An Experiment in Fly Fishing in Panama City Beach

by Scott
(Fairfax, VA)

I have been fly fishing in fresh water for many years and decided to try my hand at salt water fly fishing. I did a little research - very little actually - before our family vacation to Panama City Beach.

My friend is stationed at Eglin AFB and bragged about the fishing and so I decided to take him up on the offer for a day of guided fishing. He first showed me a “sacred” spot of his where he promised fishing success. Well, it was true. He did succeed in landing a few good sized blue fish while I was happy to catch a good sun burn. (It’s a good idea to marinate in sun tan lotion if you have skin as white as the filling in a Twinkie like I do.)

The next day I was able to determine that fish are attracted to sun burn as I landed a beautiful Spanish mackerel off of a jetty in Saint Andrews Park. I think it was completely by accident though. In my 30 minute research project of fishing in Panama City Beach I learned Spanish mackerel are pretty tough to locate and attract never mind landing one. I am still convinced this one was laughing at my sloppy fly presentation and fell on my hook in the middle of pointing it out to his friends. I thoroughly enjoyed this one opportunity to be smarter than a fish and I will forever remember Panama City Beach as THE place where I outsmarted a Spanish mackerel. And I learned not to be cheap with the sun protection.