What's up with fishing around the 98 Bridge in St. Marks?

[Midwest2South]

Between these replies and the inevitably insane Memorial Day boat traffic, y'all have not given me much to get excited about!!! haha. I'll do my best to make do, and let you know how it turns out. Hopefully it turns out to be a great day, nonetheless!

[grasshopper]

Oh man, that is disappointing to hear. I guess I should have known they would travel farther down river. At what point on the river are the saltwater species hanging out? Or do you pretty much have to make it to the bay for that?

My friend who is a knowledgeable spear fisherman seems to think there's Sheepsheads in abundance around the 98 bridge on St Marks... is this incorrect?

Possession of a speargun on or in fresh water is prohibited. Just so you'll know.

[boggob]

Yall may as well forget fishing for salty species and head to the wacissa and have some fun!

[boggob]

If you ever go there, big blue is about a mile down on the left, up a creek with some cypress at the mouth. If you pass the dock on the right, you've gone too far. Wherever you go, bring an umbrella for the lady!

[cotton]

Like others have said; Make this trip about getting use to your new yak. Have fun with your friends and forget about catching much. Visit www.fcka.net and click on launches at the top of the page. It will take you to google earth with every public launch for kayaks in the area flagged. There's probably 25 other places you would have better luck this time of year. Once you have a idea of where some of the launches are, read all of the fishing reports and get a idea where folks are catching fish. You'll need to register(free) to read the reports.

A great place for newbies to learn the ropes is Wakulla Beach. Your protecting from boats, wind and it offers pretty decent fishing. I fished there close to 50 times before I ever tried another launch.

Good luck and wear a life jacket! We don't want to read about you in the local mullet wrapper.

[Midwest2South]

Okay, guys! Thanks for all the good info. I showed my friend this thread and convinced him that we should put in at the 98 Bridge and paddle around (maybe north a little bit, or just in the general area). Maybe try to catch some sheepshead or just bass for fun. If that leaves us unsatisfied, he is willing to go over to the light house. The only problem is we will have a few girls with us in canoes, so it might be better if we just make this trip more about sight seeing than fishing, JUST THIS ONE TIME.

This will give me a chance to test out my 'yak, and maybe catch a fish and have fun with friends.

I know it's almost definitely way too late to get any more good info out of you guys before tomorrow morning, but is there a good spot to set up "base camp" around the 98 Bridge to grill and hang out a little?

Still, I can't wait to get over to the light house oyster bars and do some real fishing. This outing should still be a fun time with good friends, just disappointed my first trip with the kayak isn't for saltwater fishing

So, 98 Bridge.... is there an obvious place to set up a grill, frisbee, etc?

**Edit: So late.. Going to bed..I guess we'll just have to find out. Have a great weekend everyone!

[wally]

There is a campground adjacent to the ramp.

[Midwest2South]

Thanks to everyone who put up with, and even answered, all of my newbie questions. Everything made a lot more sense when I saw it with my own two eyes, rather than trying to plan stuff out from the internet.. go figure!!

Great day, all around. Took a couple rods out, but didn't use them on the river, as I only saw a ton of mullet, 2 huge gar, and 1 sheepshead about 6"... I was with a couple buddies and 4 cute girls, so that part of the day wasn't vey fishing oriented anyway. The stretch of the St Marks north of the 98 Bridge is absolutely stunning, though. Saw a good amount of manatees and a few gators. Even found a great spot to swim when we got hot. It was totally worth it, and the new kayak worked great!!!

Then, at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, I convinced my group to check out the lighthouse. We launched my yak and one of the canoes, we mainly just left them on shore because there was a decent wind blowing towards the beach and the tide was way low (probably knee half a mile out, as far as I could tell, as I did take my yak out pretty far and casted around for a while. We mostly had fun showing the girls we brought how to fish, etc... I know, I know...usually fishing with inexperienced girls (sorry ladies, I should say "beginners" in general) can be nearly painful, they were super into it and the fishing turned out to be great fun (even if the water was too shallow and only got one single strike)!!

I can see why the light house is an awesome place if you hit the oyster reefs and other spots, but today just didn't allow for "real" kayak fishing considering the circumstances. WE ALL STILL HAD LOADS OF FUN, though, despite not locating the spots or catching fish - AWESOME DAY, overall.

I would love to make it St Marks lighthouse area when the conditions are more favorable. HOWEVER: One issue did occur that left me with a negative impression of this place....On the way in I was pulled over for "going over the 35 mph speed limit." Oddly, the Federal Wildlife Agent/Officer who pulled over me (and my girlfriend w/ yak on roof rack) did not care whatsoever about the speeding, and he did not even have radar evidence of my speed (it may have been 10 over max)...

The agent immediately made me step out of the car and told me my eyes were red and gave me a full on "field sobriety check." Even though I was definitely 100% sober, I was definitely tired from paddling on the river during the 4 hours preceding, and he had no reason to suspect that I was under the influence of alcohol or any other substances ... It was pretty messed up, and I was worried that, although sober, I would falter when asked to stand on one foot and count to 20 by "One - one thousand, Two - one thousand, Three one thousand." Luckily I made it to "25 one thousand" just for good measure!! He also made me follow this pen light with my eyes, which was also tough when I was still contemplating whether I should even be submitting to such invasions on my 4th amendment rights (or what I personally believe to be invasions, at least).

Normally, I would not consent to such ridiculous feats of sobriety, but I figured I had nothing to hide so just went along with it, and then he let me go after deciding that I had nothing to hide.... But not after a seriously strange conversation...Including the agent pointing into the middle of the road and saying "See that bobcat over there?" but it was obvious that there was no animal to which he was "pointing" at, my girlfriend replied, "Where?!", to which he replied "Oh, it's a BEAR?!?" And I said "No, she said "WHERE"..." His parting words were "It was least a damn raccoon or something." WEIRD incident to say the least... I think it's much more likely that he may have been under the influence.

Next time, (IF) I return any time soon, I am going to drive well BELOW the speed limit... Either way, I still feel uncomfortable that this occurrence even happened, and it as the only negative point of an otherwise incredible day of being on the water. This really makes me question whether it's even worth it for me to go back to this park. Maybe I'll cool off over it the next few days, but nothing like this has ever happened to me before, so I'm going to go ahead and assume this type of law enforcement behavior is a Southern thing

[jadams92002]

I hate to hear about your run in with the law. I think there is a new guy down there and he may be trying to make a name for himself. Glad you had a good time on the water, and by the way it doesn't get very deep until you get out about 3 miles or so.