TexasKayakFisherman.com

I know this is a Texas kayak fishing site, but I figured you guys would have more expertise than me. This summer I'm planning a trip to either Pensacola or Destin and am bringing the yak. I was wondering, can I expect to catch pelagic species inside of two miles of shore? Species such as false albacore, tuna, mahi etc.. and if so, how would I go about catching them? Would I just troll a live bait with a stinger rig and hope for the best?

Have you searched for a Florida kayak site? I know youtube has lots of videos of fishing florida. Just search florida + fish

Periodically, they will catch mahi and blackfin tuna from the Okaloosa pier. I think mahi is a bit more likely later in the summer, but still not a routine thing. Not sure what the season is for nearshore BFT. Bonita are around year round, and can be targeted in the winter. They will also catch tarpon off of that pier at times. Jacks, Cobia, and Kings are much more common. Trolling with a stinger is a good bet, and I would take a sabiki and try to catch some live cigar minnows. They hang around the 2nd and 3rd bars right at sunrise then move a little further offshore as the sun comes up. They pop on the surface like menhaden do, so you can locate them like that. A spoon in that area will also catch runners if you want bigger baits. You can hail the bait boat on the radio and pick up some livies if you don't feel like catching bait. They have a lot nearshore reefs there, with the biggest being off Henderson Beach State Park.

That water there is pretty clear, so I'd use light wire for toothy critters or fluoro for others.

You can post on the florida forums if you like, but they always seem to clam up when I've posted and revealed that I'm from texas.

Good Luck

Thank you very much!

I took my yak to Destin twice and we usually just go there for the beach every summer. Destin is like a damn desert. No structure of any sort except a few man made reefs. There are some sunken wrecks and buoys you can fish, but I had hell of a time keeping on a spot even with an anchor, due to the swift current. There's a sunken tank you can paddle to if in Destin, but all we caught were baby snappers on sabiki rigs. The tip of east jetty was the only spot holding fish as I caught reds there and its heavily fished on the jetty. But it all depends on the current. One day I was swimming with schools of reds when i was snorkeling near the jetty and the next day when I took my yak out there, nothing. I wont be taking my yak out to Destin as the effort it takes to take it and launch it isn't worth it in my opinion.

But I've seen people catch lot of pelagic in Pensacola not too far from the beach, which is what I'm planning on doing for our next FL beach trip.

You should hit up Ty Southerland and his wife. They were Corpus area residents and appear to have moved to Pensacola and fish that area all the time.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7r0G7 ... ZGEuUGDzSA
https://30milesout.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ty-southerland-1bbaa274/

Ty and Teresa just moved back to Texas. They are always willing to help, so if you contact them, they can probably give you some pointers.

Had a fun trip to Pensacola and Navarre Beach a couple years ago. Caught kings, bonita, Spanish, and one mahi mahi. They catch lil sails every once in a while. My bro in law went back last year and they got into some lings and snapper. Seems like bait of choice for trolling was cigar minnows rather than the ribbonfish we usually use around Port A. Buttload of dirty ol remoras everywhere. They can get annoying.

Broxson Outdoors is a legit kayak shop in Navarre. They can point you in the right direction for pelagic hunting too.