St. Marks 7/6/2012

[mjsigns]

Thursday night readied the boat for an o-dark 30 departure. Widncast looked acceptable, lunar table, feeding times ignored. I was going fishing with my (now) 16 year old son, and that was more important. I bought him a new rod and reel for his 16th birthday last month and this would be the first chance he had to fish with it. (Thanks to TS Debbie) , and other commitments. I was the second boat and trailer to make it to the fort. Wind was light out of the west, we headed for the moth of the river. At the mouth we were greeted by a west wind at 12-15mph. Wind cast had indicated 10 knots. Bounced our way out to the third buoy and made the eastern turn. Had heard of the reports of dirty water and knew I had to run almost to the mouth of the Aucilla if we expected to get any action. Little did I know the best part of the day would be watching the sunrise. The water was stained coffee-tea all the way to the Auculla. Visibility was only 3.6'. Wind was semi consistent out of the west, white capping at times, making for a wet ride and making bobbers appear and disappear w/o fish. Started with just 1/8oz jigs and realized you would have to hit the fish on the head to get any fish at all so immediately went to Cajun thunder with a 20# leader and gulps. I picked off about 5-7 shorts and one legal all released. If your headed down there, i would suggest "bright colors" and Cajun Thunders, and/or noisy top-water lures. The water temps were 84.5 and warmed as the day progressed. Promised son we'd be off the water by 2:00pm... He was the first to throw in the towel and let me fish our way back trying different depths (back to jigs. Tried several depths 3-4-5-6-7-8-+ picked off two tiny rock bass who though they were red fish... Trailored the boat by 12:45, only a hand full of boats on the water, 4-5 diver-down scallopers who were probably groping for scallops. Disappointing day for fishing, quality time with my son. I didn't want to post this last yesterday because I didn't want to discourage anyone heading down there today or Sunday. Gonna wait for the water to clear-up before heading out again.

[Aucilla]

Nice report... great information... and a good time with your son..

[FUTCHCAIRO]

NICE SUNRISE MIKE, YA CAN GET SOME BEAUTIFUL SHOTS AT SUNRISE COMING OUT OF THE RIVER. SORRY YA DIDN'T SLAY THE TROUTS, SOME DAYS IT IS LIKE THAT. AT LEAST YA GOT OUT ON THE BAY, I WISH I WERE 20 MILES CLOSER, I WOULD BE OUT THERE EVERY DAY.
PA
SEMPER FI

[tallykenjsbetterhalf]

We also headed out about 6:15/6:30 from Shields. Same weather as Thursday, but surprisingly a lot rougher. Thursday was glass and yesterday was rough. Go figure. Tried St. Marks reef with no luck. We caught those same rock bass disguished as redfish south of the west sandbar in about 20' of water. Caught a couple of Jacks, two sharks and called it a day around 12:30. Going out tomorrow afternoon if weather holds out. Last day of vacation!

[tgill3764]

How has everyone else been doing in the west and east flats outside the St Marks river?

[JPVolunteer]

East Flats Sunday early: Short trout, catfish, short trout, remora, catfish. Best part was the ride up the Wakulla and seeing a family of manatee.