Capt Wes’ Fishing Archives: Jan 06 - July 07

Jim, his friend Bob and myself were very excited to see the calm waters in Big Lagoon. We knew this would be good for fishing. Our first stop was for some topwater action. Below Bob has a nice speck on a 7m mirrolure.

The action with the 7m mirrolure was a twitch pause twitch twitch pause.

Jim got into the action as well.

We moved over to the Ft Pickens pier and began jigging chartruce 3/4 oz jigs off the bottom when Jim bagged this 29″ redfish!

We caught several sheephead and then the pompano started a great bite.

Below is a school of pompano checking out my cleaning table

Stringer

6 specks

1 redfish

3 sheephead

8 pompano

God Bless
Capt Wes

Every year I have the great pleasure of fishing with my northern family the Bedels. Mary, Vernon, Matt and Paul. This year they brought a friend Kyle.

We fished the Ft Pickens pier. The day was slow but we managed to catch six sheephead. The wind from the east was 15 mph and made things a little rough.

We used 1 oz egg weights with a 20″ floracarbon and a number 2 circle hook. We placed a fresh dead shrimp cut in half on a hook. The bait was dropped to the bottom and then reeled a foot up in the water column. First sign of a strike the tip of rod was raised until fish set the hook.
Below is our stringer for the day.

God Bless
Capt Wes

We woke up to a calm morning. Our goal was to catch as many sheephead as our baits would allow.

We were on the west side of Ft Pickens pier. Wil and Casey were rigged with 30lb power pro, 1/4 oz egg weight, swivel, 20″es of floracarbon 17lb and a #2 circle hook baited with a piece of shrimp.

Wil had the touch early with this trophy of a sheephead.

Casey picked up the touch quickly and boated this nice pompano and Wil had another sheephead.

After using up all our bait we moved out to the beach looking for redfish and pompano. We saw several small schools of pompanos but had only one looker.

We finished up at the jetties and Capt Wes caught a nice pompano to end the day.

Our stringer:

21 sheephead kept

6 sheephead released

2 pompanos

Another great day with friends!

God Bless
Capt Wes

Well, finnally we get a day with some light wind. We waited for the morning storms to pass and flew to Ft Pickens pier for what was to be some awesome sheephead fishing.

We arrived to see the piers covered with fishermen. Capt Tony Eddins saw me and signaled me to come in and tie off next to him.

Parke and dad was rigged with 30lb power pro, 1/4 oz egg weight, swivel, 20″es of floracarbon 17lb and a #2 circle hook baited with a piece of shrimp.

Parke bagged this stud sheephead quickly after dropping in. At one point I had to grab him before the fish took him over board.

Dad got into the action as well.

Below is the cooler with some real nice eats!

Stringer:

12 sheephead

1 big smile for Parke

Good Bless
Capt Wes

Another windy day on the water. Greg, Matt and Charlie just wanted any kind of pull on the line. Wind was from the WNW at 20 mph. We started fishing along Scenic Hwy using 7m mirrolures, chugbugs and catch 2000 jrs.

After about 15 casts Matt lands this nice 17″ speck.

Greg follows suit and before you know it we have 4 or 5 specks to the boat.

The wind shifted and the bite as quick as it started was over.

We fished the bay bridge real hard with no success. We then moved into Bayou Texar. Matt was trolling a rattle trap when this puppy drum decided he did not like this bait swimming freely through the water.

Stringer:

5 specks

1 redfish

God Bless
Capt Wes

I fished with David and his son. Our first stop was some speck action along the shallows of Pensacola Bay. We caught 4 or 5 small specks. We used 52m mirrolures.

The wind was blowing pretty steady. We fished the 3″ white shrimp berkley gulp on a 1/2 oz jig. The white trout would not leave it alone.

Below is our stringer for the day.

Stringer count:

5 specks

40 white trout

God Bless
Capt Wes

I fished with my good friends John, Ty and Jack. The wind was very tough. We caught a couple undersize specks. The choice of bait was the berkley gulp on a 1/4 oz jig.

