FL Panhandle Bream Busters

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Comment by Eric Pierce on January 29, 2015 at 1:53pm

Sorry guys, I stand corrected. That's the Shoal river. Sorry for the miss info.

Comment by Eric Pierce on January 29, 2015 at 1:15pm

Just wanted to say Hi to you all. I just joined the group. My name is Eric, and I live over here in Crestview. Lots of lakes here in town, unfortunately they belong to the little housing groups with watch dogs. If your not a member of their housing project then they are off limits. Have tried to get permission from several, but that has met with nothing but NO's. No transportation at this time so that leaves me a bit of the black river. Hoping to get a small boat this year to get mobile on the water... enjoy reading about your catches and enjoy the pictures too. I will post any I happen to get. Once again thank you all. Eric

Comment by J. B. Hillard on December 5, 2014 at 8:22pm

Have been doing combo squirrel/crappie trips down at Dead River out of the ramp at 7 Runs. Not getting any fish limits be plenty to eat. Also, squirrels are fairly plentiful but getting a little wild since the season has been open a few weeks.

Yesterday we met up with a couple of guys from Geneva, Al that had 32 of the nicest shellcrackers and gills

I have seen in a good while. They were fishing worms on the bottom.  I don't fish bream much this time of year but after seeing this catch I think I will change my mind and looks for a few gills on the warm days.  

Comment by J. B. Hillard on November 1, 2014 at 6:26pm

Wrote a post but hit some crazy button and it disappeared. 

Anyway, the bream bits has been something else for months. Have caught some of the largest bluegills I have seen in many years. However, the bite has slowed a bit probably due to the changing weather. Recently I have fished at new places for me on the Choctaw....Baker, Cerro Gordo, and Berrain Lake. Haven't tried to catch limites simply because I dont' want to clean too many. When I get around 20 to 25 I'm about ready to call it quits.

The bream bite has slowed so far as numbers go but the quality is still good. However, I really want to put more time into crappie this winter and have made several trips lately with mixed results.  Some days have produced some good slabs as long as 14.5 inches.. That's a really good fish for the Choctaw.

Haven't heard from any of you in some time. Sure would be nice to see what you have been up to and how has the bite treated you lately

Comment by J. B. Hillard on October 11, 2014 at 2:41pm

Haven't posted in a while. The gill bite we started experiencing last spring is still hot although it has slowed a bit. Daily trips still produce more than you want to clean so I just stop keeping after I get all I need. Fishing 3 to 4 days a week makes me not want to clean so many fish. I haven't seen a season like this year in many many years. The many months of a flooded Choctawhatchee River produced the most big gills, shellcrackers, red bellies, etc. I have ever seen caught in recent years. With the cooling weather my interest it turn a little more toward crappie. Hope all of you have had a good year on the water.

Comment by J. B. Hillard on July 15, 2014 at 7:30am

Yesterday we launched at Black Creek Lodge at 0545 and headed up Mitchell River to where it connects with the Choctawhatchee.  On up the Choctaw to just past the Sisters and started with a little fly fishing. My partner caught a few with a popping bug but for some reason they would only nip and short strike mine. Maybe the color was not right. Switched to crickets and ended up keeping 43 which include 7 given to us by a fly fisherman. River level is low and water is clear.

Comment by J. B. Hillard on July 12, 2014 at 3:15pm

The bream bite is still on just about anywhere you go on the Choctawhatchee River and probably other rivers here in the Florida Panhandle. I try to get out 2 or 3 times a week and so far it's been fun just fishing and a little catching. Haven't been trying to load the boat since I'm frequently on the water. Anyway, who want's to clean box after box of fish.  I suppose two years of very high water for  many months is a major factor in these good times for bream fishing. 

The Choctaw has finally gone down to what the locals call 'the right level'...using the Caryville River Gage. However, this spring and summer the best catch of huge bluegills have been during high water in the7 to 10 ft range. I have never so many huge bream and in such numbers as this year.  I caught a few of those but most of what I saw was caught by some of my other fishing buddies. When you bring in a box of 75 by two anglers and half of them are actually 3/4 to 1.25 pound bream you have one heck of a box of fish.

Comment by J. B. Hillard on June 19, 2014 at 6:06am

The bream bite continues to be excellent on the Choctawhatchee River althoiugh it's tapered down a bit on the numbers of huge gills. The numbers are holding up, better for some but less for others. This week a couple of buddies got 61 with a few of the pounders and I got 20 with one of those guys but no pounders. Yesterday on the Yellow River south of Holt, FL it was a bust. Tomorrow will be headed to the Choctawhatchee again but this time with a few earth worms to back up the crickets. Shellcrackers like worms and some are being caught on the bottom with rod and reel

Comment by J. B. Hillard on June 11, 2014 at 3:49am

Boat traffic is picking up out of Black Creek Lodge in Walton County, FL.  Bream bite continues to be good. Two buddies got 40 on Monday. We got 27 keepers and tossed maybe 15.  Yellow flies are out but were scarce yesterday. Day before they were wicked.

I heard there is a river tournament this Saturday at Red Bay but don't have any details. Haven't seen any advertising.

Here are a couple of our catch on Tuesday.

Comment by J. B. Hillard on May 29, 2014 at 4:00pm

The bite on the Choctawhatchee is still going strong. While it's been hot for the past 3 weeks I just got down there yesterday for first  with a buddy. We boxed 38 nice ones, 3 real bulls, and tossed 10 or 15.  For whatever reason not many boats on the water. Saw only 2 others yester and there were only 4 rigs in the Black Creek Lodge parking lot. Got one shellcracker on worm and the rest on crickets.

We got a lot of rain today and the river will rise a foot by Sunday. This isn't too bad but weather is unstable and could get more rain over the weekend.

How about a report from some of you guys if you are getting out there.

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