St. Marks 8/27

[FishnTim]

After a couple of short shakedown runs the last couple of weekends in the new-to-me flats skiff, I was finally ready to hit the water for some serious fishing this weekend. The tides and weather looked less than cooperative, but my buddy Ed and I decided to give it a go Sunday morning. We hit the lighthouse ramp before daylight, with a steady wind blowing from the NE. We dawdled a little getting everything ready, but were still second to launch.

We ran east into the steady NE wind and started a drift roughly in front of Gray Mare at sunrise in 3 feet of water. We did a few drifts getting pushed out by the tide and wind to deeper water in fairly short order, running in a little further west, drifting back out again. We had to work for fish but ended up with three solid keeper trout - 19", and two 17" - by 11:00 a.m., plus half a dozen shorts and a few trash fish. All fish were caught on new penny Gulps or root beer DOAs under popping corks. The keepers were also all caught in shallow water - 3-4 feet.

About that time the sun started shining pretty well, and the tide getting pretty low, so we ran down and hit Cobb rocks looking to see if any redfish were holding on them. No joy in mudville. Contemplated trying a couple of creeks, but with the chop on the water, a very low tide, and not having good routes marked on the new GPS yet, decided to give it a pass. So we ran back to the ramp and got there to the lowest water I've ever seen in the canal. That wind must have really pushed the water out. Even with my motor jacked all the way up I still rubbed the skeg on the ramp bumper putting the boat on the trailer. No harm to the skeg though, so it was all good.

Water clarity was surprisingly good, and the cloud cover pretty consistent despite the wind until late morning. Frankly, we did better than I expected. And, I continue to be impressed with the new Bay Craft - it really handled the chop well and we stayed pretty dry when running given the conditions.

I'm still trying to master sharing pictures - I will add a couple if I figure it out. I'm going to try to post more of my trips in the future. I've learned a lot on this forum over the years!

[fishinfool]

Glad to hear you are getting comfortable with the new boat. I am also glad you continue to keep the skunk knocked off. I can't wait until we get a chance to go together.

[Steve Stinson]

I fished the same area on Saturday launching out of the Aucilla. Strong outgoing tide when I got there and a lot of freshwater / trash flowing down the river. I ran through West Pass and fished some of the bars around the entrance to Sulphur Bayou then over toward Redfish Pt. Lots of dark water and no fish. Tide was getting so low that I couldn't make it up to Redfish Pt. so I headed over to Cobb's. No luck there either, so I let the strong wind push me offshore. When I got out to about 6 or 7 feet of water, I started catching fish and did okay. Water was still cloudy, but they would hit that "Butt Naked" colored jig that they've been giving away in the NFGFC raffles.

I don't think the tide ever came back in on Saturday. Low tide was at noon, so I waited until about 3:30 pm before running back in and still had to slow down coming back through West Pass because I could see the tops of the crab traps sticking out of the water.

- Steve Stinson

[tailwaters]

SGV and I fished SM Sat morning too. Not the best of conditions. We got two reds on top water along with a few small trout. Both reds measured 26". We went up a couple creeks but didn't see much life so didn't stay long. Hit a couple spots along the shoreline that produced the fish we caught. I was surprised at the lack of bait. Over the last couple months it's been thick but we saw hardly any Sat. Headed back to the landing by 11:30.