St. Marks Report 4-9-16

[lordsfisher]

My daughter wanted me to take her fishing so I couldn't pass up an opportunity to spend with her, so I went out again for a few hours in the afternoon. The strong wind was annoying, but we had a nice time regardless. My wife caught lost her first fish ever right at the boat. It was a nice trout, but then she caught a 8" trout. She seemed happy with that. The bite turned on about 5 pm. My daughter caught five trout. I caught a couple trout and two decent spanish in about 2.5 foot of water. The water is still stained, but improving. Not a great day of catching or for boating, but it was a good experience. Caught a nice sunset at the fort. My wife's samsung galaxy takes better pics than my new iPhone 6 plus.

[DixieReb]

Nice fish, sounds like a good day.

[Ted in Tallahassee]

I may have seen you. I took the two boys out in the 15' jonboat (OD green with "face" painted on side of bow) yesterday afternoon to check my 5 stone crab traps (got one claw, which makes a grand total of 2 for the season ...) and to fish a little. Man it was windy! Weather report said it was supposed to die down a bit in the "late afternoon" but if anything it blew harder. Managed 6 keeper trout though. Got about a half dozen shorts and two huge ladyfish too. We put in at the fort at about 4:20 and returned just before sunset.

Went out March 25 late evening--beautiful day, very little wind, overcast, outgoing tide in 4' of water east of lighthouse--and had the best trout fishing day of my life--limited out with big, fat trout in 15 minutes! Basic Gulps under popper rig, nothing special. Pinfish on the flats too. Early compared to last year. A few days later it was still hot but LOTS of shorts too. Also caught a few bluefish, a big mackerel, and a HUGE ladyfish.

I can't wait for windless days. Oh and I saw some BIG scallops--must be ones still there from last year. Can't wait for scalloping too!

Still never caught a redfish. Maybe this is the year!

[lordsfisher]

Sounds like you've been doing pretty well out there! If you want to catch a redfish, I'd put that smaller boat up in the creeks and fish the edges of the grass.