Don’t let the body of water’s size keep you from fishing from a canoe or kayak. When it comes to catching fish, these small crafts have a distinct advantage as long as you’re judicious about watching the weather conditions.

Another advantage is that launching a canoe or kayak is easy. It requires no ramp, just a place to park.

For more than two decades, my wife, Cathy, and I have been canoeing the waters of Choctawhatchee Bay and catching our favorite table fare, speckled sea trout. That’s not to say we don’t keep a few redfish and flounder as well, because we do. Those species are just as eager to bite as trout are.

The 27-mile long Choctawhatchee Bay ranges in width from 1 to 6 miles and reaches a depth of 40 feet. Grasses and small patches of oyster beds abound in its sandy, shallow, greenish-brown expanses of brackish water. At the eastern end of the bay, the Choctawhatchee River and Black Creek wind their way through swamps to dump tannic-stained water into the bay.

Other freshwater streams flowing into the bay are Bear, Fourmile, Alaqua, Basin, Trout, Rocky, Mullet, Piney, and Juniper creeks.

Low tide draws in saltwater from Santa Rosa Sound, Destin Pass and the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) at the eastern end of the bay. High tides drain from the bay via the same routes.

Submerged patches of brown sea grass grow in shallow flats, with much of the rest of the bay bottom covered with mud and sand.

As a result, most game-fish species hug the marshes on the edges of the bay, hang out around bridges, pilings and piers, or cruise around grass and oyster beds.

Some of the best fishing areas for trout, striped bass, redfish, black drum, and flounder from east to west around the bay include the many mouths of Choctawhatchee River; La Grange or Alaqua bayous; from Alaqua Point and Basin Bayou to Hammock Point; the long stretch from Mullet Creek to Buccaroo Point; from Bens Lake to Black Point; the entrance to the ICW at Fort Walton Beach; Joes Bayou at Destin; the grassbeds from the new State Route 293 bridge east of Destin to Legion Park boat ramp; Horseshoe, Mack or Hogtown bayous; and the entrance to the ICW at Point Washington.

Canoeing or kayaking on the waters in and around Choctawhatchee Bay gives you a cross-section perspective of Panhandle Florida’s fishing opportunities. Speckled trout are usually the most active species and, as is true in most of the state, are the most popular target of anglers.

You find a variety of grassbeds in different shapes and sizes, and it looks like you can catch trout just about anywhere you cast. The specks, however, often hold in depressions and holes inside the grassbeds or on grassbeds that form points.

WIND
One important point when tackling Choctawahatchee Bay in a small paddle craft is using the weather and water conditions to your advantage -- specifically, the wind and water currents.

Approaching a grassbed, we look for tide and wind directions so that the current, the wind or both will carry us stealthily along or through the grass. This is easier for a canoe or kayak than a larger boat.