Rough seas have made getting offshore quite a challenge so far this fall and winter. With every approaching cold front, comes a strong southeasterly flow of winds ranging from 15 to 25 knots and occasionally stronger.

This has been producing seas in the 5- to 9- feet range with very few calm days to get out to wet a hook.

We were able to make a trip the first part of December only because we thought we had a real hardy crew. Seas were 4 to 6 feet that day with a 20 knot east wind and our crew turned out not to be as hardy as we had thought.

Fifty percent of our 12-man crew was down with the dreaded sea sick virus, but the healthy anglers did catch some really nice fish.

They caught Vermilion snapper, Trigger fish, a Red grouper and some really nice Red Snapper and Gag Grouper which had to be released due to the closed season.

On the last stop of the day, we broke them in on some Greater Amberjacks. We were allowed 12 Amberjacks for the day and they were all caught in about 30 minutes.

Ralph Hillard, Capt. Rusty Smith, and mate Yabo show off a 140-pound Big Eye Tuna caught aboard the Entertainer 100 miles offshore. Our crew was surprised at how many and how fast they bit. They never realized how strong of a fight one of these, Reef Donkeys we call them, can produce. All these fish were in the 50-pound class and put up quite a struggle for the anglers.

When the winds will allow you to get out, the fishing is still good for just about any of the bottom dwellers and should remain that way throughout the month of December and January.

Due the colder water temperatures you will have to fish in the 180-foot range and deeper to be successful.

Inshore fishing has been red hot in and around the Pensacola Pass. The Red fish action has been on fire.

They are also schooling in large schools up near the Bob Sikes Bridge and around the Peaks Point area. Just look for the large flocks of Pelicans diving into the schools of bait fish. Just beneath the pelicans, you will find the hottest Red fish action ever.

As January approaches, you may want to try down to the west side of the Pensacola Pass in the Gulf.

These fish tend to move out of the bays and can be found within a mile of the shoreline. Just like in the bay look for the large flocks of diving birds and just beneath them should be a lot of action. Any kind of flashy plug or spoon should produce a hook-up.

Back up in the Pensacola Bay the White Trout and Sheepshead have been biting really well. The Bob Sikes Bridge and Pickens Pier have been producing some good size Sheepshead. You can try live shrimp or fiddler crabs if you can find them.

Generally the cold fronts will slow down during the month of January and should produce a little calmer seas than what we have been seeing. This is a great time to get out and try out some of that new fishing tackle Santa may have dropped off at your house.

Let’s get any of your older tackle back in shape for the spring season because it is just around the corner. Most area tackle shops offer their services to over haul, grease, replace line and fix broken guides on fishing rods.

This the time of year to get this maintenance done so you will not miss a day of action when the chance arises.

For your next fishing adventure, check us out on the web at www.entertainercharter.com and like us on face book. We will be posting a lot of our daily catches so you can see just what is going on. As we always say “May the good fishing be Yours!”