By Helen Petre
Florida is the fishing capital of the world, and the Panhandle offers an incredible diversity of fishing experiences. Our emerald-green, clear water and white-sand beaches provide a productive surf-fishing experience, and our fresh and brackish waters offer land and kayak fishing. Then, of course, there is offshore redfish, which is the life experience we all dream about.
Thankfully, though, you do not need a boat to surf fish or freshwater fish. Surf fishing for pompano is fun in spring, but as beaches get crowded and hot, freshwater fishing offers an alternative that requires little more than a pole and bait and is cooler and quieter.
One of a child’s most memorable experiences is often that first fish catch. It is an experience that can lead to a lifetime of conservation and sportsmanship and teach skill, independence, achievement and respect for nature. Kids who learn to fish, and adults who learn these skills, become self-confident and dependable. Now is a great time for a family fishing experience.
What will you catch?
Largemouth bass is the most popular game fish in North America and the Florida largemouth bass is Florida’s official state freshwater fish. Bass is everyone’s favorite warm-water fish. Bass are really fun to catch because they put up a good fight. Largemouth bass spawn in spring and are easier to catch then, but summer is still a good time to catch them in lakes, rivers and ponds. They prefer vegetated shorelines and live for 10 years in the wild.
Bass are carnivores. In the wild, they eat fish, mollusks and insects. The best live bait is a golden shiner hooked through the lips with a large hook (#2 to #5). Use a medium rod with 14- to 20-pound-test line. If using artificial bait, plastic worms work well.
Adult bass are apex predators, but young bass are prey for herons, larger bass and catfish.
Catch bass in the Choctawhatchee River, accessible from Ebro, and the backwater lakes that surround the river, or fish in Holmes Creek, a spring-fed tributary of the river. Bass are plentiful in the Yellow River, which flows southwest from Alabama.
Largemouth bass. Wikipedia.
Besides bass, the Panhandle is an exciting place to fish for sunfish. Bluegill (or bream, or brim) are the most common summer sunfish. They are fun to catch and great to eat. These are panfish with vertical stripes. Bluegill live in rivers, streams, springs and lakes. They spawn in summer, building nests in shallow water on sandy bottoms. Nests are in groups of about 35, a collection of shallow, scooped-out areas all together in one location. The male makes the nest, invites the female to lay her eggs and fertilizes them. Then the father-to-be guards the eggs until they hatch in a week or so.
Bluegill eat mostly insects, but worms are the most successful bait. Use a small #6 hook with a split-shot sinker about six inches up the line.
Another panfish: Redear sunfish
Redear sunfish are popular sport fish, sometimes called shellcrackers. They look like bluegill but are slightly larger and have a distinctive red mark on the gill cover. At home in the warm waters of lakes, streams and ponds, redear sunfish live in vegetated areas near logs, often in groups. In warm weather, they sometimes congregate around lily pads.
Redear’s favorite foods are snails, clams and mussels, hence the name shellcracker. Redear crush the shell, eat the meat and spit out the shell fragments.
Males make nests in groups in somewhat deeper water than bluegill, lure in females and induce them to lay eggs by making a popping sound. The female produces thousands of eggs and then moves on to find another male, while the male fertilizes and fans the eggs to remove sediment and provide oxygen for a week until they hatch. First-year growth is about five inches. After that, fish grow about an inch a year.
Redear are caught most often on worms, small shrimp or jigheads with small hooks (#6 to #10). Use small spinning rods with 2- to 4-pound-test line. Redear are good-fighting, good-eating fish.
Warmouth (Lepomis gulosus)
Warmouth are like other panfish, but they have a red eye and a large mouth. There are dark lines radiating from the eye that look like war paint, hence the name. Warmouth swim in swampy, still, darker water than other sunfish. They spawn all summer, building solitary nests next to submerged objects. Warmouth eat crayfish, insects and fish, mostly in the morning. They are ambush predators, hiding in vegetation and then aggressively attacking prey. They appear to sleep at night.
The same baits and lures work for warmouth as for other sunfish, just in muddier waters.
Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)
Catfish are hard-pulling fish that live deeper in lakes and are active after sunset. Chicken and beef liver and worms are good baits because catfish use smell to find food in the dark lake bottoms. Catfish have taste buds all over their bodies to help them locate food, but they do not eat decaying materials or detritus. They eat crayfish and mollusks.
Males become darker, with dark lips and a swollen head, while females become lighter during the summer spawning season.
Adults are 20 inches long. The meat is white, crisp, tender and tasty. Catfish are for eating. Fish on the bottom with a sturdy #2 to #4 hook and a heavy split-shot sinker. FWC stocks catfish in Juniper Lake, Walton County.
Where to fish?
Sunfish are found in any year-round rivers, streams, backwaters and ponds, with larger fish in larger bodies of water. The Yellow and Choctawhatchee rivers are sure to please. Fish where tributaries enter the larger rivers, especially Holmes Creek, a spring-fed tributary of the Choctawhatchee. Sunfish love cover. Anywhere around logs, stumps, vegetation or structure in the water is where they are.
Juniper Lake in Walton County is periodically stocked with catfish, bass, bream and crappie. Bass may be a bit farther out in cooler water during summer, and catfish are on the bottom.
Florida summers are hot, but the fish still bite. Opportunities for freshwater fishing abound. This is the perfect time for family fun, but teaching children to fish is more than fun. It is an education in patience, skill and achievement. You are making memories, but you are also developing an appreciation for nature and encouraging responsibility for protecting the environment. Family fishing produces self-confident, persistent, capable problem-solvers. Go outside and enjoy the Florida Panhandle.
Helen Petre is a retired biologist. Any ideas or suggestions for articles about nature, wild things and science? Please email petrehelen@gmail.com.
