St. Joe State Park Surf Fishing

[Scott7138]

Took the camper down Sat. to leave it there for my mother and sister for the week. Decided to try luck at surf fishing for the first time. Got 2 inexpensive Mako surf combos from Bass Pro and headed that way. Not a whole lot on Sat. afternoon, just one whiting. Took some advise from an invidual and fished the surf side of Eagle Harbour Sun. am. Ended catching 2 keeper Pomps and losing 3 others right at the beach. All fish were caught using "Fishbites". These things are nice to fish with. I did end up catching 3 or 4 of what I thought were Angelfish, but after doing some exploring I think they were small "Spadefish". Ended up throwing all of these back. Question, did I throw back some good table fare? Also, is anyone using the surf fishing section of this forum anymore?

[Steve Stinson]

My family normally has a reunion there once a year, renting several houses just down from the park entrance. The surf action is off and on. We have caught sharks, catfish, whiting, cobia, spanish and pompano at times. We normally use live bait castnetted along the shore or cut bait.

Also, we use a kayak to haul our bait out farther from the shore, rather than trying to cast it.

I have no idea if you can eat the spadefish or not, but good luck if you go back.

- Steve Stinson

[neckmoe]

Sort of had some spadefish this weekend. Not so good.

[Scott7138]

I guess surf fishing is like buying a house, location, location, location. With the success I had with fish bites I do not know if it is better than live bait or not, definetly easier to deal with. Nothing really out there to "pick it off the hook"