Hey Hall of Fame family,
I recently got back from a vacation down to Pensacola Beach, Florida, and had the opportunity to fish every single day. How awesome is that?! We spent every day on the beach and most nights at the tiki bars (when we weren't bunkered down from Hurricane Francine). We ate some awesome seafood, and on the final day, we rented a pontoon boat. The weather wasn't great, but we made the best of it. I had a blast, and I hope to be back soon!
In complete honesty, I had the most fun throughout the week out on the boat or in the water fishing. I ended up catching around 35 fish the entire week, everything from Spanish mackerel, to pinfish, lizardfish, ladyfish, red drum, lizardfish, and a few kinds of jack. Nothing huge by any means, but it was nice to get out on some saltwater and fish for different species other than bass. I think I only caught 3 or 4 fish each of the first four days. However, I caught about 15 or 20 fish on our last day. We took a pontoon boat out to some rocky jettys on our final day, and this was a clutch move! The condo we stayed in even had Lifetime kayaks for us to use, and I caught my first saltwater fish from a kayak while down there! The condo sat on an island in-between Pensacola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, near Fort Pickens. The bay is shallower, had much less current, less seaweed, and the waves weren't nearly as strong. I ended up catching all of my fish on the bay side, and all but 1 fish on various spoons. I caught 1 lizardfish on a piece of shrimp, and lost a ladyfish on a jig. I 'pre-fished' Hurricane Francine with no luck, and gave up due to being constantly pelted by sand.
Even though I didn't catch anything really sizeable, all the fish I caught absolutely throttled the lures I was using. They all fought hard, especially for their size. Those ladyfish were quite acrobatic, too! I think each one of them jumped clear out of the water, and many that I hooked got off. The red drum I caught completely smoked the spoon I was throwing, I thought it was something much larger at first. I'd say each fish fought out of it's weight class. There's something about saltwater fish, I think they just fight harder than their freshwater counterparts. Maybe it's because I live in Missouri and don't fish the salt much. This all being said, I cannot wait to catch some big ol' green swamp donkeys soon! Thanks for reading.
Tight lines,
Erik Hoffman, Hall of Fame Outdoor Co