Fished St. Marks last 2 Fridays

[Ted in Tallahassee]

Man I have not had a two consecutive hard day's fishing with near zero luck in a long time. Last Friday headed out with 18 y/o son just past dawn, threw topwaters and Gulp jigs tipped with shrimp at the usual redfish spots and nothing but two catfish on the jigs. Went out to flats east of lighthouse and tried poppers for trout, nothing. VERY HOT. Moved around, nothing, maybe a short. Went out past Grey Mare, fished inside and outside of it, just a couple short trout & a ladyfish or two. Fished for reds more along grassline, SAW several, had one on that threw the jig, could not get any others to bite. Finally got a keeper trout out by the Bird Rack, and then headed in, trying again for reds on some of the bars, nothing doing. VERY HOT. Could not locate any scallops either. Tough day.

Then yesterday went out again with 26 y/o son, was not much different than the previous Friday, VERY HOT, did not get any trout or reds, and we even TRIED to catch sharks out a little ways past the Bird Rack, chumming on the end of the outgoing tide, NOTHING. The only excitement was getting drenched on the way in when we went through a raging thunderstorm. Got a good rinse and cool-off. But it's been a long time since I had nothing but ice in the fish box.

I'm ready for fall.

[fishdux]

Sounds pretty close to what we have been doing. Last Saturday we had 3 keeper trout and a handfull of rockbass. I cant wait for fall either. On a good note, my brother limited on scallops out of St Marks yesterday and said the water was really clear. I didnt get a depth but I know he is too lazy to go over 5 feet.

[DixieReb]

Tough 2 days for sure. Some guys are doing pretty good in 10-12 ft. out of Econfina, I just haven't been in a while.

[GaryDroze]

My creek wading buddies will hate me for giving up this info, but I gotta say the creeks east of the lighthouse are crawling with slot reds. Those bada##es don't care if the water is hot, as long as crabs & mullet are in there. If you see those two forage eatables in a refuge creek, you can expect reds to be around.

That was tantamount to a White House leak, but I hate to think of somebody taking a family down to the coast and coming back w/o fishies.

[procraftwes]

Man I have not had a two consecutive hard day's fishing with near zero luck in a long time. Last Friday headed out with 18 y/o son just past dawn, threw topwaters and Gulp jigs tipped with shrimp at the usual redfish spots and nothing but two catfish on the jigs. Went out to flats east of lighthouse and tried poppers for trout, nothing. VERY HOT. Moved around, nothing, maybe a short. Went out past Grey Mare, fished inside and outside of it, just a couple short trout & a ladyfish or two. Fished for reds more along grassline, SAW several, had one on that threw the jig, could not get any others to bite. Finally got a keeper trout out by the Bird Rack, and then headed in, trying again for reds on some of the bars, nothing doing. VERY HOT. Could not locate any scallops either. Tough day.

Then yesterday went out again with 26 y/o son, was not much different than the previous Friday, VERY HOT, did not get any trout or reds, and we even TRIED to catch sharks out a little ways past the Bird Rack, chumming on the end of the outgoing tide, NOTHING. The only excitement was getting drenched on the way in when we went through a raging thunderstorm. Got a good rinse and cool-off. But it's been a long time since I had nothing but ice in the fish box.

I'm ready for fall.

Try 6-8' of water, popping cork with bait of choice but double the length of your leader to get it close to the bottom but just out of pinfish range(or use a pinfish as bait).. Those suckers get lazy when it's hot.

Also fish early and leave early.