Ideal fishing conditions for Apalachee Bay

[PhishingNole]

Obligatory the best time to go fishing is when you can....

Also obligatory you can catch fish anytime regardless of x, y, and z...

If you are looking at options to go fishing, specific to Apalachee Bay, what are the conditions you really look for? Of course, this will be species specific, but let's assume trout, redfish, and flounder:

Tidal coefficient: higher seems to be preferable, but why?

Tide: do you prefer a specific period?

Pressure: Does this matter?

Solunar table: snake oil or is it actually useful?

Water temp: is there a bare minimum? A range you fish in the river vs the flats?

Waves: I've seen a lot of folks say a beautiful, calm day is the worst for fishing. What constitutes a good height and period?

Hot/cold front: Do you prefer a specific time before, during, and after a front?


Thanks in advance, I'm really enjoying reading through this site and learning. Hopefully I can contribute with some useful reports in the future.

[Juan]

This is going to get a lot of different answers.
I prefer a slight breeze on an incoming tide and the closer to high, the better but any tide as long as the water is moving is good.
When water temps fall below about 60, I 'll go closer to creeks and bayous.
I believe pressure does make a difference at times.. I seem to have some of my better days a day or two before a front arrives.
I also spit on my hooks and don't allow bananas on the boat.
That's all I'm telling for free.

It should be called "Therapy" … but it's called "fishing" for a reason and not "catching". The fun is in the chase.

[tailwaters]

A lot depends on how you like to fish and what you like to fish for. Even inshore. For me personally, I like to sight fish for reds. The ideal conditions for that is having the water level under 2' , wind under 5mph, water temp at 60 plus and no clouds.

Fishing for trout on the flats it seams like the ideal water temp to be around 70-75 and have plenty of tidal movement. A little breeze and cloud cover helps too.

[Red Beard]

PhishingNole,

You never know unless you go.. Waiting for conditions to be “right” will have you spending a lot of time at home.

Ideal to a fish is not always ideal and comfortable for the angler.

Don’t get caught up on all the details. They play their part but should not be the reason you fish or don’t fish. Every trip a lesson can be learned and knowledge gained I believe.

The big picture is you going out and taking your time on the water. Nothing can substitute for time on the water.

I known this may not have been the response you wanted. But it’s the best advice I could give.

Golf and Fishing are similar in the fact the best golfer on the course is putting in the time working through the shanks and bogeys. The bad golfer plays when it’s convenient and wonders why he shanks and slices. See where I’m going..?

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[4reels]

Best thing I ever did was pay a guide to go with me a few times when I got back into salt water fishing a couple of years ago. Lots of great guides out there. I have used Capt. Mike at St. Marks Outfitters. Great guy, knowledgeable, and fun to fish with. I wouldn’t expect them to just give you all of their secrets, but they can educate you on fish behavior, how to stay safe on the water, how to keep your lower unit intact, and general trends. After that, I just go out and “practice” what I’ve learned. After some trial & error, you’ll start figuring things out.
Fish don’t want to be too cold (or too hot), they want food nearby, and they don’t want to be eaten!
For me, I know how much tide I need to get to certain areas, and I know my comfort level for going out to some reefs. I go when I can, and I have a certain game plan for certain tides, wave heights, temps, etc.


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[procraftwes]

If you want to learn the answers to those questions quickly then spend a little money and hire a guide.

I'm a lazy fisherman so I just go about 1 mile from the lighthouse and work east with a popping cork and gulp on a jighead 80% of the time. You won't catch many reds this way and mostly trout but things wander by. Try different depths but the hotter it is the deeper they are and the deeper you fish the more leader below your popping cork you'll need. This will get you started and catch fish.

Rig a sabiki rig, put a tiny amount of shrimp on the hook, catch pinfish and use them for bait. This tactic is great when you're catching tons of small trout but no keepers. I like them fished the same way as above(popping cork).. You can also cut a couple pins off the top to make him look more wounded but don't find it's needed much. Can't hurt to have live shrimp too although I find Gulp works about 90% as much and less bait thieving..


