Inshore
With the icy cold weather speckled trout fishing has been really good. You’ll want to look for them in the bayous and canals in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze like Bayou Texar, Bayou Grande, Villa Vynce, and Santa Rosa Shores.
Quite a few sheepshead are being caught around the bridges and it will only get better as we move into spring. You won’t find very many in the deep parts of the pass, but should be able to pickup a few around the jetties. Be sure to have both live shrimp and fiddler crabs.
White trout fishing around the Pensacola Bay Bridge is a great option for anyone looking to have some fun this time of year. Just move around and keep an eye on your bottom machine until you locate them and then you should be able to catch one after another.
Offshore
Triggerfish will open March 1 in both state and federal waters, but right now anglers who’ve braved the weather and got offshore have been rewarded with good numbers of vermillion snapper. Look for them on big wrecks and natural bottom.
Tuna reports have varied from one angler to another, but at some point over the next couple weeks good numbers of yellowfins should show up around some of the deepwater mounds. These are typically some of the biggest fish caught all year.
Piers & Beaches
February can be a great month to fish for pompano in the surf off Pensacola Beach and Johnsons Beach. You typically don’t see the numbers of fish you do in March and April, but some of the biggest fish of the year are caught in February.
The Pensacola Beach Gulf Fishing Pier remains closed and will likely remianed closed through March and April, which is very bad news for many cobia and pompano anglers who frequent the pier every year during the spring.