Feast or Famine: October Pier Fishing in Panama City Beach – Part 1
Eugene L. 11.28.23
Nothing is ever guaranteed when it comes to pier fishing, the fish that are thick one day can be gone the next. It can be even more drastic than that with the difference between an amazing day and a just ok one being 30 minutes. This is even more the case when it comes to pier fishing, where you are stuck with what you get. There is no searching or chasing after the fish, you get what you get on the pier that’s it. So, when I planned my last-minute trip down to Panama City Beach in the back half of October, I tried to stack the deck in my favor. My schedule is pretty flexible lets me chase the wind and reports to try and find the best king mackerel bite possible. But like I said earlier a day or even 30 minutes can be the difference between a feast or famine on the pier.
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October is historically considered a good month for pier fishing. The heat of the summer is gone, and the water temperatures are starting to fall into a more comfortable range again. So, the bite tends to pick up around the pier with bait and predators putting up a good showing. So, I was following my friend Sam’s weekly fishing report rather closely starting in the second half of September to see when a good time might be to make one last trip down to the County Pier this year. Finally, I saw a few good reports lined up with some free time I had to go down to the coast for a few days. So, I packed my gear in the truck, booked a hotel, and slept for a few hours before heading out around 3 am to start the 6-hour drive down to Panama City Beach. After the long uneventful drive, I arrived in the city around 8:30 am with the time zone change. I had to run around to a couple of stops first before hitting the pier to grab some live bait, get a couple of odds and ends, and visit a good friend. After all that was done, I got to the pier around 9:30 am and already saw people leaving with coolers that had the tails of king mackerel sticking out of them.
This had me excited, I thought I had gotten the timing just right. Talking with one of the guys there he told me the kings were on fire that morning. Several people had limited out and over 18 fish had been brought over the rail. But then he told me the bad news, the bite shut down around 8:30. There were some Spanish, and bluefish around but the kings had disappeared. But even still I had driven all the way down I was going to fish to at least check in time for the hotel. I didn’t have anything else to do while down here. So, I paid my $6 at the pier house and headed towards the end, stopping here and there to take a look into the emerald water to look for bait or just to chat with other fishermen I know.
Once I got to the end, I saw that the bite was done, but people were still fishing hoping some more kings would come around. So, I got about trying to make bait, I rigged up a light #4 sabiki rig to my bait rod and started working the bottom near a piling. I was hoping for cigar minnows to use but actually ended up with a sort of uncommon catch, a goggle eye. They look a bit similar with both having silvery skin, but goggle eyes have a deeper body shape and a large eye as their name implies. They also smell different than cigar minnows kind of like a barracuda and last longer on the hook. So, I quickly hooked that guy up on my king rod, putting a point of the treble hook under the scutes near the tail of the fish. Then sent him off the west side of the pier, letting him swim out to hopefully get eaten. I kept my line off the line roller and on my index finger instead, letting the goggle eye take more line out as it swam. This was also so that if a king mackerel came by and ate the bait, they could eat it without feeling any line tension. Then, once I was confident they had taken the hook in deep, I could put the line on the roller to set the hook.
I was very hopeful with this premium bait; it was kicking really well and had gone pretty far out. After maybe 5 minutes it started to freak out, I could feel it kicking a bunch through the line. Something was chasing it, and then I felt the hit, so I gave the fish slack. Once I felt confident that the fish swallowed the hook, I set it hoping to see my line scream off the reel. Instead, it took a few clicks of drag and then started to fight a little harder than the goggle eye had before. So, I thought I must have missed the king and started reeling. After a few cranks, I realized there was a fish on the end of my line, but not what I wanted. It was just a bluefish and not even a big bluefish like the ones from the northeast. That premium bait got eaten by this stinky bluefish, which on a king rod was not really a fight but just kind of like reeling in a spunky baitfish.
I wasn’t the only one having problems with the bluefish though, it seems a school of them had come in and started eating up all our live baits, with several more being caught and given away to whoever wanted one. The schools of bait also became harder to find, it felt like they were pushed off the pier by the bluefish. But after a couple of hours finally we had a good hook-up happen on the pier. My friend George got a solid bite by a good king on a live cigar minnow. It was a good fight having him go up and down the end of the pier several times, he was pier fishing lighter tackle with a 15# shock leader of monofilament between his braid and wire. But after a while, he finally wore it down and brought it alongside the west side of the pier where I was waiting for it with my pier gaff. At his signal, I dropped the gaff down so he could slide the fish over it before I yanked on the rope to stick the fish and start bringing it up over the rail.
George offered me the fish but there was one thing, we had to wait till our other friend Sam came out to the pier so he could weigh the fish. There was a month-long king mackerel tournament going on and George was in second place, but wanted to see if this fish could bump him up to 1st. So, to keep it from losing any weight and keep it in the best condition possible we stuck the fish in my kill bag. We then put that in the shade and put a wet towel over the king’s tail to keep it from drying out. We waited till a bit past noon for Sam to arrive then walked the fish down to the pier to the scale post and weighed the fish in around 21 pounds. This was 6ish pounds shy of George’s 2nd place fish, so it didn’t place. So, all three of us walked back out to the end of the pier. Sam and George started to fish for kings while I wanted to get my gifted king gutted out as quickly as possible. While I had gotten it on ice right away, I wasn’t able to bleed and gut it out immediately like I normally do.
Now it was around 2 pm, and the little ice I had in my kill bag was melting off. So, I thought it was as good a time as any to head out and get some ice and food, mid-afternoon is usually slow and with how it already had been for most of the morning I felt I wasn’t missing much by heading out for a bit. I left most of my gear with Sam and another friend Ivan and got off the pier. The first stop was Buddy Gandy’s Seafood Market back over in Panama City for ice. Don’t get your ice from those ice machines or stores, find a fish house that sells ice as well. I paid $10 bucks to completely fill up my 165qt Engel cooler with nice quality ice. It would have cost me over $40 dollars if I was using an ice machine and even more if I went to a store. After packing the king in the ice at Buddy Gandy’s I made a small stop for some lunch on my way back to the pier. Once I got back, I heard that there was another king caught while I was gone around the 15lb range. Sam also soon hooked up to a king after I got back as well. So, I waited again with my gaff ready as Sam went back and forth along the front rail of the pier. Weaving between other fishermen and tourists who were crowding the rail to see what was going on. Finally, after a few trips and back and forth he had the king next to the pier ready to be gaffed. But when I stuck the fish, I was a little slow and stuck it further down than I would have liked in the softer belly area. So, as I lifted this fish up it ripped off the gaff and fell back into the water, but Sam was ready for this and was in free spool just in case.
So, we brought the king back over the gaff and stuck it in the back this time and successfully got it up on the deck. Much to the excitement of Ivan who wanted a king to take home for his wife. This guy came out to about 19lbs, a solid fish. I did get one bite from a king that afternoon though, but I was messing around when it happened and missed the fish. I had a half-dead cigar minnow out there that I was jigging right in front of the pier to mess with the bluefish and remoras. But out from almost under the pier a king came by and just slammed it. I had my line on the roller so when the king took off with cig it felt the drag and bolted. Leaving me with half a cigar minnow and no king. After that, besides some bluefish and ladyfish, it stayed slow till sunset. There was no repeat of the morning’s bite. So, I called it quits, I needed to get some things from Walmart as well as get some dinner. Day 1 of my pier fishing trip was over, but I still had another day and a half left. Better go to bed early to get out on the pier at 5am the next day.
