[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is a great month for fishing in Panama City. The water has cooled down, the Gulf is typically flat this time of year, and the fish in the bays are hungry and fattening up for winter. If you are new to kayak fishing or want to connect with some other anglers, I encourage you to check out PCKFA (Panama City Kayak Fishing Assoc.) This is a free club that meets twice a month for an informative social, and then to fish as well. If you are on Facebook, you can find their page by just typing in PCKFA. This is an active group with lots of questions answered and fishing reports to be read.
This month we will focus on Gulf kayak fishing and if you have wanted to give it a try, other then your safety equipment, this is some of the fishing gear you will need: two to three rods – one for trolling, one for casting into schools of fish, and a third if you want to catch your own bait. The bait rod can be rigged with a sabiki rig, which is basically a bunch of tiny flies tied onto little gold hooks. No need to bait them, just tie a weight to the bottom and either cast past the schools of baitfish, and bring it through them, or you can simply drop it straight down to the bottom and start jigging. Normally, I catch bait before the 2nd sandbar and anything past that I will just keep my eyes peeled for any bait activity on top of the water. As for the trolling rod, you can either rig with a lipped plug or you can troll with live or dead bait. Use a wire leader (anything from 27lb – 60lb), small dark swivels (so the fish don’t mistake a shiny one for the bait and cut you off), and then a treble hook. Hook the bait up through the nose. If the bait is alive, I only go up through the upper lip so I don’t drown the bait while trolling. You can catch spanish, King mackerel, sailfish, Blackfin tuna, mahi, and bonita. If you are getting short strikes (meaning they are biting the bait in half), then you can rig a stinger hook (which is a 2nd hook), and go through the top of the back half of the bait. A casting rod rigged to throw at a school of fish is always good to have rigged with either something shiny and moves fast like a Gotcha or an all white jig which will have the bonita going nuts.
For November inshore fishing in the bay, expect to catch flounder, redfish and trout as they prepare for their winter patterns. Top water plugs, live bait, jigs bounced slowly on the bottom, popping corks and artificials rigged weedless, are all effective ways to fish the bay.
By Capt. Linda Cavitt
Panama City Beach, FL
www.captlinda.com