Ecofina River Boat Ramp

[Danibeth]

Question for y'all. The Ecofina River Boat Ramp at the end of 14 what's it like at low tide? Can you launch and recover a boat at low tide? Is the river rocky? Any info on that would be appreciated.

Danibeth

[Salty Gator]

It depends. Depends on how low the low is. Depends on the wind strength and direction. Depends on the boat. And yes it is rocky

[tabb]

Just one rock in econfina. It goes from boat landing to mouth and it moves around on full moon.

[ugadawg]

Its not just the rocks you have to worry about, you also have to dodge the lower units in the river and the flats! There are some parts of mine about a mile east of the mouth

[Dubble Trubble]

As for your question about low tide. In the winter, I have been at the mouth when I could walk across the river and not get my ankles wet. That answer your question?


I once made a map of the rocks in the river. There are just a few...

[DEMON]

Yes, you can use the ramp @ low tide as long as it isn't a negative low. If you don't want to have to drive all the way there & have to turn around & go somewhere else, I'd stick to a 1' tide or more. Bare in mind that a North wind can blow the water out of the river so add that to the equation. If you find it marginal @ the ramp then you probably won't make it out of the mouth of the river either because of the shallowness. As noted above, there are numerous rocks in the river that need to be avoided & it would be best to follow someone out on your first trip & get a good route on your GPS. The river can look wide but it really has a very narrow channel & can be quite shallow just outside the channel @ low tides. The mouth is the tricky part. It looks like you should go to right of the tripod (and you can most of the time) but the channel actually runs to the left of the tripod between the oyster bar & the pvc pipe marking a killer rock. It's a beautiful river but a bit tricky.

Link to the route @ the mouth:http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpBB3/vi ... ?f=4&t=876

[Blue spinner]

i took these last year on a low tide

http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpBB3/vi ... =5&t=37102

[Danibeth]

Thanks a lot guys for the info. I really appreciate it.

[big bend gyrene]

Danibeth, if you haven't been out of Econfina it's a beautiful spot (my personal favorite of area launch sites). I put in a 22' boat regularly BUT will emphasize it's not a place to take lightly. Having fished there since 2002 I've bumped rocks a few times even with tides between 1 and 1.5'. I'll run out/in with less than 1.5' from time to time, but really see 1.5' as the "generally" safe mark (looking at area charts if you run shallow in the flats you can still find some rocks to hit at 1.5', but if you stick to the deeper charted lines you should be ok.

If you go out with marginal tides, few specific spots strongly recommend you know about. First is right on the opposite shore side of the launch area... literally, just across the bank... you launch and back up too much there's a few beach ball sized rocks on the other shore side that often bite newbies.

Other spot in particular you need to know about is just PAST (going out) the fishing shacks in the "no wake" zone area. BIG rock in the middle just PAST the "no wake" zone. I skirt around to the right at slow speed when going out and don't go W.O.T. until I see my depth gauge drop off from the ledge in that area. You can see what I'm talking about at the 1:55 mark... and have to say, having launched this year more out of St. Marks due to predictable bait for offshore runs, sure makes me long to be back on the river.

Have the time to load the video in the higher definition options, you can see just how pretty the river area is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbU8Ylqxs4o[/video]

[reelbad]

Just think of it this way, three feet of water with a two foot rock. Not much room for error if you are getting on plane or letting off the throttle. Go easy until you make a few trips.

[killswitch]

Danibeth, if you haven't been out of Econfina it's a beautiful spot (my personal favorite of area launch sites). I put in a 22' boat regularly BUT will emphasize it's not a place to take lightly. Having fished there since 2002 I've bumped rocks a few times even with tides between 1 and 1.5'. I'll run out/in with less than 1.5' from time to time, but really see 1.5' as the "generally" safe mark (looking at area charts if you run shallow in the flats you can still find some rocks to hit at 1.5', but if you stick to the deeper charted lines you should be ok.

If you go out with marginal tides, few specific spots strongly recommend you know about. First is right on the opposite shore side of the launch area... literally, just across the bank... you launch and back up too much there's a few beach ball sized rocks on the other shore side that often bite newbies.

Other spot in particular you need to know about is just PAST (going out) the fishing shacks in the "no wake" zone area. BIG rock in the middle just PAST the "no wake" zone. I skirt around to the right at slow speed when going out and don't go W.O.T. until I see my depth gauge drop off from the ledge in that area. You can see what I'm talking about at the 1:55 mark... and have to say, having launched this year more out of St. Marks due to predictable bait for offshore runs, sure makes me long to be back on the river.

Have the time to load the video in the higher definition options, you can see just how pretty the river area is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbU8Ylqxs4o[/video]

This video and music never gets old ! Thanks BBG

[Danibeth]

I wanted to say thanks again y'all for your help. Went out yesterday afternoon to toodle around and see what there was to see (saw four sea turtles so that was really cool) out on the gulf. BBG I really enjoyed the video when I watched it, and it was nice to see what you were videoing when I went out there. I got a big kick out of the resume normal speed sign that is clearly used for target practice. Very pretty river. Saw some decent sized redfish out there too. Looking forward to going back out there.

Thanks again y'all