Mangrove Snapper, Speckled Trout in Bayou Chico - Pensacola

I launched at 9:30 this morning on an overcast day with the tide moving in, but it wasn’t strong. There was barely any wind and it was the tail end of a major peak. I started off with a 4” white Z-Man paddletail on a 1/4 ounce Eyestrike trout finesse jig head. I was getting bites but no hookups. I then saw several schools of small baitfish. I switched to a smaller profile Biobait swimbait and 1/8 ounce jighead. I immediately got a hookup and it was a dink speckled trout which confirmed my suspicion smaller schools of trout were following the schools of bait. After another dink I proceeded east following the south shoreline of the bayou. If I get a couple dinks in a row I usually just move as I don’t want to put pressure on smaller fish. I launched at the back of the bayou with intentions of staying west of the bridge but I changed plans. Since I was catching dinks in the back, I was hoping there would be bigger trout heading east. The trout didn’t get much bigger. I made it all the way to the mouth and back and caught one that was around keeper size. The highlight of the trip was catching a mangrove snapper. All told I may have caught around 8 speckled trout and the one mangrove. I didn’t catch any monsters but it was a fun trip on the water. Bayou Chico is laid back and great for kayaking.