After you get that down you can try the oyster bars and from there work your way into the creeks depending on your boat. Personally I have more luck out on the grass flats.


From there it's risk reward in getting shallow creeks chasing reds, running the rock garden, etc but you'll catch fish the lazy way.

[big bend gyrene]

LOTS of "it depends" variables to weigh depending on precisely what you're wanting to do.

For anyone wanting to fish the Econfina and Aucilla area, I'd say do lots of charting homework AT HOME before you even go to pick as safe of paths as possible for exploration, then only stay out initially as long as you have a +1.5' tide, and that's in the late spring and summer months -- winter tides tend to run low to predicted values. If fishing less rocky spots in the west side of the bay, advice wouldn't be nearly as critical, so you can see what I mean by "it depends." And don't hesitate to pose questions for how best to target a general area as folks will share the GENERAL info you're looking for readily... GPS spots, understandably not (for the most part), but techniques they will!

All that said, speaking to general guidance I DO put value in solunar, specifically bite period peaks. In fishing our area, especially offshore, I've found the peak bite to correlate with predictions quite well. I actually value the hourly predictions more than the overall day predictions, as I've spent consecutive days on the water where both were predicted to be red-hot solunar wise and it turned out that one of the two days would be great while the other almost dead. It appeared to be both based on heavy feeding the previous day and bait movement out of the area. But better bet that if the peak bite hourly range is predicted in daylight hours I'm going to do my best to be fishing around that time, as again, I've seen close correlation quite often.

As for flat days, I've had plenty of luck on many of them. My preference is for a VERY light wind, but not due to any effect on the fishing bite as much as tiny bit of relief when things get hot and the breeze brings the slightest bit of sweet relief. Wind and a bit of chop will also gain you a bit of ability to move closer to fixed spots without spooking fish -- if flat and doing target fishing such as trying to pick reds off oyster bars, just have to be extra stealthy and helps to make as distant of casts as possible. Used to double-digit reds regularly years ago when fishing with forum member Sharkman, but he seriously was nearly religious about shutting off his engine a 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile from spots and making perfectly quiet approaches a few yards at a time, with pauses between to cast towards the spot... inch forward... cast towards the spot... inch forward... repeat and rinse 100 to 1000 times or so.

While agree with general advice to go when can so can learn as much as possible, does sometimes pay to looks at sites like windfinder and weather radar before deciding to go. Thin linear squall heading our way, you'll want to wait to launch until after it passes... but still might can make a trip. Widespread storms building to the west that look like they're going to pound the bay all day, better to leave the boat at home and if just have to fish do so from shore or make it a pond day somewhere. Think there was a thread a while back where folks shared their spookiest stories, but most of us have pushed our luck a time or two on this last note and found ourselves wishing we hadn't.

[woopty]

When you cast off at dawn in in the mist, take a smooth ride out to your numbers, with a load of live bait, on a new moon, and you look at your buddy and you both know this is gonna get scary!

I look for those conditions.

woop

[STMU]

Strong incoming tide near dawn right in the middle of the week. Aside from the recent uptick, usually pretty quiet on the water then. Really, any strong tide at dawn, whether incoming or outgoing, so long as you have enough water on outgoing.

Very lucky to have a job where I make my own hours, so rarely fish on the weekends. Too crowded!

[eightwt]

As a fly guy, breeze under 10 and I'm happy. Oh, and some water movement is nice. And some wildlife to watch. Hate when there's no birds flying, dolphins swimming, mullet jumping, turtles coming up for air.

[FlyrodC]

As a fly guy, breeze under 10 and I'm happy. Oh, and some water movement is nice. And some wildlife to watch. Hate when there's no birds flying, dolphins swimming, mullet jumping, turtles coming up for air.

Ideal time to fish Apalachee Bay...for the rest of our lives.

8wt, am heading back to Montana this morning and won't be back until November. Let's get out next season.