St Marks Sunday

[MudDucker]

Well, it has been a LONG time since I've gone fishing and I decided enough was enough. I have been so busy that I haven't had time to test the Ol' Pro to make sure she is running right, so I called Shell Island and just rented a boat and decided with the talk of all of the rocks, I would hire a guide as well. I haven't fished inshore out of St. Marks in over 45 years other than the scalloping trip earlier this summer. Called my old fraternity brother, Jack, who over the years has been more like my brother than just a fraternity brother. He had triple by-pass surgery back in the spring and was finally up to snuff to go. Called and all guides were taken for Saturday so I booked us for yesterday with a room at the camp for Saturday night. We were going to take a leisurely drive down and stop in Perry at Roy Deal's for some oysters and then mosey on down to camp.

As I was getting ready to go, my neighbor, Buddy,was in the yard working with his wife. He has a neurological problem that gives him tremors and he had given me his old rod n' reels years ago. I thought he had quit fishing. However, when he asked me if I was going fishing, he looked like a little lost puppy. Although I had only made arrangements for 2, I asked his wife if he still fished. She said he would go just to spend the day with me. So, I called Shell Island, but they didn't have any bigger rooms and no roll aways. They graciously said we could bring a cot or blow up mattress. I told my neighbor to get off his butt and get ready to go. His wife surprisingly encouraged him to go.

Jack showed up, we added a cot, a sleeping bag and a couple of pillows and off we went. First to Perry where the oysters were very small, but very tasty. On the way out, Jack gets a funny look on his face and said he has just lost a tooth filling. We mosey on down to Shell Island, check in and put our sleeping gear in the room. Then we are off in search of tooth wax, a new thing to me. All they had at the general store at St. Marks was gulf wax. Off to Crawfordville we go and after a stop at both Walmart and Walgreen's, Jack things he has enough emergency supplies to hold him.

For dinner, we had seen the lid up on the stone crab trailer and everyone was ready for some. However, when we went up to the window, it was obvious that it was not open and that there would be no stone crab claws that night. Both of these two gents wanted to sit down in A/C. I could not guarantee the local restaurant on the river's A/C room would not be full or even cool, so I loaded them in the car and off to Spring Creek Restaurant we went. About 40 or more years ago, I got some bad mullet at Jaboo Island fish camp restaurant and after being so sick I thought I would die, I had sworn off mullet since that day. I decided to break that taboo and have mullet again. It was delicious.

Back to the room we went. I tried to hit the hay early, because I had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before between the football game and trying to get up early enough to get some errands done before we left for fishing. I was snoozing when something woke me. It was Jack pulling for LSU to whoop USC. I awoke to my favorite sight ... the old ball coach throwing his visor and having a fit.

We got up yesterday morning and got some breakfast at the yeller trailer and met our guide. A young man by the name of Syd who was sitting there wearing an SGO (South Georgia Outdoors) ball cap. We had to wait until day light, because the boat had no running lights, but we were soon off. I put Buddy back by Syd and Jack up by me. We stopped to fish near black rock and even though we pounded the water, I was only able to catch a couple of shorts and Syd caught one keeper. Buddy and Jack brought a couple of snot cats to the boat, but Buddy was really struggling with an open face reel. He said he had only ever used a zebco and it showed. Syd was very patient and worked with Buddy all day long. Syd said he had been catching 25 lbs or so of keeper trout in this area for the last several days, but it was obvious it was not going to happen today at that spot. So off we run for about 4 miles. It is dead low slack tide. Syd starts to pick up a nice trout here and there. We only catch snot cats. Suddenly whamo and off my line sings. I get it up to the boat and it is a 25 to 26" fat trout walloring everywhere. Syd was off the back of the boat communing with nature, so I pick up the net to net this fish. It isn't like I haven't net a thousand. Well, the fish is spooky, but I finally think I have a good shot at it and I jab the net. The fish turns her head at the last second and the net hits her in the belly. That gave her renewed strength and suddenly I am looking at an empty hook. I was not a happy camper. The fishing was pretty dead until the tide changes, but Ol' Syd keeps putting a good one the box every now and again. I am NOT used to being out fished. Finally, the tide turns and suddenly I am the one catching nice trout. I even got another one over 20", but not near as big as the one that got away. Normally, the guide has you back at the dock at 3PM, but Syd said he wasn't leaving while they were biting so good. They slacked off about 4 and the other guides in the area started radioing that it was time to go. Syd informed us that in November, he would 84 years old. He was a retired pharmacist from Thomasville/Tallahassee. This old boy hung with me all day long and fished hard, while taking care of Buddy. We ended up with 33#. The folks at Shell Island had let us keep our room so we could take showers before heading back. Great folks to deal with all around.

