St Marks 10/23

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eightwt
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Joined: November 29th, 2014, 9:11 pm

St Marks 10/23

Post by eightwt »

Water clarity continues to be less than ideal. As well as floating grass. We started out deeper and I got one Spanish but things were slow so we went shallow and drifted towards creek mouth. Ran into schools of reds with tails out. Did manage an over slot fatty. We put a couple into cooler. Son also pulled a 27” tripletail and an over spec on gold spoon. Fished up into creek, but nothing was around or at least biting.

Need to tie up more flys with weed guards, although not perfect, but do help with all this floating grass around.

Have been finding some trout last few weeks, but all dinks.
ropeman
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Joined: July 23rd, 2007, 1:24 am

Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by ropeman »

Sunday was the same with water clarity and floating grass.
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Terrier
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Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by Terrier »

Maybe the cooler weather will kick things off - lots of rain this summer murked up the water. The floodplains are still full of water and the rain yesterday didn't help.
leonreno
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Joined: June 13th, 2004, 4:18 pm
Location: Southwest GA

Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by leonreno »

If you are in search of clearer water, last weekend I fish just north of Keaton Beach and south of spring warrior the shallow water was crystal clear, saw many reds and specs in less than 2’. Got a couple of hits but they were a little spooked by me. Was a lot of grass though.
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Terrier
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Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by Terrier »

Fished the refuge Sunday - got one 15" trout off the lighthouse bars. Tried the bars to the west - knew it would be tough when I saw a big Alligator gar swim by - too much freshwater. I did get a fly-by from 'Pinkie' the flamingo, so that was interesting.
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Terrier
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Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by Terrier »

Refuge was active yesterday - water was clear and cool, but not cold. Picked up 26 trout, most 16" - 18", with two overslots at 21" and 23". Added a flounder and a few short reds. Olive over white clouser with minimal flash seemed to work best.
eightwt
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Joined: November 29th, 2014, 9:11 pm

Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by eightwt »

Terrier wrote: December 27th, 2021, 7:52 am Refuge was active yesterday - water was clear and cool, but not cold. Picked up 26 trout, most 16" - 18", with two overslots at 21" and 23". Added a flounder and a few short reds. Olive over white clouser with minimal flash seemed to work best.
Good for you, sounds like you had a great day. Been getting a few when out with my son.
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Terrier
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Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by Terrier »

No joy yesterday - appears the warm weather scattered the fish. They weren't in their 'staging area' like last week. Had a few swings and misses, and some kayak control issues with the wind, but not near the activity of a week ago.
ropeman
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Joined: July 23rd, 2007, 1:24 am

Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by ropeman »

Yesterday the water was 69.5 degrees and I'm sure you had issues with the wind in a kayak! We only caught one catfish.
FlyrodC
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Joined: December 25th, 2017, 9:46 am

Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by FlyrodC »

Friday I went out and hit some likely bars and didn't sniff a fish nor see any bait in 4 different spots. This included some thorough wade fishing. Saturday I went way up a creek and saw some bait moving around and got 3 Reds and a short Trout. Didn't see a ton of fish around. Water was a bit off color. Was using a White Jig style fly with floating line. Was up there in my Seaark and came all the way back at 5MPH though the thick fog. Thank god for electronics!
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Terrier
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Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by Terrier »

with the cooler weather, trout are back to staging - picked up 18 and two short reds along some creek mouth oyster bars. Even had some topwater action with gartside gurglers. No overslots, but a couple at 19". No real dinks either, most 15" - 17"
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Terrier
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Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by Terrier »

Trout were back on the bars Sunday, good bite until the wind picked up. Over 20, with about 1/3 shorts, but a 21", a 20" and some upper teens mixed in. Clousers - brown over cream when it was flat, Olive/chart/white ('Lighthouse') clouser when the breeze picked up.
FlyrodC
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Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by FlyrodC »

Terrier, that's a really good day! I was on a flight back to Montana while you were out enjoying yourself. I think you ran into a pal of mine down at St. Marks. He's a good dude and an excellent flyfisherman, just doesn't do much flyfishing in FLA.

As for a minor report, like Terrier, I have enjoyed wading the bars and catching mostly trout while blind casting but recently have been poling my Seaark from atop an RTIC strapped onto the bow and on Saturday had 4 good shots in some shallow, clear water. I was totally engrossed for about 2.5 hours as I slow poled and explored. Getting the shots was nice, now to hook some fish!

Two more 11 day trips to FLA and I'll be done for this season. Retiring from full time work on 7/1 so next season is going to be a much different story. I truly can't wait to have the flexibility to choose my fishing days and times based on air temp, water temp, wind, tide, sun, etc... I love the observation aspect of looking for feeding fish in Montana and beginning to hunt for Redfish via sight fishing in Apalachee Bay, oo,la,la, can't wait!
eightwt
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Joined: November 29th, 2014, 9:11 pm

Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by eightwt »

Thanks Terrier for report, good day. Son and I went Sunday east of Lighthouse. I didn’t fish as we were taking a new to us 80 lb Lab on his first fishing trip and figured a stripping fly line wasn’t going to work too well until he settles a bit. Son managed some just over slot reds and just one trout on spin. Seems trout were out of the creeks as you did well on bars
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Terrier
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Re: St Marks 10/23

Post by Terrier »

Flyrodc, I had a good conversation with your Montana friend and his wife - very nice people and tuned in to the Forgotten Coast!
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