coosa. A hobbie would have been a different story.

Hit me up next time you go down there. I'm by no means an expert but I've got some spots and I'm more than happy to tell you every one of them.

[hoglaw]

Also, one morning I was out fishing and it was slow. Got back to the condo and my wife had caught countless lady fish when a school got pushed up next to the beach. She had one on every cast. Go figure.

[JestersHK]

I'll def take you up on that. Won't be back down to Florida till next year. Its crazy how you mention the schooling of the ocean fish. The morning I caught the lady fish a huge prolly 80-100ft in diameter ball of bait fish moved in under the pier. Remarkable to see this black ball just teaming with larger predator fish running lines all through them. Closest thing I ever saw to that was a school of sardines while snuba'ing in Aruba. Huge balls of Sardines 30-40ft in diameter and when a predator swam through them they would make a bubble all around the bigger fish. Ocean is an awesome place. If it wasn't for the sand, hurricanes, sand, heat, sand, humidity, sand, and the tourists I'd almost consider living closer to the big water LOL. Did I mention I HATE sand. Still finding sand over 2 weeks later.