Aucilla 1-16

[Rainman]

Fished the Aucilla and surrounding creeks on Saturday with Bigphisy. Every place we stopped had trout. Stopped at random curves and caught fish when people were on spots we were trying to fish. No reds this time. Not many short trout either. Kept a 2 man limit and released several over slots and several more limits. We fished mirrolures - dines - catchs and some zman plastics. Fish liked everything that day so no magic to it. Get out there and catch em up. Also, sign up for the NFGFC and start fishing the tournaments it will increase your knowledge exponentially!

Nice overslot!

Engel has a giveaway going right now so check them out on facebook, instagram, etc. to find out more. I took this pic but then liked it more as a sketch!

[Can'tCatchAnything]

Sounds like a good time.

I really like that lastpicture too, looks pretty convincing as a sketch.

[CoastalPirate]

Thats what I like to hear! Thanks for the report!

[FUTCHCAIRO]

THAT SOUNDS GOOD, CONGRATULATIONS, NICE FISH.
PA
SEMPEER FI

[DixieReb]

Man, I love the Aucilla! You guys did great, nice fish. Interesting that they were that shallow.

[silverking]

Great day, guys. Some quality fish.

Quick aside on the Engel coolers. I bought a 35-quart DeepBlue for the new skiff and it has been very impressive. The cooler stays in the boat in my unheated boat shed. Twice now I've opened the cooler drain plug and left it with ice inside. Have come back 5 and 6 days later and still have some ice left. I'm pleased with my purchase, to say the least!

[Just a Guest]

Nice report!!! So... I don't mean to sound like a hypocrite, but how could my buddy and I compete with that? I would love to try and fish some of the tournaments in the area. The only problem is we only know St. Marks to an extent... From what I read on this forum, there are rocks scattered everywhere east of the rock garden. We love to fish, but not if we have to put the boat in the shop because of uncharted waters


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[milto]

Nice report!!! So... I don't mean to sound like a hypocrite, but how could my buddy and I compete with that? I would love to try and fish some of the tournaments in the area. The only problem is we only know St. Marks to an extent... From what I read on this forum, there are rocks scattered everywhere east of the rock garden. We love to fish, but not if we have to put the boat in the shop because of uncharted waters

A couple suggestions... (and just to note I was in your shoes just 5 years ago. I thought to myself I will never catch some of the fish these other guys were catching) The first thing I would say is use Google and Bing maps to your advantage. In the winter you can look at the maps and see the deep spots. The next thing is when you join a club like ours, you will learn things from other anglers on where to go, and where and what to watch out for. Once you are familiar with the general area, you will understand when someone says something like once you get to stoney bayou, SLOW DOWN! Either that or run the stake line and work your way in. Its almost inevitable that you are going to hit or bump a rock. How much damage you do depends on you and how fast you choose to go in those rocky areas. In the end I could go on and on, but you just have to put in time around those rocks and learn where they are.

[Rainman]

I hear ya! That was my buddy's aluminum 16 boat that we fished out of. I'm still stubborn and refuse to launch my 20ft fiberglass bay boat at the Aucilla. It's true, he's done some damage on rocks no doubt... Been towed in before. I've lost a lower unit out of St. Marks in the rock garden, insurance is great and I recommend it for any size boat for that reason and liability reasons... Porter's Rock Guard is a life saver as is going slow. Regarding the club... I started out at the bottom and over the years our team is now consistently competitive. We placed an angler of the year and a 3rd place angler of the year off our team. Learning new areas was tough at first but now I feel like places in Keaton and St. Joe bay are now like fishing St. Marks which is my "home" waters. Most of the club tournaments out of Ecofina or other rocky locations have been open ramps so you can go down to Keaton and launch if you don't like the rocks. I liked that option. You can find fish off any ramp location in the big bend and stay away from the rocks and hazards, but you may find a more consistent bite in the shallow rocky areas. Milto gave great advice for a tool, Google Maps and I like Google Earth. I use Maps when on the water and pull up the satellite photos to drive around oysters and some rocks are visible. From home on Google Earth there is a feature to view photos taken in years past. Some are taken either on clear water conditions or low tides or both because they have some ABSOLUTELY amazing detail, literally count almost every one of the thousands of rocks around Cobb Rock... Google Earth gives you GPS coordinates... So plot your path on Earth, transfer GPS over to your boat chart plotter and then make your way slowly paying attention to the tide level. I call it computer fishing and it can be very productive! Well, that should level the playing field some for ya!! I was hesitant at first as well, but ask any club member you meet and I'll bet they will say that fishing the club has made them a better angler!

[Red Dawg]

Although I'm just a kayak fisher, I'll second that Google earth is great for finding areas to fish. The last three "new" spots I've located using Google have all produced nice reds. Extremely useful tool in my opinion.

[Just a Guest]

Thanks for the suggestions, but we use google earth all the time. I have learned a lot from this forum. Everyone on here gives solid advice all the time if you know how to read between the lines... We know how to take it slow in the uncharted waters. I just worry about that one rock that moves through the night that's right in our way as we're heading out of the river, let alone in open waters. We may need to come check one of the meetings out to get a real vibe!


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