Hot fun fishing - Pensacola, Florida

Well, they say “time flies when you’re having fun,” but can June be over already? They also say, “April showers bring May flowers,” well, July thunderstorms bring kings, Spanish, trout, redfish and sharks. (Okay, I’ll admit poetry is not my thing!) I’ve been on the water almost everyday dodging thunderstorms and I’ve got some great action pictures to show you of the great fishing. Check out my website to see more, http://www.megabiteinshore.com. Here are a few pictures to show you that this is no fish tale.

For the kings, I’ve been using live cigar minnows rigged with a small steelhead Tormenter trolling lure, and I’ve also been running a few Mann’s stretch 25’s. The two most productive colors for the Tormenter lures were blue/ silver and black/ red/ silver.

With the stretches, it’s the bonita and pink colors. Slow trolling these lures around 3 mph has produced some quality fish. On the flats, I’ve been tossing a few Exude lures, and the golden bream RT slug rigged on an 1/8oz jig has been generating some great bites from some decent trout. Mann’s new hard nose soft body jerk bait got me a nice 3lb speck two days ago when I rigged it with the weed-less hook set up that comes in the package.

When it comes to shark fishing, I’ve been using bonita for my bait. I hook small four-inch strips of bonita on a Gamakatsu 3/0 – 4/0 circle hook rigged with 90lb coated Berkley steel leader and 60lb Stren stamina line. We’ve been hooking mostly black tips, but on my last shark trip, we hooked three nurse sharks with one easily nine to ten feet. I wired the leader and was very careful not to harm this magnificent creature as we got him boat side where we took a bunch of pics before we let him off the hook. For summer fishing that’s off the charts, give me a shout, and I’ll get you on the fish!

Tight lines, Capt. John