A lot of folks from De Funiak have been going to St. Joe and bringing home a limit of scallops. Best year in many years so they say.

I'm going up to Dothan this afternoon for several days and taking the boat. Plan to fish some in the Chattahoochee River and might even try to find a protected area in Lake Eufaula to scout out and fish a little.  Got myself an annual Alabama license.

Fished the Ochlocknee river North of Hwy 90 today.  Bite was good all day and caught about 50. Only a few over 8 inches. All went back.

Thanks Jeff for the ramp info.  I'm still hoping to get over there soon. It's been one thing after another which has delayed a trip.

Just got back to De Funiak this afternoon after a week in Dothan and with a seriously lighter wallet from buying hearing aids.  You could buy a pretty good river boat and motor for what these things cost.

Fished the Chattahoochee River out of Abbie Creek which is about 28 miles from Dothan. Made two afternoon trip while the dam about 10 to 15 miles upstream was generating power, thus the river was up and running at a good clip.  According to what the locals told me this is the best time to fish, especially for catfish.  This is a place you have to learn from ground zero. It's much different than the Choctawhatchee. Water is very clear and deep. Found tons of fish on the sonar and most were in 10 to 20 foot water. I learned the technique is tight-line on or near the bottome for cat and bream. The bottom has a lot of hard sand and rock so shellcrackers are reported to be everywhere. However, all of the anglers I spoke with are having the same problem catching as we are over here on the Choctaw. They tell the same story, heat.......

I did talk to one angler who said he prefers top fish for bream when the dam is not generating and the water is hardly moving.

The Hooch has several dams upstream from Hwy 90 at Seminole. When there is no power generation going on the river is more like a huge lake in between each dam. I have to go back in a couple of weeks and want to try to still water.

While it was easy to find fish with the sonar all I caught was two challens about 1 1/2 lb ea and maybe 25 to 30 small bream non-keepers and one keeper shellcracker.  I will have different tackle next time to do a better job tight-lining on the bottom.

I did try my fly rod for maybe an hour yesterday afternoon late but not a single bite.

The Hooch banks on both sides are steep and many are linestone rock.  It can be 20 ft deep 10 ft from a bank wall. Not nearly the cover along bank as we have in the Choctaw, but enough to provide fish cover. 

Was told the best fishing is up closer to the dam at lower end of Lake Eufaula. It's about a 45 mile drive from Dothan buy I hope to try that area.

Had high hopes of fishing Lost Lake tomorrow but current river level prediction is down to near 4 ft... That means it will be difficult to launch anything but a small light Jon or a yak.

Two days ago 8 ft was predicted for Thursday. Wonder where all the water went or did NOAA just make a bad call on predicted rainfall up in Alabama.

So. won't waste our time on Lost Lake and go on down to Smokehouse and give that a try.

Clint: We had to bypass  Lost Lake this morning. The ramp is not in good shape and the water was too low for me to  pull my boat out with my little Honda CRV.  My last attempt a few months ago I had to get a pick-up to hook up to me and pull both the car and boat out. And with all that we still could not get into the lake.It didn't take much help from the pickup but it was necessary. Good thing my buddy from South Port met me there with his PU. 

We ended up going to SmokeHouse. Got there about 6:15. Went about 3 or 4 miles up river then fished downstream. Water was slightly stained but in good shape.  We fished until 1:30.  Fished the main river and several lakes.

The keeper catch was 1 bass about 2 pounds and 5 or 6 bream and warmouth.  Beautiful day but bite was poor. Fly fished about 2 hours total and did not get a decent hit, just a few bumps.   

We saw 4 other boats. Passed one as soon as we got to the main river.  4 hours later when we came back down river he had moved only about 50 yards. Made a mental note on that spot.....

I rarely fish on Saturday but may give it a shot this weekend if the weather is anything like today.

Will be hitting the Chattahoochee at Abbe Creek late next week if nothing happens.

Panhandle Flyfishers........Nice article in The Destin Log this morning about the Panhandle Flyfishers Association.  Was not aware it existed. My just drive down and visit one of their sessions.

http://www.thedestinlog.com/articles/flies-19164-panhandle-flyfishe...

