Going boatless in the Panhandle

September and October are two of the best months of the year for "going boatless" when fishing the waters of the Panhandle, because fish move into shallows both along the beaches and in the backwaters during this period. Surf fishermen and those who love to wade the flats often find themselves in the right place at the right time as migrating bait, followed by gamefish, come within easy reach of their casts.

On the beaches

Surf fishing has never caught on in the Panhandle as it has along the Atlantic Coast, but that doesn't mean the action can't be great when you hit it right. The key is learning to read the water and then putting bait or lure where the fish are most likely to be.

Just as in fishing from a boat well away from shore, certain types of terrain and current action typically hold the vast majority of bait and fish, while almost all the water in between these spots produces little action for the angler.

Simply walking down to the water and casting is not likely to result in anything but boredom; good surf anglers are prepared to walk — miles if necessary — to find the right combination of beach shape and wave action/current flow that's likely to result in fast fishing.

A straight, flat beach with evenly breaking waves is usually not productive. Areas with cuts, sand points, backwashes, runouts, holes and eddies, on the other hand, are just what the angler ordered. These areas usually hold bait, and the bait in turn attracts the fish.

Whiting are probably the most numerous fish found along the beaches, but there are also likely to be pompano as the water cools, and plenty of broad-shouldered red drum, aka redfish, including many over the maximum legal size of 27 inches. Spanish mackerel will occasionally push bait schools within reach of beach casters as well, and with the Spanish are likely to be blues, ladyfish, jacks and maybe bonito.

Inlets

Inlets and passes are nearly always hot spots because they funnel the flow of inshore water, loaded with bait, into the open Gulf, and vice versa. The strong flows of large volumes of water naturally form feeding areas. Inlets usually have riprap made up of large boulders on both sides to prevent erosion, and the nooks and crannies of these rocks provide feeding spots, as well.

So do the pilings of the bridges that usually span these cuts. And the strong directional flow of the water on tide peaks makes these areas great places to fish cut bait, carrying the scent for hundreds of yards down-current to lure in gamefish.

Redfish are one of the more common targets in the inlets, but they also hold sheepshead, flounder, Spanish mackerel and, on the outer ends occasionally, a big kingfish.

Piers

The Panhandle is blessed with some of the best pier fishing in the nation, with massive piers extending up to a quarter-mile off the beaches. When the fall bait migration gets rolling — the end of September and on through October — millions of baitfish swarm past these structures, drawing king mackerel, Spanish, blues, cobia, redfish and other gamefish within easy reach of anglers on the spans.

Backwater wading

The flats and bays behind the barrier islands that stretch along much of the Panhandle coast are natural spots for wade-fishers to pursue tailing redfish in 1- to 2-foot depths, and to find sea trout and flounder in the holes and cuts, around docks and on the edges of the drop. Many good wading flats can be reached on foot from roads and highways, starting just west of the Destin Bridge on U.S. 98, and pretty much throughout the Gulf Islands National Seashore, accessed via the 399 bridge at Navarre and extending all the way west to Fort Pickens.

Gearing up

Longer rods mean longer casts, in general — a 10-foot surf rod is about the minimum for effectively getting a bait well beyond the bar and into the territory where bites are most likely most of the time. Most use 4000 to 6000 size spinning reels and 30-pound-test mono or braid. On the piers, a stout 7- to 8-foot spinning rig in heavy action with a 4000 to 5000 size reel loaded with 30- to 50-pound-test braid does the job, while for wading, a 7-foot medium-light action rod, 2500 to 3000 size reel and 10-pound-test braid is the ticket, allowing long casts with lighter lures and baits.

A pair of wading booties, aka flats booties, are handy for walking the beach as well as wading the flats — they keep sharp shells from cutting your feet and give a bit of padded arch support in case you have to walk a long distance to find action. (Some companies charge a hundred bucks for these booties, but I've never found any of them significantly better than the $29.95 World Wide Sportsman models sold at Bass Pro Shops.) These boots have a soft neoprene lining, but they are more comfortable if you wear a pair of athletic socks inside them, particularly for longer walks.

Most anglers carry their gear in a 5-gallon plastic bucket, with a press on cushion-top to turn it into a seat. In the bucket goes cut bait or shrimp in a sealed container, lures, hooks, extra weights, extra leader material including both heavy mono and wire, rigging pliers and a long-nosed hook extractor, sun screen and the usual fillet knife. You'll also need a hip holster to carry at least a couple bottles of water if you roam far from the car.

Baits and lures

Frozen cigar minnows, sardines and menhaden will get you far along the beaches, but it's also a good idea to carry several dozen fresh shrimp on ice. The ice keeps them in suspended animation until you put them on the hook — they're much more effective than frozen shrimp. Sand fleas, actually tiny beach crabs, are the ultimate bait if you want pompano. Some shops stock them frozen, or you can buy a wire-basket "rake" and catch your own in the wash of the surf.

The ubiquitous plastic-tailed jig is the universal lure for a bit of everything on the beach, in the passes and in the backwater, though you'll want a larger, heavier model for the beach and the passes, with head weights of 3/4 ounce and up, tails 6 inches and longer. For the backwater, anything from a quarter ounce to a half-ounce head with a 3- to 4-inch tail in either shad or shrimp design can work. On the beach and in the passes, 30-pound-test fluorocarbon leader is the ticket unless there are mackerel and blues around — then, a foot of copper wire, Size 3 or so, will serve to prevent cutoffs. Inshore, 20-pound-test fluoro is usually adequate.

Many anglers also do well with plastic shrimp, with the DOA one of the best known. The Vudu Shrimp from Egret Baits is also very popular because of its remarkably lifelike appearance. Both these lures can be fished under a popping cork or freelined. When freelining, the lures work best if just drifted with the current — big hops usually don't fool the fish.

Big, noisy topwater lures can add excitement to fishing the surf when bull reds are within range, and these jumbos, which frequently exceed 20 pounds, can also be caught on jerkbaits and diving crankbaits. Since they all have to be released (maximum size is 27 inches), it's best to flatten the barbs on treble hooks if you target reds with plugs.

Spoons also do some business, with weedless models like the Johnson Silver Minnow in ½-ounce size a favorite on the edge of the flats for reds, Hopkins 1-ounce and heavier favored on the beach for blues. If you get serious about sightfishing tailing reds on the flats, an unweighted plastic shad jerkbait fished on a 5/0 long-shank dogleg hook is a great offering because it makes very little splash when it hits the water. It's fished in a series of short, sharp jerks. Some anglers also do well with scented lures like the Berkley GULP Crab — basically, it's cast up-current from visible reds and just allowed to sit there until the scent draws the fish to it.

Scouting is the secret to success

It often happens in fishing from shore — or from a boat, for that matter — that one location is stone cold and a mile away they're jumping out on the beach. Changing current flows and tide heights as well as the movement of the bait on which the fish feed keeps the angler guessing. Unless you're in a spot like one of the big piers where there's nearly always bait nearby, it's best to keep moving until you see bait, strong currents, disturbed water or breaking gamefish. This may take a lot of hours of searching, but where you find fish today you'll probably find them tomorrow on the same tide, so it's worth the effort.