Captain Chris Phillips
Inshore –
Anglers are finding quite a few sheepshead around the local bridges and jetties in Pensacola Pass, but unfortunately most of them are still on the small side. As usual, if you’re going after them you’ll want to have live shrimp and fiddler crabs.
White trout fishing has been steady for the most part around the Pensacola Bay Bridge. They can be caught both night and day. If you have a bottom machine just move around until you start marking them and quite often you can catch them one after another.
Offshore –
The vermillion snapper fishing has been great lately on a lot of the big wrecks in a hundred to a hundred and twenty five feet of water. You can catch them both shallower and deeper, but this is a good depth to go looking for them. You’ll want to use a combination of squid and northern mackerel.
Scamp fishing has also been pretty good, but you’ll have to go a little further offshore and look for them on the Edge and deeper. They are found of rocks and ledges and will eat a variety of different baits, but live bait is hard to beat.
If you’re just looking to have some fun and don’t mind releasing what you catch you can have a blast with the amberjack right now. They are ganged up on a lot of the larger artificial reefs in both state and federal waters.
Piers & Beaches –
It won’t be long now and a few pompano will start showing up, but not many to report just yet. February is typically the best month of the year to catch big ones, but don’t expect the numbers of fish that you’ll be able to catch in March and April.
As you might expect the Pensacola Bay Fishing Bridges continues to be a great place to look for white trout and redfish. Just make sure you plan your trip around some good moving water and take some cut bait along with a few artificial lures.