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Pensacola Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The deep pass city: emerald surf, monster bull reds in the bay, and the western gate of Florida fishing.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
High 10:19 PM
Air / High
79 / 81 F
Wind
SE 7 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8729840, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Pensacola offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 7 mph, steady pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 81. Tides: high 11:06 AM and 10:19 PM, low 5:49 AM and 3:12 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 78 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:25 AM-11:25 AM and 9:52 PM-11:52 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Redfish (red drum)Excellent

Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled troutExcellent

Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 75 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Florida requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $17.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a Florida licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing redfish (red drum) here? Check the size and bag limits with FWC before you keep anything. The season dates for Florida, read off the agency, are on the Florida seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8729840 (Pensacola). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
LOW5:49 AM0.8 ft
HIGH11:06 AM1.0 ft
LOW3:12 PM1.0 ft
HIGH10:19 PM1.2 ft
Sat
LOW7:05 AM0.6 ft
HIGH10:19 PM1.4 ft

Pensacola tide chart: the week and the month β†’

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp79 F
High / Low81 / 54 F
WindSE 7-11 mph
Pressure1018.8 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset06:56 / 18:09
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~78 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Pensacola this week

The best day on Pensacola this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” good at 4/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:25 AM-11:25 AM and 9:52 PM-11:52 PM
Minor period
3:46 AM-4:46 AM
Sun
06:56 to 18:09
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 14 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Pensacola: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Redfish (red drum) illustration

Redfish (red drum)

Best: late-summer and fall bull run; inshore all year

Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), called redfish across the South, is a bronze inshore drum with a black spot near the tail, fished on grass flats, oyster bars, marsh creeks and beaches from the Chesapeake around Florida to Texas. Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled trout illustration

Speckled trout

Shallow bays spring and summer; deeper water in winter

Speckled trout is the anglers' name for the spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), a spotted member of the drum family that lives in shallow bays and estuaries from the Chesapeake to Texas. Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

When to come: the Pensacola calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Redfish (red drum)
Speckled trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 78 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~78 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Pensacola today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 81 F, wind to 6 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 8 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 77 F, wind to 9 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Florida requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Florida saltwater license. Redfish: catch-and-release only in the Pensacola zone under current FWC rules: check before keeping anything.

Access

Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier, Fort Pickens jetty area, Bob Sikes bridge fishing pier, and state park surf access.

About this water

Pensacola Bay and Santa Rosa Island, Escambia County, FL. The deepest natural pass on the northern Gulf.

Fishing Pensacola: the full guide

Deepwater doorstep

Pensacola Pass runs 60-plus feet deep: a rare deep cut that pulls Gulf species right into the bay. The result is a fishery with unusual range: bull redfish schooling inside the bay all winter, big king mackerel within sight of the beach, sheepshead stacked on the bridge rubble, and classic emerald-coast surf for pompano.

Bridges, pass and beach

The Pensacola Bay Bridge rubble and the Three Mile Bridge remains are structure cities: sheepshead, drum, reds and mangrove snapper in summer. The pass and its jetty edges fish on every tide change. Surf anglers work the state park beaches; winter aficionados chase the bay's famous bull red schools under diving pelicans.

The three-bridge circuit

Pensacola's inshore fishery organizes around its bridges: the Pensacola Bay bridge rubble holds sheepshead and redfish; Bob Sikes' lights make night trout fishing a local institution; the Three Mile's remnants stack everything with current. Beyond, the pass's green water meets the Gulf: king mackerel run the color change and tarpon roll through summer. A bridge rod and a jig bucket cover half the calendar.

Common questions

Why is redfish harvest closed around Pensacola?

FWC moved several Panhandle zones to catch-and-release after population dips: the winter bull red schools remain spectacular sport, on a photo-and-release basis. Confirm current-year rules.

What is the night bite at Bob Sikes?

The bridge lights stack shrimp and glass minnows after dark, and speckled trout feed in the shadow lines: free-lined shrimp or soft plastics swung through the light edges. Falling tide nights are prime.

Is fishing good at Pensacola right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Escambia River16 miNavarre21 miGulf Shores31 miDestin43 miMobile Bay47 miChoctawhatchee Bay53 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8729840 β€” Pensacola
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 8 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 30.4040, -87.2110 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.