The water looks great and has ranged from 69 to 76.1 degrees. The Cobia Tournament is getting hot as several leader changes happened this week. As many as 5 fish hit the deck Monday and several over the weekend. The King Mackeral bite was very slow but Marty decked his personal best catch. The Pompano bite was still off the chart until Tuesday when the bite almost stopped. You need to get a spot early as the rail space is a premium. Spanish Mackerel did not disappoint anglers and were caught in decent numbers all week. Sheepshead have been around but very slow to bite. Bait has been spotty but Cigar Minnows (Round Scad) and Ballyhoo were available. The Hardtails have moved in so expect an increase in Sakiki rigs. Parking is a big issue on the weekends so you will need to be an early bird.
King Mackerel catches continue to disappoint most of us as the bite has been painfully slow. We are not seeing many fish. There were only three caught over the seven days. Nori got things started Thursday with a decent catch. Then Friday afternoon Phillip, visiting from Columbus, OH, hooked a nice fish. After good gaff work, the 26.72 pound King hit the deck and made Phillip’s trip memorable. Sunday, Marty was casting his Sniper when he got a huge blow-up just feet off the southeast corner of the Tee. After a screaming run, Marty brought his fish to the gaff. It would be the biggest King off the pier so far this year and Marty’s personal best at almost 40 pounds.
Spanish Mackerel action has been much better than Kings. Several days big “Axe Handle” fish came through hungry. Lures worked best but a few were on natural bait. They didn’t turn down much and many were caught on the big 170 Sniper lures. Dan brought his daughter Melanie out to get in on the good bite and she was not disappointed. She landed several nice Spanish. Kudos Dan and Mel for showing us quality family time and how the pier is a great resource for all. Fish up to 5 pounds were decked.
Other action during the week included Lots of big Hardtails, A Jack Crevelle and Sheepshead. Rob decked a nice Jack and our friend Paul did his thing with the Sheepshead. Pompano were in most of the week but the bite stopped the last two days.
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The Cobia are coming through and the Tournament competition is hot. Several leader changes occurred this week with some less than an hour apart. We began the week with Jason G. in first place with the 15.17 pound fish he caught on 4/16/22. That would hold until Saturday 04/23/22 when Caleb McC. Decked a 20.90 pound Ling to take the lead. Sunday brought the best catches so far as August R. weighed in a 32.76 pound fish to take the lead from Caleb. Then only 45 minutes later, Tyler K. would enter his second fish of the tournament. It tipped the scale at 39.27 pounds. As you would expect, all this activity put a fire in the anglers and brought out the competition. Casey B. has been on the rail daily searching for his shot at a big fish. Monday 04/25/22 would see 5 Cobia caught and Casey got the biggest of the day. The fish floated in and inhaled Casey’s jig. After an exciting fight where the big fish put on a show tailwalking, Casey successfully positioned the fish for the gaffer. Over the rail it came and then onto the scale to take a solid lead in the tournament. Casey’s 52.52 pounder sits in first place with Tyler’s 39.27 pounder holding second. Tuesday, three Cobia were hooked with only one under size fish caught and released. Congratulations to all the anglers for their catches and especially to their sportsmanship. A prime example occurred Sunday when an angler gaffed a fish that knocked him off the leader board and he still high fives his fellow angler.
The 2022 Bay County Outdoors Cobia Tournament registration page is live. Registration is still open and FREE! Entry only requires your name, email and a contact phone number. You can enter anytime before May 13th at 6:00pm but must be pre-registered to enter a fish. Here is the link: www.baycountyoutdoors.com/22cobiatournament Once you complete the form, hit "enter now". You will see a message in RED at the bottom indicating you are entered.
The tournament began at 6:00am April 01, 2022, and ends on May 13, 2022, at 6:00pm. You can view the list of participants on my FB page by using this URL: https://www.facebook.com/sam.patrick.315/posts/10220687154753943
As of 4-27-22 at 8:00pm we had 94 anglers registered.
GOOD LUCK!
