St Marks 2/8/12

[onefishtwofish]

Failure!

LOL Just kidding. We knew the tides were not right for our plan, but we wanted to go, so we did. We poled around and learned the rock garden area thanks to the very low tide. We finally got to some water that would float the boat.

Wound up the day with 2 keeper flatties and 2 keeper trout. Released one flounder and a few other trout. Not lots of action, but we were on the water anyways. Kinda chilly on the run out too. I had never seen the stake line buoys sitting on dry ground before, it was good info to see at a -0.8 tide.

Oh yeah, need gelcoat repairs now too. Oh goody, I did not have enough projects as it is. Hit a rock, running just the trolling motor and made a couple of lovely gouges that will require repair. Happy days.

[SS-342]

That is how we learn! Good report!

[setty7]

wow man :/ are the stake line buoys the buoys that run parallel with the shore and are about a mile out or so? I saw for the first time on saturday and am unsure on what they are?

[woopty]

Yes. They are the white buoys that run east, to the south of the Aucilla, marking the southern boundary of the refuge.
There used to be big telephone pole stakes (and a few of them are still there).
You'll still hear it mentioned here as the "stake line".
The stake line sorta marks the outer limits of the flats.

[setty7]

Oh okay cool thanks for clarifying! So after that point it gets deeper? Also is the "birds nest" right there near bouoy 4? Trying to gather my bearings

[kikstand454]

Yeah... the "bird rack" is right there out in front of the lighthouse...if you follow the channel out from the river to the stakeline....where the two meet is the bird rack.

I also went out that morning with my buddy in our kayaks.
I have never seen that area so low before. My buddy caught a few sheepshead off the shipwreck there at the lighthouse (which was mostly above water. .) And I caught NOTHING. One blowup on topwater early that morning and that was it.
We went pretty far up east river and stayed till the tide came back with a vengence.
Nice day on the water but for me, slow doesn't even describe it.

Nice catch out there at the rock garden.....musta been cool to see the area with the tide that low. What'd you catch em on? Live or arti?

[Hula Popper]

You mean, the stake line buoys were not even floating?

Where did all the water go!

[setty7]

haha ^

[onefishtwofish]

Yeah Hula, some of them were on dry ground. The ones near the bird rack. Unreal. That last bar out there to the west, the last one to go under as the tide rises looked HUGE.

We usually fish artificial and we tossed everything at them, but slow moving jigs were the only thing that got bites. We did see some fish here and there, but they would only follow the baits, not bite for the most part.

[setty7]

thats why i guess everyone says st marks is dangerous right? is it because your a mile out at times and u see sand/rocks our of the water?