wade fishing

littlered16 · Post by **littlered16** » April 30th, 2002, 3:44 pm

I am interested in wade/surf fishing in the area since i don't have a boat. I was looking for suggestions on where to go. also, i may have limited access to a ghenoe w/ only a trolling motor. where would be a good place to go? thanks for your help.

Post by **Tom Keels** » April 30th, 2002, 4:24 pm

There is on an article on the articles page called "Boatless in the Big Bend" that is great. Also search the old message boards from the link at the bottom of the page for some great info.

gchatani · Post by **gchatani** » April 30th, 2002, 4:45 pm

I would suggest fishing the east end of St. George Island in the state park. Park your vehicle at the last pavilion on the beach. Walk toward the east end. There will be noticeable breaks and troughs that line the beach. That is where the fish live. While I was in law school, I fished this stretch of beach virtually every weekend in the spring and fall. I fished exclusively with fly tackle and caught trout, reds, pompano, mackeral, jacks, blues, ladyfish, flounder, whiting - - - you get the picture. Fish it on rising water. Fishing is generally a waste of time if you have any sort of hard south-southeast wind OR dirty water. Variable winds or northwest winds are ideal. The key is to keep moving and fish every good looking piece of beach. Make sure you have a good pair of polarized glasses. Keep your eyes open for dark shapes moving down the beach. Three years ago I had a morning where I followed a school of reds for three hours catching at least 20 fish between 8 and 12 pounds. I have also sight fished big trout laying no more than three feet off the beach on high water. Be forewarned, this can be tiring fishing. Bring lots of water and some food in a pack. Anyways give it a shot and remember to keep moving and "read" the water.

Good luck!

jepjones · Post by **jepjones** » May 1st, 2002, 10:27 am

Hey, both replies are good. The article Tom mentioned is a great start, but there are a couple of places it misses, if I remember correctly. One, Bald point on Ocklocknee bay. the oyster bar here is massive, you can almost wade the whole way across the bay. Lost of reds if you can succesfully freeline over the bars on an outgoing tide. The trick is not getting cut off. If you go past the turn off to alligator point along 98 you can't miss alligator harbor. Don't waste time taking the first big pull off, because the grass and the good fishing doesn't start untill the second and third smaller pull offs.

Wakulla beach
if you got a canoe, then Purify Bay
Finally Skipper Bay,and Panacea (Bottoms Road, and Levy Bay road) are good too.

Now all you got to do is figure out where all those places are, and how to get to em.

those are the places closest to me anyway.

The light house is great just drifting in a canoe, but you have to pay to get in.

ONe more thing... FloridaSportman now has a forum called NO MOTORZONE. Most of the guys on it are from tampa, but it's a good place to look for info.
Look me up if you want some directions or company.

_________________
every night it's the same dream... that cork goes "thunk" and my line starts singin.
I wonder if I'm addicted?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: jepjones on 2002-05-01 3:30 pm ]</font>