Joey, glad you had a decent trip to Bozeman;s.  I just got home this afternoon from Alabama trip. Fished out of Abbe Creek on the Chattahoochee last Thursday. To make a long story short about a mile upriver my motor overheated and I had to shut down. My own mistake trying to bull through a mud/sand bar in the creek fouled up the thermostadt in motor. I didn't know the motor ha\d a thermostadt. My old trusty 1973 Johnson 20 hp would handle a bar like this and flush itself out, but not these new fangled motors with un-needed gizmos on them.

Anyway, after I shut down it was early do decided to just fish down river back to the landing. Caught maybe 15 small bream, not a decent keeper in the bunch.  Tried fly rod for about an hour but no go. What was caught was with wigglers.

The motor problem messed up a highly anticipated trip on Friday to Lake Eufaula. Will get the motor fixed and be back up there is a couple of weeks.

I had two reports last week the reds and bass were hitting well in the Point Washington Area. There is a band new ramp there with parking for maybe 5 or 6 rigs. Reall nice.

Thanks for the report Clint. I have never fished Deer Point so would not know where to start.  Have heard a lot about it and have seen some videos on the early morning fishing shows on WMBB ch 13.  Since y'all did no good at Holmes Creek that's a bit of a surprise.  Just figured a little something should be going on over there.  I was across the river at Caryville yesterday and the sand bars are still all over the place due to low water.

Good news on my motor. No damage. Water is pumping after removal of thermostadt and flushing.  I'm ready.  Now just have to find an open day.

I will have to make a trip down there just to check out the place.

Went out in the Gulf today. I'm dog tired. Up at 3:45am and got home about 6:30PM.  On the water from about 5:45am until about 4:30PM. Log day.  Got a nice mess of fish but it was hard work.  The catch was down from previous trips but sufficient to feed a bunch of folks.

Clint, you are absolutely right. Sure do hope it happens this winter.

Went down to Black Creek this morning. Launched at the ramp on hwy 3280.  The idea was to target bass and reds. We happened upon literally acres and acress of a feeding frenzie. Shad were in a state of panic as far as you could see down the creek.

Turned out to be primarily Lady Fish feeding  although reds were there.  My partner caught 4 rats and one 22 incher. All I caught was Lady Fish and cats.  He was using a small Bomber crank bait, white and silver. I was using a silver/bllue rattle trap.

Will be sticking to the lower river for the time being. Smoke House will be seeing a lot of me.

J. B

Went down to Black Creek yesterday. Sort of a repeat of a few days ago. Started off using minnows by the bridge at the ramp. Not a bite. After about half hour we headed down the creek to Mitchell River and started plugging for whatever would bite. Ended up with a few red fish, speckled trout, bass, and lady fish.  Action was slow but worth the effort. Beautiful day and good to be on the water. Saw several boats, mostly single guys, except the usual line-up of mullet anglers at Nancy's Cut has two to the boat.

We ended up with one speckled trout about 17 inches. I'm about to cook him for early supper to go with a new hush puppy mix I'm trying out, called Sweet Betsy, made up in South Carolina. Only place I know of it can be bought is Daffin's Merchantile in Marianna.

I plan to try again Friday but this time go a little further up the river and hit a few bream holes to see if anything is going on. If not, will make the run back down stream and do some plugging.

Incidentally, fished yesterday in friends Carolina Skiff J16 with 25 Honda. Was very impressed. Believe it or not that boat is 100 pounds lighter than my 14 ft aluminum Jon

Better work while you can......With the way things are going who knows what the future job market will be.

I got the boat ready this morning for trip to the river and bay tomorrow.  Will start out looking for red fish and speckled trout. If that doesn't work in a couple of hours I'll head up the river to a few bream spots. 

Got a late start on Wednesday so forewent  looking for bream. Right now I'm planning on Smokehouse for next Monday. That may be the only day I can fish next week. I'm bream hungry.

Anyway, on Wednesday launced at Black Creek bridge  and not far down stream the birds were working shad so I stopped and fished  the area for an hour. Not a single bite. There was hardly any feeder activity on the shad.

So, went on down to the lower Choctawhatchee near the bay. Haven't been to that specific area in many moons.  Anyway, was moving along barely on plane when I ran across a picture perfect image of bait fish with large fish mixed in them. The old 1995 era Humminbird was working beautifully.  Slowed and putt putted back to the spot and then my electric would not work. Eased over to the shore and just tied up to a cypress knee.  With a Gulf Shrimp,  first cast, BAM..........  18 inch Red landed. Put in ice box and a little later caught a 20 and 22 incher. They lucked out and were released.  Ended up with the 3 slot reds, 8 or 9 rats up to 16 inches, 4 specks with one keeper, and a bunch of croakers. Kept six croakers to see what they taste like.

