re: Fishing from the beach in Panama City

I have fished St Andrew's a few times on vacation and had some great luck.

If you want to do something different and fun go to a local bait shop and purchase a 'bubble rig'. It is basically a clear float that you fill half way with water, a mono/flouro leader, a 3" piece of drinking straw with a treble hook at the end. You can cast it a mile and it works wonders along the beach. You can cast into the pass along the jetties and along the beach on the inlet as it goes back to the bay.

This by far my favorite technique to fish in this area if you are just fishing for fun. I typically catch hard tails, blues, ladayfish and spanish mackerel. You just cast it out and work it fairly quick similar to the way you would work a bass popper. It sounds crazy, but when you see it in action it looks like fish striking at a small bait fish. You will get lots of strikes and top water is always fun.

It is also a lot cheaper/easier than the live shrimp but you will catch a lot of 'trash' fish. If you are going for the actual sport fish like reds, grouper, specks, etc...this is not the best technique.


If you want to catch fish to eat i would suggest going for whiting. I typically get some dead shrimp and setup a carolina rig with a 3/8's to 1/2 oz bullet weight with a 12-24" leader with a gray/white fly on the end. Tip the fly with a small piece of shrimp and cast along the beach. You will be surprised how close the whiting are to the shoreline. This is a blast if you can find a school of them and they are pretty good eating.