Don't have a boat? No worries, you can still catch a bounty of fish

Many anglers who visit the Panama City area come without boats, but that’s not a huge problem in a destination like the Emerald Coast, especially in late October and early November.

Not only are there literally hundreds of boats of all sizes for rent and for charter, there’s also very good — and free — wade-fishing or kayak fishing around both St. Andrew Bay and Choctawhatchee Bay as the water cools in fall.

I enjoyed some great action on blues, jacks, ladyfish, trout and reds both from rental pontoons and also while wade-fishing on a recent visit to Grand Lagoon, just on the west side of the PCB Pass.

As throughout the Panama City Beach area, there are loads of quality accommodations very close to the water — but one of the very few directly on the bay with docks right in front of the hotel is the upscale Sheraton Panama City Beach Golf and Spa Resort on Jan Cooley Drive. Check them out at https://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/pfnsi-sheraton-panama-city-beach-golf-and-spa-resort.

The hotel, rebuilt repeatedly after getting hammered by hurricanes, is now ideal for those who enjoy boating and fishing as part of their beach vacation. It’s directly on Grand Lagoon, with an extended walkway reaching out across grass flats and needle-rush marsh to the marina, and to some great wade fishing.

There’s also a private beach on the lagoon here — a good spot for those who don’t like the waves and the crowds of the main beach along the Front Beach strip. (If the fish don’t bite — rare — you can always play golf or tennis, or enjoy the miles of great walking paths.) Anglers also usually like Flip-Flops, an open-air bar and restaurant overlooking the lagoon.

Alligator Point extends out from the corner where Grand Lagoon makes off to the west from St. Andrew Bay proper, and like many “elbows,” it’s a likely fishing spot. There’s grass here to several hundred yards offshore, all wadable at depths from 1 to 3 feet. For those not staying at the hotel, there’s a public access at the end of Jan Cooley Drive good for wading access or to launch a kayak.

I caught trout and one big redfish throwing a Rapala Skitterwalk topwater at dawn off the point. After the sun got high, the trout and reds disappeared but several schools of 2- to 3-pound bluefish swarmed baits on the edge of the flats — a half-ounce Krockodile spoon caught all I wanted.

The only problem on this flat is that it’s so huge, stretching far to the north, you can go a half-mile between schools of fish, so bring your wading booties (or your kayak) and plan on moving steadily until you get where the fish are.

For rental boats, one good option is Lagoon Pontoons off Thomas Drive, which has a good assortment of modern, well-maintained pontoons, all with plenty of shade, strong, heavy anchoring systems and late model Suzuki outboard power to 90 horses. The tri-toon boats are big enough for 12, so you can haul the whole family and friends — maybe drop the beach lovers on Shell Island, just across the pass, and keep the anglers onboard while you drift the pass or the flats. Check them out at www.lagoonpontoons.com.

The pass varies from 35- to 48-feet deep, and some areas of the bottom have rocks and coral, both fish attractors. As the main entry into the vast bay, this pass is a fish highway, and has strong currents running through it on every tide change, pulling tons of bait along with it.

The current and the bait draw the gamefish — it’s constant jack crevalle, redfish, bluefish, Spanish and even an occasional big king mackerel, particularly at the ends of the rock jetties. We were there in advance of the flounder season, but this is a flounder highway starting in mid-November as the fish pour out to spawn off the beaches — fish a live killifish on bottom around the channel markers.

A DOA or Vudu Shrimp is a good bet for drifting along the rock edges — choose the larger sizes and fish them on 20-pound-test braid, because you might hook up with anything from a 2-pound trout to a 25-pound jack in this area.

If you want to target the toothy predators — blues, Spanish and kings — a live LY, sardine, finger mullet or pinfish on a size 6 treble, perhaps with a small stinger hook in the tail, will be the ticket, and don’t forget a 12-inch leader of number 6 dark wire.

There are also nice mangrove snapper on the deep rocks, and an occasional keeper-sized gag grouper — put down a live sardine for them on 60-pound-tackle.

The pontoon rental agencies request that you don’t get outside the pass, no matter how smooth and inviting the Gulf may look on any given day, but you can fish all those inviting rocks along the edges by drifting with the flow, and that’s usually all it takes to connect. (A designated driver keeps the boat off the rocks while the others cast, then switches off — there’s too much current and too many boat wakes to make driving the boat casual in the pass itself.)

If all this is not enough to provide your angling fix, you can also visit St. Andrews State Park by car, walk out to the beach and fish the surf. There are lots of new hotspots along the beach thanks to the recent storms.

Look for runouts, evidenced by darker cuts through the bar nearest the beach, and fish Fish Bites Sand Flea flavor baits in these areas on the standard pompano rig, available pre-tied from Half-Hitch Tackle on Thomas Drive and other sources.

You can also find trout, blues and reds at times on the back side of St. Andrews, with lots more wadable grass flats — visit on moving water and look for bait schools.

And of course all this is added to one of the largest charter and party boat fleets on the Gulf of Mexico, ready to take you out for anything from red snapper and grouper to blackfin tuna and blue marlin.

In short, there’s no need to bring a boat to the Emerald Coast to enjoy the fishy bounty. For information on other accommodations, restaurants and area attractions, go to www.visitpanamacitybeach.com.