Tides Link
https://tides4fishing.com/us/florida-west-coast/panama-cityngin g
New Moon Saturday Apr. 30, 2022 Full Moon Sunday May 15, 2022
Tides for the upcoming week:
Sunrise: 6:01am Sunset: 7:18pm
Thursday 28th. 3:19am Low 0.6 10:04am High 0.9
5:11pm Low 0.3
Friday 6:28pm Low 0.2 10:02am High 1.1
Saturday 7:33pm Low 0.0 9:49am High 1.3
Sunday 8:30pm Low -0.1 9:53am High 1.4
Monday 9:22pm Low -0.1 10:20am High 1.5
Tuesday 10:02pm Low -0.1 10:57am High 1.6
Wednesday 04th. 11:04pm Low -0.1 11:40am High 1.6
Sunrise:5:56am Sunset: 7:22pm CDST
Water temp 73 degrees.MM | DD | TIME
(EDT) | 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 |
04 | 27 | 6:24 am | NNE | 11.1 | 14.0 | - | - | - | - | 30.13 | - | 61.3 | 72.7 | - | - | - | - |
04 | 27 | 6:18 am | NNE | 9.9 | 15.0 | - | - | - | - | 30.13 | - | 61.5 | 72.7 | - | - | - | - |
04 | 27 | 6:12 am | NNE | 8.9 | 14.0 | - | - | - | - | 30.13 | - | 61.7 | 72.7 | - | - | - | - |
04 | 27 | 6:06 am | NNE | 11.1 | 13.0 | - | - | - | - | 30.12 | - | 61.9 | 72.7 | - | - | - | - |
04 | 27 | 6:00 am | NNE | 9.9 | 13.0 | - | - | - | - | 30.13 | +0.00 | 62.1 | 72.7 | - | - | - | - |
04 | 27 | 5:54 am | NNE | 9.9 | 13.0 | - | - | - | - | 30.12 | - | 62.2 | 72.7 | - | - | - | - |
04 | 27 | 5:48 am | NNE | 8.9 | 15.9 | - | - | - | - | 30.12 | - | 62.4 | 72.7 | - | - | - | - |
04 | 27 | 5:42 am | NNE | 9.9 | 14.0 | - | - | - | - | 30.12 | - | 62.6 | 72.9 | - | - | - | - |
The Marine forecast for the next several days is:
FRIDAY
Southeast winds 15 knots. Seas 3 to 4 feet.
Dominant period 5 seconds. Protected waters a moderate chop.
Slight chance of showers and thunderstorms.
FRIDAY NIGHT
Southeast winds 15 knots. Seas 3 to 4 feet.
Dominant period 5 seconds. Protected waters a moderate chop.
Slight chance of showers in the evening. Slight chance of
thunderstorms through the night. Chance of showers after
midnight.
SATURDAY
Southeast winds 15 knots. Seas 3 to 4 feet.
Dominant period 6 seconds. Protected waters a moderate chop.
Chance of showers in the morning. Slight chance of thunderstorms
through the day. Slight chance of showers in the afternoon.
SATURDAY NIGHT
Southeast winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 3 to
4 feet. Dominant period 6 seconds. Protected waters a moderate
chop.
SUNDAY
Southeast winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet.
Dominant period 6 seconds. Protected waters a light chop. Slight
chance of showers and thunderstorms.
SUNDAY NIGHT
South winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet.
Dominant period 6 seconds. Protected waters a light chop.
MONDAY
Southeast winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 4 feet.
Protected waters a light chop.
(local forecast).
FRIDAY (78/68 rain 24% wind SE-16)
SATURDAY (77/68 rain 69% wind SSE-15)
SUNDAY (79/69 rain 32% wind S-12)
MONDAY (79/70 rain 21% wind SSE-13)
TUESDAY (80/70 rain 34% wind S-12)
WEDNESDAY(82/70 rain 24% wind S-10)
PIER MANAGEMENT CONTACT INFORMATION:
Bay County Parks and Recreation – 5304 Majetti Tower Road Panama City, FL 32404
850-248-8730
Travis Barbee – Bay Co. Parks Division Manager – tbarbee@baycountyfl.gov – 850-381-8155
Vince Martin – Bay Co. Beach Operations Manager - vmartin@baycountyfl.gov - 850-896-6580
Tight lines and screaming drags,
Sam
