Pensacola Beach Fishing Reports (December 2025)

Stephen Crews
Foley, Alabama
Reported: 3 years ago

This year has been an incredibly tough fishing year for red snapper. The water temps were what they typically are in August by the 1st of July. The marks are all there on the fishfinder. The fish got smarter, faster this year as their appetites were reduced by the temperature...

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Stephen Crews Foley, Alabama Reported: 3 years ago

This year has been an incredibly tough fishing year for red snapper. The water temps were what they typically are in August by the 1st of July. The marks are all there on the fishfinder. The fish got smarter, faster this year as their appetites were reduced by the temperature increase. We've also had more issues with sharks and dolphins eating our fish and bait off the hooks. We had to switch gears, work harder and try different methods to outsmart the fish. The deeper water fish were still biting well, but with the increase of fuel prices, going out 30 miles on a 6 hour trip was not a sustainable business practice. We finally decided to switch gears and go after vermilion snapper while targeting red snapper on the side. This has given our charters better experiences than before. We're still targeting red snapper until the end of the season but it's not our primary target. That takes the pressure off and makes fishing fun again.

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Jonathan Ray
Destin, Florida
Reported: 3 years ago

Fishing has been really hard this week, it's the last week of snapper season and the rain showers have been coming in and out messing up the water temp! Trolling is slow right now, the wahoo are biting better than the mahi from deeper in the column ! Bottom fishing...

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Jonathan Ray Destin, Florida Reported: 3 years ago

Fishing has been really hard this week, it's the last week of snapper season and the rain showers have been coming in and out messing up the water temp! Trolling is slow right now, the wahoo are biting better than the mahi from deeper in the column ! Bottom fishing is ok but using Bonita for bait is a bad idea right now because there have been a lot of Bonita caught and a lot of folks are slamming the water with it so the snapper won't touch it! Cigar minnows cut and squid strips seem to be the go to! Triggerfish are everywhere so we are looking forward to the second half or trigger season opening Monday

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Robert Fulton
Shalimar, Florida
Reported: 3 years ago

Every day has been different, having good days and some slow days with the bite. Using Cigar minnows and Squid for Vermilion snapper and red snapper, and we're trolling Live Bait for the bigger Fish like mahi

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Robert Fulton Shalimar, Florida Reported: 3 years ago

Every day has been different, having good days and some slow days with the bite. Using Cigar minnows and Squid for Vermilion snapper and red snapper, and we're trolling Live Bait for the bigger Fish like mahi

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Jake Durant with Gulf Bay Charters
Pensacola, Florida
Reported: 3 years ago

For the last several weeks the red snapper bite has been steady but not as good as it was earlier. We have been catching limits of snapper but you have to work thru smaller fish to get them. The offshore mangrove snapper fishing has been great all year and continues...

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Jake Durant with Gulf Bay Charters Pensacola, Florida Reported: 3 years ago

For the last several weeks the red snapper bite has been steady but not as good as it was earlier. We have been catching limits of snapper but you have to work thru smaller fish to get them. The offshore mangrove snapper fishing has been great all year and continues to be good. Cobia have been good as well with plenty of legal fish coming in. When the water is clean Wahoo are being caught closer to shore. Also grouper are still steady but you have to go deep to be consistent.

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Jacob Miller
Pensacola, Florida
Reported: 3 years ago

Bottom Fishing we are using a mix of bait and chum from menhaden to squid. Kings usually eating live cigar minnows on a stinger rig.

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Jacob Miller Pensacola, Florida Reported: 3 years ago

Bottom
Fishing we are using a mix of bait and chum from menhaden to squid.
Kings usually eating live cigar minnows on a stinger rig.

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Tim Birell
Summerdale, Alabama
Reported: 3 years ago

2 hour trip today

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Tim Birell Summerdale, Alabama Reported: 3 years ago

2 hour trip today

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Tim Birell
Summerdale, Alabama
Reported: 3 years ago

Had to wait out the storm and deal with some rough water; but we goter done

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Tim Birell Summerdale, Alabama Reported: 3 years ago

Had to wait out the storm and deal with some rough water; but we goter done

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Larry Shults
Pensacola, Florida
Reported: 3 years ago

I don't have a lot to talk up. The snapper bite has been a tough one this year. Not sure if it's because water temps have been extremely high or the storm activity. However, we are catching some small snapper on the nearshore reefs and picking off a few big...

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Larry Shults Pensacola, Florida Reported: 3 years ago

I don't have a lot to talk up.
The snapper bite has been a tough one this year. Not sure if it's because water temps have been extremely high or the storm activity. However, we are catching some small snapper on the nearshore reefs and picking off a few big ones here and there. The trigger fish have been plentiful and the vermillion and mangrove bite has been pretty steady. There are still plenty of fun fish to catch on the troll, the skipjack, triple tail and a few peanut Mahi are hanging around floating debris if you find any floating.

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