It was a great day with great old friends and one new friend, Capt. Syd.

[cleanlivin]

I know Mr Sid personally and hope i can fish as hard as he can when i get his age. He is a excellent fishermen and a good guy to be around Im glad u enjoyed your trip.

[kgarner1]

That gentlemen is what it's all about!

[mjsigns]

Great report Ducker! Way to get out there and stay on 'em. Sounds like Syd was the right fit for your fishing party.

[RHTFISH]

Mr. Syd is a legend in his own time. Recently another old timer up there who guided into his 80s told me that Mr. Syd had mentioned
"maybe" retiring about 90 and just fishing for fun!

Great report!

Deal's oysters are always the best available anywhere....small and salty right now due to all the fresh water. A few days ago I ordered two dozen
and got 30. I love the way they count!
Deal's and Spring Creek mullet both awesome!

Deal's get their mullet from Robbie's Seafood Market in Perry on S. Washington Street. Good Folks!

[jslorenz3]

I've heard the term "black rock" on this site a few times. What is that?

[silverking]

Black Rock is a well-known hazard that remains out of the water even on extreme high tides. It's east of the St. Marks River mouth on the East Flats.

N30 03.980
W84 07.100

Caution. There are lots of rocks in the vicinity. They love to eat props and lower units and they get up and move around in the middle of the night!

Go to the Area Charts section on this site and there's a good breakdown of many hazards, artificial reefs and other structure.

[CSMarine]

The lady that runs that "General Store" (if your refering to Bo Lynn's Grocery) in St. Marks is a legend in her time also. She has had to be forcefully removed from her store more than once during floods, because she refused to abandon her store. Of course I'm partial to her because she is my foster mother and help raise me. I was living above her store when I graduated from high school in 1970, at Wakulla High School.

[SS-342]

Man O Man, a real nice fishing report!

We were in St Marks Saturday fishing the Baptist Children Home kids. We fished the west flats from the lighthouse. Only caught one keeper sand trout that morning but our kid had loads of fun. He couldn't understand why we had to throw back all of our shorts.

Thanks for a good report!

[fishinfool]

Black Rock is also known on your chart as Grey Mare Rock. It has another local name that is racist and politically incorrect. It has one PVC pole on it and never goes completely under water. (It is actually a group of 3 or 4 rocks with one very large one in the center.) There is another set of rocks about a mile west of that, that has two PVC poles on it and DOES become covered with water. If you are cruising and see two PVC poles about 10- 15 feet apart, GO AROUND, not between them. Between could ruin your whole day.

[Harmsway]

Three 11-pound limits of seatrout is something special.

[silverking]

Black Rock is also known on your chart as Grey Mare Rock. It has another local name that is racist and politically incorrect. It has one PVC pole on it and never goes completely under water. (It is actually a group of 3 or 4 rocks with one very large one in the center.) There is another set of rocks about a mile west of that, that has two PVC poles on it and DOES become covered with water. If you are cruising and see two PVC poles about 10- 15 feet apart, GO AROUND, not between them. Between could ruin your whole day.

Sorry to differ with you FishinFool, but Black Rock and Grey Mare are two different rocks. And I never trust PVC markers 'cause they might not be there the next time you go. Regardless, it pays to be careful out there on the water.

[tallykenjsbetterhalf]

If you frequent that area, you know that many rocks are not marked and are hazardous to your lower unit depending on the tide. Many are hidden just below the surface. We mark as many unmarked ones as we can when we venture into the rock garden. Best advice we gleened from our experienced friends on this site, is to go slow and pay attention! Great fishing spot, but be careful when out there. Sunday's weather was great and not expected given the forecast of the wind predictions given that Saturdays prediction was similar and turned out to be pretty rought from the reports. We set some stone crab traps. Hope they don't get messed with (not at all directed at you folks on here as we have awesome members and fisher people)! Hope we have some luck in that department.

Had a great time Saturday with Take a Kid Fishing! Looking forward to next year!

[Frank Bradfield]

What water depth are these fish hanging ?

[MudDucker]

The lady that runs that "General Store" (if your refering to Bo Lynn's Grocery) in St. Marks is a legend in her time also. She has had to be forcefully removed from her store more than once during floods, because she refused to abandon her store. Of course I'm partial to her because she is my foster mother and help raise me. I was living above her store when I graduated from high school in 1970, at Wakulla High School.

It was Bo Lynn's and I had heard she was a local legend. She was very nice and tried to find something that would help my friends tooth problem. Personally, I agreed with her, the gulf wax probably would have worked. It was a very neat old general store.