Below is Jack with his first speck of the morning

The wind kept us very limited to what we could do. We found no white trout at the bridge.

God Bless
Capt Wes

David, Jerrad, Brandon and myself sat on the back bench of my boat as we glided over the glassy water in Big Lagoon. The Sun peaking over the horizon, the smell of salty air and the hope of seeing a big explosion on the water gave us energy and confidence this would be the day to remember.

I started off with live shrimp but David quickly asked me if I ever use artificials. Well, you all know the answer to that question! I quickly broke lines and tied on some 7m mirrolures for what I hoped to be some awesome topwater action.

It did not take long after giving my twitch pause twitch pause twitch twitch pause seminar that both Jerrad and Brandon both had specks in the boat.

We caught several specks but Jerrad could never get that first keeper in the box. He changed strategies and produced this monster minnow which he plans on mounting when he gets back home.

As always this time of year the speck bite died off after an hour and we were back crusing to the next fishing hole.

We decided to try the Ft Pickens pier but with our surprise there was no room to fish as you can see below. We took a number, popped open a drink and waited for our turn. Well guess who I see waving for us to come over? My good friend Karon from UWF. She says the sheep are grazing and we can have their spot. Thank you Karon!

We caught several sheephead and saw atleast 50 caught by other boats as well. We also pulled in two prize fish, pompano! David is pictured below with a nice 2lb pomp.

We finished a great day of fishing and cleaned up a nice mess of fish for supper.

Total stringer:

10 specks

2 pompano

5 sheephead

Lot to remember!

After leaving David and his sons I quickly loaded my boat and left to meet up with Matt and Mary for an afternoon of White trout pulling. The first three hours was very slow but when the tide started moving it was awesome.

Below is Mary with the size of white trout we were catching. Sorry, not many pictures. I was steady unhooking fish.

Our total stringer:

50 White Trout

Look forward to seeing all the anglers again in the near future.

God Bless
Capt Wes

http://captwesrozier.com

Every year I give a fishing trip to the CCA to auction off for money to help this great organization. This year Bill Smith was the lucky winner. Bill and myself tried a couple of times to put the trip together but the weather hampered our success. We finnally shot for spring break and what a day we had both weather and fish!

Connor was a guest of John’s on this fishing trip and was having alittle trouble at first connecting on these inshore snapper called sheephead. Once Connor got the hang of it he turned into a excellent fisherman.

The fish Connor is holding below tested all of Connors skills before losing the battle!

Now John is holding below (sorry for the shadow I took it into the sun) one of his six trophies he caught during the day. John like all fishermen had tremendus skills and they showed from the start of the day.

The total stringer was:

John had six sheephead

Connor had six sheephead

Dad, well he caught one!

Great day
Great fishing
Priceless

God Bless
Capt Wes

Bob Phillips called me and said he wanted his son Andy to go on a fishing trip before being shipped over to Iraq. We put the trip together and of course we could not leave out his brothers Alex and Austin.

Below Andy his holding a nice speck caught on a 7m mirrolure (topwater).

After catching several specks we noticed Austin had not caught any fish and was beginning to smell like skunk!

We moved over to the bridge and it did not take long and the white trout bite was on. Below you will find both Austin and Alex with white trout caught on Berkley Gulps. Austin is now smelling alittle better now that he has boated a fish.

After catching one white trout after another Alex hooks into something really BIG! Below you will see him holding a respectable 28 inch red fish.

Well, Austin started real slow but came on strong at the end. He finished the day with this nice 32 inch red fish!

Fish stringer:

4 specks

2 redfish

50 trout

I would like to say to Andy that my family is very proud of you for serving our country. We are also very proud of Andy’s family for the sacrifice they are giving by sending their son and brother to Iraq.

God Bless you Andy and the Phillips family. Please stay safe and we pray for your quick return to your family and look forward to the day we can go fishing again!

God Bless
Capt Wes