Question........anyone doing anything on bream and shellcrackers?  I don't have any later reports here. 

Just finished watching the Jim Wilson show on WMBB in Panama City. For those of you who are familiar with Jack Wingate over on Lake Seminole, Jim reports that he has imporved and doing some writing. Jack reports this past week the bream and shellcrackers are on the bed with the full moon we had this week and that crappie are on the bite.  Hopefully this will translate to the rivers and small lakes most of us fish. 

This afternoon I'm going to run down to Freeport and fish Lafayette and 4 Mile Creeks with a few worms and see if I can find a few bream.  No telling what can me caught in these brackish waters .

Sportsmans Lodge is Wausau is on right now and Ron is reporting some fine catches of flounder.

Sure sounds like fishing of all types is starting to pick up, so let's get out there and see what we can put in the box.

Hi Clint, well at least you and Joey had fun and the weather was perfect.  Since it's a bit slow out of SmokeHouse I may go back to Black Creek and the lower river tomorrow.

Yesterday I road down to Copeland's to pick up a bunch of jigs I ordered and stopped by Lafayette Creek in Freeport on the way home. Fished off the docks for 2 hours until nearly dark.  Second cast I caught a flounder that looked just short of 12 inches. Only fish hooked or caught. Something kept biting the tails oof my plastic curly tail baits so switch to Gulf shrimp.  Probably croakers and pin fish getting the tails. Beautiful afternoon even fishing from shore.  At this spot you can catch both fresh and saltwater species.

Think I will launch at Freeport a bit just to get the feel of the area. It's only 16 miles from home to the ramp so it's close.  A lot of bass and bream have been caught in Lafayette and 4 Mile Creeks, and you might catch a red, flounder, or speck.

Family issues have me grounded for at least another week. Man, this cool weather is really turning on the south river areas. Have had several reports from friends. Here is one from Tuesday this week>

",,,,, and I went this morning and got wet.  However, we caught our limit of redfish and four keeper specks plus three nice "Green Trout".  We also lost a couple of "Big Boy" redfish.  We started in Mitchell River and caught maybe two throw back specks.  We then went to Indian river and started watching the birds and minnow action on top. Started catching fish.  When that slowed, we went to Cypress River and did the
same.  Also went to mouth of Choctawhatchee and caught some.  We probably caught 30 or 35 small specks plus the usual lady fish.  At times it was sloooow, then it was like every cast.  This coming cool snap ought to really get them going.  
Later............... "

These cold nights and cool days will drop the water temps rapidly. Not sure how this will impact bream and shellcrackers, but should improve the crappie bite. 

Anyone had experience with cool weather fishing for bream?

For those of you who can get to the Choctawhatchee I'm receiving daily reports the lower river is really picking up. I was out there yesterday and today.   I was after reds and specks, but noticed a good number of boats slash fishing for bream. 

I'm headed out Friday afternoon for a change in approach.  Haven't fished just an afternoon in a long time.   Will start out looking for shaded areas to give bream a shot. If that does not work will switch to reds adn specks. Actually you catch bass, bream, reds, and specks in the same water.  Will close out the day at a crappie hole to see if they are there.  Nearby is a warmouth hole I will try.

im trying to post a pic of a fish i caught on the river friday but having difficulty getting it to post going to try and get clint to post it.

Clint and Joey............Were you guys ever able to ID that fish?

yes we were and it was a shaddow bass. sent pic to fwc and they confirmed this

"shaddow bass", that's a new one on me. Will have to research and read up on it.  Will be interesting to see how it got that name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_bass  Here is a little info on the shadow bass. 

Not a fish story but you got to see this.

Deputy carries frightened deer from road to safety (video)

This one shoud work correctly.

http://tinyurl.com/73f9lkl 

not having much luck with the bluegills but been tearing the crappie up at Talquin. Heck, a mans gotta eat!  Got some good pictures but cant get them to load. Anyone else having trouble loading lately?

Hi Jeff:  Have been hearing about the slabs at Talquin and Seminole. Over here they are scattered and few. No one I know of are doing much except one here and there. 

I was out yesterday for reds and specks and checked a couple of my crappie holes in Black Creek. Nothing there yet.

