Pensacola Bay Fishing Reports (December 2025)

Larry Shults
Pensacola, Florida
Reported: 3 years ago

It's fall time and the inshore bite is heating up. In the bays we are still catching some great Spanish mackerel floating live shrimp with about a 1/2 ounce Carolina rig. Inshore, the trout and redfish are hitting suspending jerk-baits and plastics such as paddle tails or curly tails. Offshore,...

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Larry Shults Pensacola, Florida Reported: 3 years ago

It's fall time and the inshore bite is heating up. In the bays we are still catching some great Spanish mackerel floating live shrimp with about a 1/2 ounce Carolina rig.
Inshore, the trout and redfish are hitting suspending jerk-baits and plastics such as paddle tails or curly tails.
Offshore, it's game on for big schools of skipjacks and Bonita boiling up. Look for any type of floating cover and you'll find schools of Mahi and triple tails swimming around it.
Now is the time to get those trolling plugs out and search for those trophy fish such as Mahi, wahoo, sails, and swords!

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

Hey man, the inshore fishing has been heating up as the water cools down. A lot of redfish, mangrove snapper, and a few flounder mixed in. The offshore bite has stayed consistent through the past few weeks with triggerfish, vermillion snapper, and amberjack

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

Hey man, the inshore fishing has been heating up as the water cools down. A lot of redfish, mangrove snapper, and a few flounder mixed in. The offshore bite has stayed consistent through the past few weeks with triggerfish, vermillion snapper, and amberjack

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Larry Shults
Pensacola, Florida
Reported: 3 years ago

Late summer/early fall fishing is starting to heat up. Getting a weather window to make the trip out has been a challenge. However, when able to get offshore, we are catching a variety of species with the second half of trigger fish season open and now Amberjack opening back, I...

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Larry Shults Pensacola, Florida Reported: 3 years ago

Late summer/early fall fishing is starting to heat up. Getting a weather window to make the trip out has been a challenge. However, when able to get offshore, we are catching a variety of species with the second half of trigger fish season open and now Amberjack opening back, I expect a lot of great offshore catches over the next few weeks. Deep drop fishing for vermillion snapper, porgies, and various grouper species has been on fire. For those who like our top water action, the waters have been boiling with skipjacks and Mahi. Now is the time to get out there and catch them up before they move out to their winter waters.

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Tim King
Pensacola, Florida
Reported: 3 years ago

Redfish, specks, jack crevalle, and mingos have been a good success lately

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Tim King Pensacola, Florida Reported: 3 years ago

Redfish, specks, jack crevalle, and mingos have been a good success lately

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Seth Wilson with RipTide Charters
Spanish Fort, Alabama
Reported: 3 years ago

Finding a few cobia on the Rigs

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Seth Wilson with RipTide Charters Spanish Fort, Alabama Reported: 3 years ago

Finding a few cobia on the Rigs

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

The inshore has been heating up lately! As water temperature cools off it seems like the bite has steadily picked up. Offshore has been consistently good, typically coming home with our limits of triggerfish and vermillion snapper

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

The inshore has been heating up lately! As water temperature cools off it seems like the bite has steadily picked up.
Offshore has been consistently good, typically coming home with our limits of triggerfish and vermillion snapper

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

The red snapper bite has been steady but you have to put up some effort to find the sizes you need for the box. Trigger fish has opened and are plentiful but lots of smalls mixed in which is normal but not so bad. The mahi's are crazy good at...

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

The red snapper bite has been steady but you have to put up some effort to find the sizes you need for the box. Trigger fish has opened and are plentiful but lots of smalls mixed in which is normal but not so bad. The mahi's are crazy good at the moment and anything you find floating in the water is full of fish including triple tails. The vermilion snapper have come off their full moon spawn and are really biting well , squid or salted northern mackerel will do the trick. Kings are good this year and still going . Amber jacks are closed so you know will catch them one after the other. There is no blue water very close here in our neck of the woods so the trolling is kind of slow.
Inshore is never great in August because of the heat but Captain Jake is catching some redfish and trout along with flounder and mangrove snapper. The Spanish mackerel are still good as long as the bait is here.

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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...

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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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