A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
Use this area to post inshore fishing reports from the area. Please try to include relevant information such as:
Location, date, time, water conditions, weather conditions, baits, techniques, species caught, etc.
Launched with Wife, Dog, and Lunch!! (didn't forget lunch this time!! ). Put in about 8am, about an hour before low tide. River was rip'n on the out going and very very low. If we had been 30 to 45 min later I'm not sure we would have made it out for a while. Took about 40 min to make the tripod. Made it with no problem even though I felt the bottom a couple of times. Ran just above idle and had motor trimed up. Past the tripod, had to continue very slow for probably close to 4 or 5 hundred yards (or more) to the South before I ever reached water that I felt comfortable running in. Fished to the East for a while with very little activity(caught one short). Traveled on out close to the platform line. Wind had died down and we actually trolled east towards Rock Island for a while with still no action other than a couple of lizard fish and a small shark. Wife was enjoying the ride . Water was calm to slick!! Decided to run on out for a while and headed to the Dog Ballard area. Reached 24-25 foot water and started trolling. There was another bay boat there with a single rider already trolling. Didn't want to get in his way so made one past around the area and headed in towards another spot. Had one small lizard fish hit a yozuri (sp?) spook and that was about it. Decided to head back in and took aim towards the Aucilla. Stopped in about 8 foot just South of the river, time was around 3pm. The bite (for us) finally started. Next 2 hr produced 8 keeper trout, 6 shorts, and 1 legal Rocky. Even the keeper trout were shorter than they have been for us. 15 to 16 inchers mostly. The big'ns may be closer in??? Absolutely beautiful day! A full day 8am to 5:30 but still hated to leave those conditions. Most of the catch was made on a candy corn grub with pink headed jig under a CT although we threw lots of different "stuff" at them. We tried top water as well. Spoke with a couple of fellows as we pulled out and they said they caught some real nice fish in closer using mirror lures.
"Good Judgement" comes from experience, ... and a lot of that..... results from "Bad Judgement".
I caught some really nice trout out Econfina this past weekend using live bait. The big ones have slacked off on the artificial, but I have found that dangling a 2-3" pin under a CT has been quite beneficial. The blues were very active also. The bigger fish also seemed to favor finger mullet fished under a CT or Equalizer. The bigger trout were hitting in 4-5 ft. of water. From what I can tell, the bigger fish are closer in.
Sorry RC, I did not take any pictures of fish...... but I did take several pic's of butterflies! . They were out there in herds! I took a couple where I know there were 5 or 6 sit'n on my wife's shoulder and hat. I'll try to do better next time.
"Good Judgement" comes from experience, ... and a lot of that..... results from "Bad Judgement".
CS, I'm not sure about bag limits.... probably depends on whether or not your outside the 3 mile limit. I believe the Federal regulations on bag limits is different than Florida's. As far as what they bite on.... it may be either "stetson" or "aqua velva"... I do know that the little beggers sure do tickle when they start crawl'n around on your neck
"Good Judgement" comes from experience, ... and a lot of that..... results from "Bad Judgement".
(didn't forget lunch this time!! 
). Put in about 8am, about an hour before low tide. River was rip'n on the out going and very very low. If we had been 30 to 45 min later I'm not sure we would have made it out for a while. Took about 40 min to make the tripod. Made it with no problem even though I felt the bottom a couple of times. Ran just above idle and had motor trimed up. Past the tripod, had to continue very slow for probably close to 4 or 5 hundred yards (or more) to the South before I ever reached water that I felt comfortable running in. 
Fished to the East for a while with very little activity(caught one short). Traveled on out close to the platform line. Wind had died down and we actually trolled east towards Rock Island for a while with still no action other than a couple of lizard fish and a small shark. Wife was enjoying the ride 
. They were out there in herds! I took a couple where I know there were 5 or 6 sit'n on my wife's shoulder and hat. 