Thursday through Saturday the water was nice and clean. Then the weather changed to winter with rain and strong NW winds which resulted in nasty water by late Sunday evening. The water temperatures had been 69 to 70 but the cold air took care of that. Tuesday, December 01, the water had dropped to 64.8 degrees for the 07:40 am take. This afternoon, we had warmed slightly back to 67. We have probably seen our last Kings unless we get some unusually warm days. It's time to change gears on our target species.
Kings had not completely left us as several small ones were caught early week. Then, Sunday afternoon there were several strikes and a couple of cut-offs. Brenda had a nice one to sky on her lure but no connection. Shortly after that, Rowell was drifting a “turbo” Cigar minnow when he got slammed. The King “Porpoised” on the bait and the battle was on. The cool and rough water gave the King plenty of oxygen so it put up quite a fight. Finally Rowell was able to guide the fish to the gaff and onto the deck. He was whipped as you can see. He was having trouble holding the 28 pound King for the photo. We have had no other King hits since.
Other activity included decent catches of Whiting in the very skinny water. Fresh Shrimp and “FishBites” were getting good results. A few Flounder were caught, mostly on live Bull minnows. Red Drum continue to be our go to species with many slot fish in our catches. Today the Bulls were running but all were lost to either the pilings or broken lines. The premium baits were small live Alewives and Sand Fleas.
I get many questions about identification of bait fishes we commonly have in our area. We know them by many different names and many are similar and their ID gets confusing at times. So, here is a chart with pictures and names on our common bait fishes:
Water temperature: 64-69
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MM | DD | TIME
(EST) | WDIR | WSPD
kts | GST
kts | WVHT
ft | DPD
sec | APD
sec | MWD | PRES
in | PTDY
in | ATMP
°F | WTMP
°F | DEWP
°F | SAL
psu | VIS
nmi | TIDE
ft |
12 | 02 | 8:24 am | NNE | 4.1 | 5.1 | - | - | - | - | 30.37 | - | 37.4 | 65.8 | - | - | - | - |
12 | 02 | 8:18 am | N | 2.9 | 4.1 | - | - | - | - | 30.37 | - | 36.9 | 65.7 | - | - | - | - |
12 | 02 | 8:12 am | N | 4.1 | 4.1 | - | - | - | - | 30.37 | - | 36.3 | 65.7 | - | - | - | - |
12 | 02 | 8:06 am | N | 2.9 | 4.1 | - | - | - | - | 30.37 | - | 36.1 | 65.7 | - | - | - | - |
12 | 02 | 8:00 am | N | 2.9 | 4.1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 36.3 | 65.7 |
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https://tides4fishing.com/us/florida-west-coast/panama-city
New Moon Monday Dec. 14, 2020 Full Moon Tuesday Dec. 29, 2020
Tides for the week:
Sunrise: 6:24am Sunset: 4:42pm
Friday 9:54am Low -0.4 11:27pm High 1.5
Saturday 10:30am Low -0.4
Sunday 11:02am Low -0.3 12:09am High 1.4
Monday 11:27am Low -0.2 12:50am High 1.2
Tuesday 11:42am Low 0.0 1:27am High 0.9 – 8:13pm 0.7
Wednesday 09th. 11:29am Low 0.2 7:13pm High 0.8
Sunrise:6:28am Sunset: 4:43pm
The Marine forecast for the next several days is:
FRIDAY
South winds 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with occasional
seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 6 seconds. Protected waters a
moderate chop. Rain likely through the day. Chance of
thunderstorms in the afternoon.
FRIDAY NIGHT
Northwest winds 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet
with occasional seas up to 6 feet. Dominant period 7 seconds.
Protected waters a moderate chop. Chance of rain in the evening,
then slight chance of rain after midnight.
SATURDAY
Northwest winds 15 knots. Seas 3 to 5 feet with
occasional seas up to 6 feet. Protected waters a moderate chop.
SATURDAY NIGHT
North winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet.
Protected waters a light chop.
SUNDAY
Northwest winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet.
Protected waters a light chop.
SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY
Northwest winds 15 knots. Seas 2
to 3 feet. Protected waters a moderate chop.
(local forecast)
THURSDAY (66/59 rain 15% wind ESE-11)
FRIRDAY (71/47 rain 55% wind SSW-14)
SATURDAY (60/44 rain 10% wind NNW-12)
SUNDAY (62/46 rain 10% wind NW-08)
MONDAY (60/41 rain 5% wind NNW-10)
TUESDAY (59/43 rain 5% wind NW-10)
WEDNESDAY(64/50 rain 10% wind WNW-10)
PIER MANAGEMENT CONTACT INFORMATION:
Bay County Parks and Recreation – 5304 Majetti Tower Road Panama City, FL 32404
850-248-8730
Travis Barbee – Bay County Parks Division Manager – tbarbee@baycountyfl.gov – 850-381-8155
Tabitha Kimball – Bay County Beach Operations Manager - tkimball@baycountyfl.gov - 850-896-6078
Tight lines and screaming drags,
Sam
