Spooky130u

I live in Fort Walton Beach, FL. That's in NW Florida, roughly half-way between Pensacola and
Panama City. I fish from bridges and if I find a decent one (must be free right now) where there are
actually fish (I've seen some that are as dead as dead can be). I'm still looking for good docks for now.

Anyways, that's just to just FYI. My real question is, can someone help me combine all of the different
bits about weather, pressure, tides, the moon, this solunar stuff, etc., and how it impacts fishing in
inshore gulf coast waters that are around 5 to 20 feet deep? Fishing for spec, redfish, whiting, and
when I have money again to buy chum and either find or buy sand fleas for bait, sheepshead.

Are there times when shiny plastic jigs with hair and a hook work best, when Fishbites aren't
likely to take hits (and similar questions along those lines)?

What I'm looking for is the simplest way to rank and combine all of this into one best summary type
answer: do I go fishing today (and if so, when) or work on my (still-growing) home business (which
I hope will eventually bring in enough money to no longer have to rely on social "security" disability
which, again, my first cancer forced me in to) instead? If it's going to be a great day at the bridge, I
need to be there catching healthy food I can't afford to buy. If not, I need to be home working. I
realize that's a bit of an oversimplification, and it's not going to ever be THAT simple, but a
general-purpose guideline would be nice...assuming, of course, that such a thing exists.....

For example, today:

Yesterday was nice (maybe some very light rain), but the two or three days before that we had
thunderstorms and heavy rain. The pressure was low, as expected, but has now risen fairly steeply
back up to 29.75, and just dinged as the next sample went back to 29.74. Today's low tide was at
0340 this morning, and today's high tide is at 1758 this evening (the tide is currently rising). The
solunar stuff says today is a big zero for fishing. I'm about to get changed and go to the bridge,
based on the tides alone. I suppose I'll find out, but in general, should I also be considering the
now slowly rising pressure? Solunar stuff? Is it still too soon after the heavy rains?

Those are the kinds of questions I can't figure out answers to. Oh, and just so everyone knows,
one reason is my first cancer and what it did to my brain. Three brain tumors, three very severe
brain surgeries to remove said tumors, followed by whole-brain/max-dose radiation therapy. Add
to that severe chemotherapy with one of the most evil chemo drugs on the planet: cisplatin (aka
platinol), which is basically 100% pure distilled evil in an IV bag. Researchers used to believe
that chemo did not cross into the brain, but now they know it does. Before cancer #1, I took an
IQ test, and don't know, from it, what my IQ actually is because it only went up to 153 (I maxed
it out). Now, however, I doubt I could even approach that just because of what cancer #1 did.
So it takes me longer to learn new stuff (pictures help!).

Thanks,
--jim

Now goin' fishing to see if anything's moving.

flyguy Loc: Lake Onalaska, Sunfish Capitol of the World!

This is just a brief summary. All saltwater eat live shrimp. There are a lot of free piers, passes, bridges and of course the surf if there is access. Your area is the most beautiful area on the Gulf Coast but access is limited. Check to see if there is a fishing/weather/tide report for your area. It will tell you when the fish are most active in relation to the tide, air pressure, etc. Check to see if there are any local fishing forums from your area. A lot of good info. can be found on them. I know the Gulf Shores Fishing Forum is the best that there is and that is a short distance to the West of you. Pensacola has one too but it is not a good one. Some are good and some aren't. Good luck and tight lines!

Spooky130u

Is that Gulf Shores as in the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, or Gulf Shores in (where is it...lower Alabama or MS?)

I (or rather, google) found a Gulf Shores Forum under TripAdvisor, but I'm guessing that's not the one.
Do you have a link to their main site?

Thanks,
--jim

PS: I've found several apps that claim to have fishing reports (they do, but few and far between),
and one local (well, Destin, I think) bait shop that has the same fishing report now that it did in late
February (seems to be more for tourists). And another site that's from boat captains and are about
offshore fishing (with the FL Inshore license I have, even if I knew how to fish from a kayak, I couldn't
do so).

flyguy Loc: Lake Onalaska, Sunfish Capitol of the World!

I'm talking Gulf Shores, AL. about 40 miles West of Pensacola, FL. Try www.gulfshorespierfishingforum.com/activity. They are very friendly, helpful people but they will not know anything about Fort Walton Beach fishing, only the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, AL. area. But if the kings are hitting on the pier in Gulf Shores, they could be hitting on the piers in Destin. If the sheeps are hitting live shrimp in Gulf Shores, they may be also hitting on live shrimp in Destin, etc. Give them a try.

dafjib Loc: Asheville ,N.C.

Get over to Gulf County or call COC . They can tell you what and where is catching ,or call any bait shop .
Gulf county has great fresh water fishing also …

Spooky130u

Thanks. I'll check that one out, along with some others I found via Google (it actually seems to have given useful search results for a change).

I've also figured out a few other things. Today and tomorrow are all supposed to be nice all day/night.

Saturday is expected to be mostly cloudy and windy. The moon will be at the "waxing crescent" stage, headed for a full moon on my birthday (19April). So it's coming off of a new moon, which I gather is a
good thing. The low tide on Saturday is at 0724, and the high tide is at 2130, with a reasonably sharp
rise (about a 45 degree angle, +/- 5 degrees) from low tide to high tide. Pressure should be dropping
pretty fast on Saturday, too.

Sunday, on the other hand, has a 90% chance of thunderstorms. In this area, anything below about 50%
at this time of year is the "remember yesterday's forecast? repeat for today" forecast. 60%--70% means
there's a decent chance of rain and thunderstorms. 80% means you're probably going to see some thunderstorms at some point during the day. 90% ... It's going to be thunderstorms and rain,
period, probably all day. Otherwise, the "standard forecast" at this time of year is "30 to 40 percent
chance of mainly afternoon and evening thunderstorms."

So I figure I'll get out to the Shalimar bridge at anytime between 1000 and 1400 (NOT forgetting to put sunscreen on this time!) and if all goes well, hopefully get into some spec, redfish, and/or whiting (I'm not sure if I've had whiting, but I've heard great things about it).

I also found a bunch of nice fishing apps for my android phone; tides, fish weather, moon phases, a nice barometer app with pressure tracking, one that holds an image of my fishing license, etc., plus NWS and
Weather Underground (and, fwiw besides those, The Weather Channel, just because it was already installed).