Here are a few tips for doing this: drive past the pay station, where you are supposed to pay $5, and go to the Visitors Center and get a annual pass JUST FOR the St. Marks Wildlife Preserve or whatever that is. I costs 15 bucks. Bring water and BUG REPELLENT. You won't feel all the gnats until you stop. And you might bring a camera. I brought my crumbiest one, the one I keep in my truck all the time; and wished I had a better one.
Anyway, my bike was still decked out from the Festival of Lights in Tallahassee last weekend.
I started down this trail
It was just beautiful, but so is all of the coast this time of year. I remember that, as I drove across the bridge at Newport, saying to myself how beautiful it will be to take the boat up the St. Marks now. Who cares about catching fish with all these colors?
Anyway, I just had a backpack with some gear, a flashlight, some water, and something warm. Also, I had a map I had gotten at the Visitors Center. And I pedaled on. I stopped at a few places that looked fishy, and threw a piece of frozen shrimp. But stayed at those places for less than five minutes each. It required getting in some grass and being covered in gnats, and I got a lot of little pecks at the shrimp; but I didn't feel these were the right spots. I was gone in a hurry.
But this spot looked pretty good:
I kept my backpack on and went to the edge of the water. I put a Gulp! "molting shrimp" color on a large, red jig head, free lined, and tossed it out there. It was an old, used grub, still wet but "legless." I felt a few taps, then--on this first cast--I had one on.
I was patient, especially because I don't use a net wade fishing and, up until this point, I hadn't even gotten my feet wet. As I coaxed it in, I slid my back pack off and got out my measuring stick: I was optimistic!
And it was dinner!
It was getting late, and I had a long ride back to the truck. So, I put the fish in the garbage bag I had brought, put my rod straight up in my backpack, and rode into the sunset.
It was getting dark by the time I got to the truck. I was home by 7, dry and with hardly any gear-rinsing or other cleanup to do. And I finally got some fishing done! And a little catching, too.
Incidentally, I would not try this without a bike with a lot of gears! There were some soft, sandy areas on the trail. But it would be a wonderful long walk, too.
Also, you don't have to watch out for alligators. They are everywhere!
both the adventure and your report 
Thanks.
...Looks like a good time.
