# Fishing destin,fl early july



## K Dowling (Jun 19, 2012)

Were headed to destin,fl the week of july 4th. We have never fished here. What is some good fishing there? Looking for big reds,snook,trout,etc. Where and what is some good bait to use? Help us out please?


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## d-a (Jun 20, 2012)

If you find some snook take plenty of pics. Lol. 

There's plenty of Great fishing there. Are you taking a boat?

d-a


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## GASeminole (Jun 20, 2012)

Under the Destin bridge you can catch Redfish.

Live threadfins on a 3 ft leader carolina rig, with a heavy weight to keep it from rolling in the current.

If you can't sabiki some threadfins, try live cigar minnows, or pinfish. Whatever you can get your hands on.


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## chadf (Jun 20, 2012)

We wore the kings out last week there. Reds were also running. 
Saw a few tarpon early, early one am at a close pier.

Check with local to see what's running and where. They are full of info and fish it daily !

Hope u get into them like we did !


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## Shakey Head (Jun 20, 2012)

We wore out the Red Snapper and Kings last week.  We didnt keep any snapper under 20" and had one almost 20lbs. There is plenty of bait in the pass.  Sabiki rigs will catch all you want, just get in line with all the other boats. Good luck!  The fishing in hot down there right now!!


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## K Dowling (Jun 20, 2012)

are there not any snook round there?

we will go on a charter trip but rest of the time shore fish


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## K Dowling (Jun 20, 2012)

what yall use for kings? were you bank/shore fishing?


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## K Dowling (Jun 20, 2012)

Shakey Head said:


> We wore out the Red Snapper and Kings last week.  We didnt keep any snapper under 20" and had one almost 20lbs. There is plenty of bait in the pass.  Sabiki rigs will catch all you want, just get in line with all the other boats. Good luck!  The fishing in hot down there right now!!



did u shore fish


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## d-a (Jun 20, 2012)

TheAlphaHunter said:


> are there not any snook round there?
> 
> we will go on a charter trip but rest of the time shore fish



No snook there. You can catch kings and spanish off the piers. Snapper will be offshore a little. 

d-a


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## K Dowling (Jun 22, 2012)

is fishing fromthe beach good?


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## ranger374 (Jun 22, 2012)

TheAlphaHunter said:


> is fishing fromthe beach good?



yes, but if you are going to surf fish, you have to do it early or at night -- too many folks in the water in the daytime.

you can use light tackle -- spinning reels with a dropshot rig baited with shrimp for whiting, or a little heavier with shrimp, squid, or sand fleas for pompano.

I had good luck with some nice bluefish - caught mullet in the harbor with my cast net, then cut them up and rigged carolina rigged style with a steel leader and large hook.

Had something -- i'm gonna guess mackerel -- the last day rip the hook out of my grouper rigged steel leader.

water was rough while we were there, so surf fishing was tough -- needed way more lead than what i had on. -- but had a good time anyways.

If you feel like walking out on the jetties you can catch almost anything out there use same rigs mentioned above or throw gotcha lures too.  i had best luck out of chrome with orange head.

good luck and let us know how you do


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## K Dowling (Jun 23, 2012)

what about pier fishing? does it cost? where are the piers? me beach is a private beach


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## ranger374 (Jun 23, 2012)

there is one pier on okaloosa island and yes, they charge to walk the pier and to fish it -- only a few bucks per day though--usually a decent amount of folks fishing it too.  If you bank fish, you have to get a Fla fishing license -- 7 day is around $30 i think.


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## F.A.R.R. (Jun 24, 2012)

TheAlphaHunter said:


> what about pier fishing? does it cost? where are the piers? me beach is a private beach



I just got back from there. Fished the Okaloosa Island pier 3 mornings.  There was a short runs of Kings between 5 am and daylight-one morning there were about 10 kings caught the other mornings around 5.  I didn't fish the afternoon but the guys talked about some Kings being caught in the afternoon also.  One of the mornings I fished several schools of Bonita ran through and nearly everyone drifting baits on the end hooked up.  There were also several schools of Tarpon in the 60-90 lbs that came through each day.  There were several hook up  on the Poons with live Alewifes-they didn't want any dead baits-none of the Tarpon were landed.

About mid way down the Pier there were a bunch of Big (up to 50lbs ) Bull Reds around-saw several of these hooked -most were lost but a couple were landed and released (didn't see any slot red caught).

Lots of Lady fish and hardtails around-a few Pompano and a few Spanish.

As far as fishing the surf you'll have a very hard time at it due to the June grass-same thing at the Jetti's.  Really the only options are the Pier or getting out in a boat.

Had dinner down by the Harbor one night and all the Charters were bringing in limits of big Red Snapper and Kings-also the in shore boats were doing very well on Trout and Reds.

Hope this helps you.


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