Maybe the best thing about Destin is the variety of fish we can catch, and July is one of the months where everything is biting, so get your boat and tackle together and get on the water!
Choctawhatchee Bay: With the warming air, the water temps will continue to rise. Along the shallow grass flats, the best bite is going to be in the first hour of daylight, the last hour of daylight and after dark. Once the sun starts getting higher, the water temps will increase enough to push speckled trout and redfish off the flats and move towards deeper water. My favorite baits to use in the mornings and evenings are hard plastic top water lures and soft plastic baits behind a popping cork. The fish will be more aggressive during this time and like eating faster action type baits. When the bite starts to slow down, move to using live bait around docks in 5- to 15-ft of water in the bayous. Fishing bridges up in the day can be very good too. Use a Carolina style rig with a 3 ft. leader of 15lb fluorocarbon, live bait, and fish right on the bottom. I also like to use ½ oz jig heads with jerk baits or Gulp shrimp and work up and down each piling for redfish.
Gulf: Everything is biting in the Gulf this time of year! Snapper, grouper, jacks, tarpon, kingfish, you name it! Red snapper season is open in state and federal waters the next couple weeks, so get out there and keep a few while you can. This time of the year you’ll sometimes run across a good show of fish but you just can’t get them to bite. This could be caused by weather, water temps, or just plain fishing pressure. The best way to combat this is to spend some time catching good live bait. Good fresh bait is hard to beat. Re-stock your tackle box with lighter fluorocarbon leader and lighter hooks. You’ll have to scale down your tackle to increase your hookups. There will still be some good fishing in close, but try making a run to deeper water (150-250ft) to find bigger fish. The kingfish have been biting well and should continue to do so. Same as the snapper, spend some time catching fresh live bait. One tip I always tell people is to never out run the kingfish. If you’re seeing big rafts of bait in 40- to 60-ft. of water right outside the pass, I can assure you there’s kingfish mixed in. Catch a few baits and put them back in the water right there, you’ll be surprised how many you catch hanging close like that.
For more information on helping you catch more fish, feel free to swing by the shop. Fishing is our passion, we love to talk about it. There’s nothing more pleasing than to have a customer we helped, come back and tell us that our advice worked great.
CAPT. PETER WRIGHT, JR.
The Ships Chandler
646 E. Hwy 98
Destin, FL 32541
850-837-9306
www.theshipschandler.com