I haven't seriously fished for fresh water species in about 2 months or more. Gave up until things improve, however, I did hear about a nice catch of shell crackers last week out of SmokeHouse. The river is still so low you have to get well below Hwy 20 to find suficient water.

Yesterday I was fishing Black Creek which is brackish. Fish from noon until 4:30.  Partner and I caught 20 rat reds and one 22 inch keeper, two keeper hybreds, one keeper bass, and about half dozen speckled trout....no keepers.  Water temp 56/57

Take a look at this. Amazing.

http://fishingtackletips.net/fishing-lures/106-mattelures-ultimate-...-

Hi gang:  Anyone chasing gills lately?  I have had some health problems for a while but back to normal. Will be back on the water next week. Weather not at all that hot for this week. 

Before illness I was fishing lower Choctawhatchee and over in West Bay in Bay County. Red and speckled trout were the target.

Would like to pass along http://www.waltonoutdoors.com/ which is a good source for info in this area. The Friday Fishing Report is pretty good. 

Wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year......... May be rain help our rivers and fishing will improve.

J. B.

i havent been fishin in weeks, huntin season started up, so joey and i have changed gear for a while

Hi Clint:

I think many folks have switched gears for a while. But reading the WaltonOutdoors.com report about crappie I plan to start looking for them next week. Will make a two prong attack. Crappie first and if we can't find them just start fishing for specks and reds in the same water. That's the way it is in the lower river areas.

One of my fishing partners is hunting a couple of time a week. Said so far squirrel hunting has been very poor.  He's switched to deer and has seen a good number of bucks and does, but not one he wants.  He hunts in Eucheeanna Valley.

well i switched gear and went to hunting, its goin about the same as my fishin did in the summer. everybody i go huntin with see deer,but i cant seem to catch a break.might have to try a little crappie fishin myself. Happy New Year

Happy New to you Clint.  I'm still fishing but not setting the world on fire. Been sticking pretty much to specks and reds, but have tried crappie with no luck.

 Have a trip planned next Thursday to the warm water canal in West Bay.  Hopefully we will give some big'uns for picture taking.  This is catch and release only.  Want to check it out in preparation of taking a Kansas snow-bird friend there for some fun.

Incidentally, I got a tip that about 10 days ago the bite was heavy in the main river about a mile below Big Sister. Reds, trout, and channels were ganged up in this particular spot. I was not aware they went that far up the river, but will take some tackle in case I can't find any crappie.

Hunting......if the fog is not heavy I'm going squirrel hunting tomorrow morning. Haven't hunted squirrels since mid 70's. Last time I bought 12 ga low brass shells they were about $2 a box. Yesterday I paid $8, and 16 ga and 410 ga were almost $16.  Times have changed....big time.  

Also, this week I'm going down to SmokeHouse and try for crappie in the Little and Big Sisters.  A very tuned in river guy says they should be ganging up in the Sisters by now, also Bishop Lake. If the weather will stay cold enough long enough that will help.

Update on the Choctawhatchee............

Went to Smokehouse Lake this morning. Fog so bad we didn't get on the water until about 8:45.  We were searching for crappie but also fished bass. Using minnows we did not get a single crappie bite or anything else.  Fished the Smokehouse run, and Little and Big Sister. Nothing...............  Joe caught a nice 2 1/2 lb bass and I caught a 10 inchers. That was it for about 6 hours of fishing.

Had a nice bucket of worms to try for some bream but left them in the car along with my life jacket.  Not a good move on either one.

We finally quit freshwater and tried for specked trout downriver. Nada............. Not a bite.

Can't figure it out.........full moon is on.....................

Yesterday went to Burnt Mill Creek in Bay County.  Loaded up on specks but nary a keeper. At least we had fun catching.

I think I'm snake bite in this neck of the woods. Hope to break the jinx with a trip to Lake Talquin later this month. Friend from Kansas (a top notch crappie angler) playing snowbird for a montn in Destin.  Sister in Tallahassee going on a cruise and has offered her house. So if nothing happens we will be over there for a couple of days and poach a little in Jeffrey's neck of the woods.

Hey, remeber when I posted about fishing in Texas? Got an emila today from one of my fishing friends out there and will share with you. Lake Dunlap is where I fished. Have never caught so many shellcrackes in my life. This report is real and what's it's like in this lake.