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.
Unfortunately, no catching! Left the LH around 7:30 a.m. Headed east to a grassy area to pick up pinfish since Jerry's didn't have any shrimp. Up until 10:30 stayed between 3 - 5 ft. of water (gin clear). Nothing major. One small trout lost at the boat. Headed around Patty's Island and anchored in 9 ft of water. Free-lined a pin. nothing. Continued to throw Catch 2000, cajun thurnder (candy corn, electric chicken, rootbeer grub), Broke-back gold rebel and silver minnows. Finally decided to fish with dead shrimp. (nothing).
Did learn that sabikis and fish bites = pinfish. Nice day on the water with my pastor and his son. Weather seemed bad further out, but we stayed close enough for it not to be a factor. A little discouraged but will give it a try another day.
Highlight of the day--caught a little-bity grouper on a sabiki.
Take that anchor and put it up..If you cut all my fingers and toes off you can count the times I have anchored on the flats...Now if I'm in a creek that's a different story
Seriously, you hear the fish are in 10 % of the water, if you anchor the odds of you anchoring in that 10% are slim to nil...Some anchor when they catch a trout or two while drifting with great success, but I prefer to crank up and run around and drift back through them.
Dito, no DOUBLE DITTO what Chalk said I have NEVER caught a fish after putting out the anchor on the flats "anything I wanted ta keep anyhow"
“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.”
I have to differ with the boys (Chalk and Wevans) a little. I anchor on structure, that is a steep drop off where, for example, a flat drops into a river channel or a hole. Unless you have a powerpole or an electric motor to stay in place, you just can't hold the magic spot.
Also, if you drift and catch a couple of fish, drop a small marker buoy there or at least MOB on the GPS. You can then make runs back over the honey spot again and again. Usually trout will hold on an area for a while before they move on.
No problem with a bouy or other way of marking the spot I just never stop my drift "except ta start another or move"
“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.”
The best trout fishing trip of my life was at Econfina...to the left toward Rock Island....out about 2 miles....and anchored. We dropped the anchor when we really got into em and stayed right on the spot for over 2 hours. Got them on jigs/white tails.
Now I agree on anchoring on the flats. I don't do it anymore. GPS is how I mark a spot. The big catch was made back when there were plenty of trout...just a 12 inch minimum size.
I don't know where the trout have gone. When there was no numbers limit I could catch a hundred on a trip. When they went to 10 per person....I couldn't catch 10. When they went to 5 per person I find it hard most of the time to catch five.
But I don't anchor no more.
Thanks for the advice. I pretty much did what everybody suggested. I drifted on the east flats and then went west and anchored in the channel of Patty Island casting shallow and working toward the channel.
I saw a lot of fish on the finder, but no takers. It appears to be a tough time of the year. Is it time to fish the creeks?
I saw a lot of fish on the finder, but no takers. It appears to be a tough time of the year. Is it time to fish the creeks?
Just pitch'n in my .02 here. I've had two reports recently that indicated some big trout are close in. My neighbor and a couple of buddies went bank fish'n in the Shell Point area two weeks ago and limited out on trout and redfish along with one 22 inch Spanish. When I ask him some details, he said they were fishing creek mouths. About the same time, a friend at Church went out of Waculla Beach (in a kayak ) and found large trout in numbers to the West close to shore on a falling tide.
"Good Judgement" comes from experience, ... and a lot of that..... results from "Bad Judgement".
