Home Tournaments Calendar Weather Merchandise Sponsors

Go Back   Spearboard.com - The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Boating Social Media Forum > United States Geographical Locations > Upper Gulfcoast

Upper Gulfcoast This is the area for spearfishermen in Panama City, Destin/Ft. Walton, Pensacola, Alabama, Miss., and Louisiana.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 11-11-2018, 09:50 PM   #1
louxwe
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 11
Best hunting in Destin area

So what is good to go after this time of year near Destin. I just got a new boat and itching to shoot some fish. What are good fish to target in Nov-Jan timeframe.
louxwe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2018, 01:02 PM   #2
Billybob
Gulf Breeze
 
Billybob's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Gulf Breeze
Posts: 1,260
Re: Best hunting in Destin area

First thing you need to ask yourself is what's LEGAL to shoot.

which the answer to that is not much

Red Snapper will be prolific but they are closed.
Triggerfish............closed
Amberjack............closed

Out of Destin, to the East, Hurricane Michael moved a few grouper in. if you get lucky you might find a few but you'd probably do best diving the rocky areas between Destin and Panama City.

Lionfish of course but the public stuff is pretty picked over and if you have a new boat I'd suspect you might not have many private spots. Add to that, the greatest concentration of Lionfish are typically 90+ feet which might or might not be beyond your preferred diving depth.

Personally, this time of year, my go to spearfishing is night diving for Flounder.

any of the bigger reefs near the pass (like Miss Louis or bridge rubble)

you'll need a good light, a polespear (gun not needed) and some cohones.

you can find them during the day but they are much harder to spot.

We went last night and got 7(between 3 of us) but it was a really bad night. They aren't quite out there good yet.

on a good night, we'll limit out (10 per person) on a single dive

just my .02 cents worth.

good luck!
Billybob is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-12-2018, 04:11 PM   #3
Alec
Registered User
 
Alec's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Denver/Palm Beach
Age: 28
Posts: 2,158
Re: Best hunting in Destin area

Like BillyBob said flounder will be plentiful this time of year. We’ve had no trouble getting limits during the daytime when I lived there. If you have private numbers grouper should be there and possibly on public numbers as the cooler water pushes in. Give Mike at Benthic a call and he’ll be sure to point you in the right direction.
Alec is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-15-2018, 02:31 PM   #4
louxwe
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 11
Re: Best hunting in Destin area

So I understand Snapper, Trigger, AJ are all out of season so a lot of folks I talk to say everything is out of season but I have an Asian wife and she can cook really good, so everything that everyone else calls trash fish tastes just great to me, just curious what fish are out there and plentiful that most others would not go after and target. For instance when we went out on party fishing boats we always told the crew to save all the other peoples "trash" fish, vermilion, mingos, bonito, ruby red lips, etc... and they were all quite tasty, just not sure what other fish are out there and plentiful that most folks don't go after. Also, is there any tricks to distinguishing "red snapper" from other snappers while shooting underwater, seems hard enough to tell out of water let alone underwater esp deep when colors are really hard to tell. Just want to make sure I don't get in trouble shooting the wrong fish. Haven't tried eating lion fish yet, but I suppose I should try, I think in Japan they eat them raw quite often. Also, any tricks to getting lobster, just show up and try looking in holes or is that another thing easier to do at night. Don't mind some deeper dives, I have instructor and tech ratings, just been a while since Ive done much serious diving.

Thanks, Bill
louxwe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-17-2018, 04:41 PM   #5
Watergator
Registered User
 
Watergator's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Fort Pierce, FL
Posts: 321
Re: Best hunting in Destin area

Reds only really look similar until you get a little experience. The body shape is pretty different than the other snappers. Mangroves are longer and have a longer face (don’t know how else to describe it) than reds do. Mangroves also typically have a black slash across their eye that is pretty obvious underwater.

Wahoo are starting to move into the area and are a great challenge if you’re geared up for it.

Sheepshead can be really good inshore around the bridges (research which ones you can legally hunt), docks, and some of the channel cuts. Be careful of boat traffic when doing that though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Watergator is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-18-2018, 05:04 PM   #6
Billybob
Gulf Breeze
 
Billybob's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Gulf Breeze
Posts: 1,260
Re: Best hunting in Destin area

Lionfish are actually EXCELLENT to eat so by all means if you can scare up some private numbers you'd do well with those.

Obviously they hurt like crap if you get stuck so use a tri-tip polespear and keep them away from you. the lil farts can actually bend their spines over and try to get you.

with it being winter there won't be a lot of pelagic around unless you run a LONG way out for, as someone else said, wahoo or Tuna. that's a totally different kind of hunting.

for a beginner, which I'm assuming you are, the best way to tell a red snapper from other snappers is...the 10 million that all look alike (with the exception of size...there'll big and little ones and everything in between) well, Those 10 million are all red snapper.

IF you get lucky and see a snapper that looks "different" it'll probably be a black snapper (that's what us old tymers called them...I think now, they call them mangrove) uut you won't see a gob of them. and they are sneaky, sneaky...darting in and out of holes or staying WAY out away from you.

Ruby lips....you might see some if the over-populated Red Snapper haven't eaten them all yet but I couldn't imagine shooting one....maybe catching one on R&R you can shoot Mingos (Vermillion) if your a good shot. BY the way. you might see a number of them, depending on where you dive and they are longer with a round looking nose than they are high by a long ways. but color under water is very similar to Reds.

I think your best bet is wait to see what opens in January (IF anything)

or look for flounder around the large, nearshore wrecks....but that's just my thoughts.
Billybob is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:18 AM.


The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Social Media Forum Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2002 - 2014 Spearboard.com