Fishing St. Marks

[Danibeth]

Weeeellll after living here almost 3 years now, I have FINALLY gotten out on the water and NOT in my canoe. I am currently babysitting my friends mudboat and I decided that since the weather was nice, I'd go out and see what St. Marks looks like from the water, as opposed to just looking out from the lighthouse at the water. This big open water fishing is very different salt water fishing than what I am used to coming from Jacksonville. Since I really didn't know what else to do and the wind was blowing towards the shore, I basically set up to drift into each of the creeks and bays that I came across. I would head out, stop the boat about 500 yards or so from the shore and then just slowly drift in. I had a line out the back with a bobber and a gulp crab....didn't really expect much...and didn't get much. Just a legless gulp crab by the end of the day. But I took another rod with me and was tossing out a yozuri. I found an area of deeper water (no clue how deep) and I made a pass over that area several times and each time I had multiple hook ups and/or catches. I ended up catching 6 trout (all legal sized) and 2 mackerel and had about a dozen more hook ups. I'm not a big fan of trout so they and the mackerel were all released to fight another day. It's been a while since I've been out on the water and had my lines wet.....VERY happy I went out today and got to have my lines tugged on.

On top of that, I saw several sea turtles. I love sea turtles....they're such neat creatures. That's one of the coolest things i think about fishing this side of FL, the water is so clear compared to Jacksonville (of course I primarily fished the salt marshes and the St. Johns River and all of that is muuuuuuuuddy) and so you get to see such neat things in the water. I watched a bonnet head lazily pass by me, a number of rays and skates and then the sea turtles.

Soooooooo if y'all saw a mudboat out around St. Marks today, that was likely me finally getting back on the water

Danibeth

[Salty Gator]

Nice work Danni, glad you got out.

[Juan]

Great report! It's funny how the weather can be so nice in one spot and terrible in another a few miles away. I fished Port St. Joe around Black's Island (or should I say "tried" to fish). The wind was brutal but we still managed 10 trout, a nice flounder and a big ray that gave my KastKIng a "reel" work out. Had to chase him down several times to gain some line back. That was fun in the wind and choppy seas. We also saw several turtles and I agree, they are cool critters. Too bad they won't let us catch and eat them any more.