Sikes Cut Bull Reds Questions!

oyster1 · Post by **oyster1** » October 9th, 2007, 8:10 pm

Are the bull reds running through Sikes Cut this time of year? Might try to catch some this weekend.

What reel/reel size would you recommend using? Don't want to use my typical inshore reels (heard the longer fight of light tackle causes alot more stress to the fish) and I don't want any of these mass producers dying on us.

Probably going to try using live and cut bait and see what is working, maybe some cracked blue crab. Any recommendations.

Post by **Chalk** » October 9th, 2007, 8:13 pm

They should be there, its that time of year, they are in the pass over here....some are dead from the red tide

Any lite to medium offshore rig will do it....circle hook them too

oyster1 · Post by **oyster1** » October 9th, 2007, 8:21 pm

No doubt on the circle hooks, I would hate to see one of these fish belly up behind the boat. What size circle hook do you recommend?

Sucks about red tide I haven't experienced any on recent trips (Econ., St. Marks, O Bay) is it bad in St George area?

Post by **Chalk** » October 9th, 2007, 8:29 pm

No red tide over there that I have heard of....I couldn't tell you on what size..depends on the manufacture

Post by **CairoTrout** » October 9th, 2007, 9:08 pm

2 to 4

uglystick · Post by **uglystick** » October 9th, 2007, 9:28 pm

Some friends were over this past weekend and said the only limiting factor was pinfish. As long as you had a pinfish on the bottom it was non-stop action. Most fish were in the 25-35" range. None of the real big brusiers yet. They should be arriving any day now though. They had their pinfish trap stolen

, but they were able to catch plenty on sabiki tipped with gulp in the grass.

oyster1 · Post by **oyster1** » October 9th, 2007, 9:59 pm

We are definitely going to give it a go. Pinfish should not be a proplem to get (knock on wood). Probably going to use cut mullet and cut LY's as well. How fresh does the cut mullet have to be?

What a mess · Post by **What a mess** » October 9th, 2007, 10:20 pm

try scrimpsiss

you know like bubba gump

Supa Fly · Post by **Supa Fly** » October 21st, 2007, 8:56 pm

I had good luck last December in Sikes Cut with frozen LY's. We cut them in thirds and fished them on the bottom with 2 or 3 oz pyramid sinkers and circle hooks. Oddly enough, it was probably an even ratio of lip hooked to gut hooked fish - not sure why. Caught reds from 33" to 41".

oyster1 · Post by **oyster1** » October 22nd, 2007, 7:47 pm

Supa Fly your two posts were actually what motivated me to try this. After doing some research I stumbled across you posts and the rest was down hill.

We ended going out on 10-13-07 and caught 10 bulls from 36in to 42in. All on live pin fish on the bottom.

I'll post some pics when I get some time.

Post by **Redbelly** » October 22nd, 2007, 8:01 pm

Y'all fishing from a boat or bank?

oyster1 · Post by **oyster1** » October 22nd, 2007, 9:27 pm

Fished from a boat. The guys on shore did not seem to have that great of luck.

Here is the link to the full report.

http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=128409#128409

beatswork · Post by **beatswork** » October 25th, 2007, 9:43 am

I REALLY want to fish over there after reading your guys' posts. I may try over Thanksgiving. I have a 20" Key West, where would you recommend putting in at? I would guess that the ramp in the State Park on SGI would be too shallow, but I don't want to run for an hour either. Any ideas?

oyster1 · Post by **oyster1** » October 25th, 2007, 11:13 pm

I really couldn't tell you since we left from Alligator Point. I usually fish between St. Marks and Lanark and honestly have never fished the SGI area. I'll talk to my buddy who fishes the island pretty frequently and ask him about it.

I would think that weekend would be awesome for catching the bigger bulls. I honestly think the colder the bigger (I have heard of people catching them through mid January).

Seriously if you get the chance go fish that area. The pictures really do no justice to how awesome these fish look in person. Plus they will straight up WEAR you out. My dad (who fishes for grouper pretty much every weekend) was shocked over the fight these guys were putting up.

Post by **lizbeth** » October 26th, 2007, 6:42 am

i put in at the state park boat ramp all the time, with my 16', but i also use to put my 20' in there, it's actually a good ramp. i was down there last year during thanksgiving...caught alot of trout.