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.
Took the wife and dog along for a mid day trip based on what I saw on the "windcast" (nothing but blue!) Got to the ramp and on the water at 11 am. Lots of vehicles and boats on the water. Looks like several folks are spending the week before Easter there as well. High tide was 1pm so no issue getting out. Water temp in the river was 74. Turned West out of the river into a bit more chop than I expected but not to bad. We ended up in the "mail box" area with depth of 4-5 ft.. Wife picked up a nice 18 inch trout on a CT with a 3" white gulp soon after we started. Lots.. and lots...and etc. of short, short bass. We hit one spot where there was a wad of lady fish, hooked 4 in a row. About an hour before high tide we caught 2 more slot trout mixed in with several shorts and more short bass. Things slowed at high tide but picked up some around 2. It seemed like we would catch 1 or 2 and then nothing for a while. I moved farther West around Greenpoint for a while and then back East where we started. Off the water at 4:30 with 5 nice trout and one legal bass. My wife fished the 3" white gulp for the trip while I threw a mixed bag. I tried top water, suspended divers, and soft bait on the bottom. I caught one 17" trout on top water and had several multiple blow ups. The one I caught was hooked in the top of the head so I suspect that the blow ups were trout just trying to scare the bait. Did not have any action to speak of on the other types. With an hour to go I switched to a CT as well with a 4" gulp glow and helped finish out the 5 trout. I turned back 3 trout that were exactly 15" when caught but was afraid to box them(srinkage). We caught probably 12-18 short trout. At one time, we had a twofer going. I held mine at the boat with one hand and used the net in my other hand to net my wifes fish. While mine was a definate keeper, hers turned out to be just barely short. My fish came loose at the boat and hers went back as well. The water temp continued to rise and was at 76 degrees when we headed in. That sure seems high to me for this time of year but looks like we'll be look'n at those nasty 80 degree temps before long Lots of stained water in the river and along the shore. There was a definate line of it that was moving back and forth with the tide. Fish didn't seem to like it and we did our best in the clear water behind (South) of the line of stained water. Some floating grass lines but not very bad with plenty of space between them to throw top water. Clouds came in a few times and that seemed to turn the fish off as well. Got back and cleaned up the boat and fish in the rain.
"Good Judgement" comes from experience, ... and a lot of that..... results from "Bad Judgement".
Glad you got a mess of fish. That water temp is rising fast hope to get there sat myself. Weather at the moment is calling for 5-6' seas sat. I've never heard of the mailbox...what is that?
Sir reel if you put seawater in your ice to about 2" from the top. It makes a super cold slush that the fish will swim into when thrown in.(instead of laying on top of it) When you get home they will look just caught and will not shrink. They shrink from drying out. And its fun to watch the man dig in there to check your fish(it's hurt your hands cold)
Last edited by Hit-n-Miss on April 4th, 2012, 1:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
and hers went back as well. The water temp continued to rise and was at 76 degrees when we headed in. That sure seems high to me for this time of year but looks like we'll be look'n at those nasty 80 degree temps before long 
Lots of stained water in the river and along the shore. There was a definate line of it that was moving back and forth with the tide. Fish didn't seem to like it and we did our best in the clear water behind (South) of the line of stained water. Some floating grass lines but not very bad with plenty of space between them to throw top water. Clouds came in a few times and that seemed to turn the fish off as well. Got back and cleaned up the boat and fish in the rain. 
Looks a little wet till Friday!,
Glad you got a mess of fish. That water temp is rising fast hope to get there sat myself. Weather at the moment is calling for 5-6' seas sat. 
I've never heard of the mailbox...what is that?