Flounder: The Flounder bite continues to be exceptional with the cooler water temps. As a Destin Inshore Charter Fishing Guide, the cold fronts I look for have pushed through the Destin Inshore Bay Fishing areas, allowing my clients to target these fine eating flat fish. The cold fronts have sent the signal to the flounder and they have responded by moving out of the Destin Inshore Bay in massive numbers. This is absolutely the best time of the year, to get your limit of 10 Flounder per angler. On nearly all of my trips, we have easily caught our limits of flounder and then some. The flounder will ultimately settle in their breeding areas, where they will pose the easiest opportunity to Destin Inshore Bay fisherman to catch them throughout the winter months. Baits of choice include live finger mullet and bull minnows. My preference for rigging these live baits is either Carolina Rig with a short 8 – 10 inch leader, or a half ounce jig head directly hooked to the live offering. With the Carolina Rig, make sure to allow the flounder enough time to grab your bait and turn it around in his gullet before setting the hook.

Sheepshead: The Sheepshead bite is on, and as with Destin Inshore Fishing during this time of year, and with all the cold fronts, these striped bait stealers have made their presence known at both the Mid-Bay Bridge and Destin Pass area. Baits of choice for these convict fish are live shrimp, fiddler crabs, and raw oyster. A Carolina or Texas rig will serve to help you claim your limit of 15 Sheepshead per angler.

Redfish: The Reds have maintained their bite consistency throughout the Destin Inshore Bay and Pass. The Bull Red action just can’t be beat in and around Crab Island, Destin Bridge and Destin Pass on an outgoing tide. Destin Inshore Fishing for Bull Reds this time of year means you must be prepared to take on Bull Redfish in the 10 – 40 pound range. The Redfish are eating the same live baits such as cigar minnows, pinfish and finger mullet. As a Destin Inshore Bay Charter Fishing Guide, I prefer to sight fish these large Bull Reds with artificial baits such as a half ounce jig head with a grub body or any of the topwater lures, which will utimately entice these Bull Reds to come out of the water to enhale your lure. On my Destin Inshore Bay and Flats Charter Fishing trips my clients have knocked down some respectable redfish on Topwater lures. What a Thrill! I just can’t get use to watching this action!

While sight-fishing with my clients for Big Bull Reds, the first question I’m asked most frequently, is, “How do I spot the Big Bull Reds?” Great question, because there is a lot of area to cover on the water. But first I look for birds diving. Sometimes, birds will start diving in response to the Bull Redfish chasing and subsequently feeding on bait fish, which have been driven to the surface. The birds such as Pelicans, dive right into the water above the Redfish, snatching an easy meal, and typically identifying the location of the school of Bull Redfish. The other method which I employ to locate Bull Redfish, is to simply drive my boat from its upper helm and simply spot the Bull Redfish school, which will appear as a faint reddish colored blob, which will move rather than being stationary like a bed of seagrass or the like. These are my two main methods for sighting schools of Bull Redfish.

Until Next Month,
C’Mon, Let’s Go Catch’em Up!
Capt LW