Are the good times really over?..

[Red Beard]

Good day BBFF family,




Hope everyone has made it through their summer thus far and are doing well. Hoping the worst you got is bad tan lines and fresh groceries in the kill box. Mine has been going great and I appreciate you asking. Some may know me here,most may not. I spend a lot of my time on the water something I feel blessed and fortunate for; guiding has been the most rewarding and challenging thing I’ve done in my life. Fishing is something that clears the static and recharges my spirit.




I approach our area with a conservationist first attitude , making sure that I’m never robbing the resource more than what is required and cleaning up after those who forgot how to. Always looking towards the future and trying to be aware of man’s effect on nature. And it was a day on the water last week I asked myself, “Is the fishery on an up swing; or a down swing?” Am I so deep I can’t tell what’s happening around me?




I know that the “fishery” as a whole, wax and wanes through the years. Stronger seasons are always followed with weaker times; but is this the case now?

Their are species of fish I would say are doing well but others I don’t feel are doing as strong.
Their are times of the year I know a fishery being closed could help out down the line. And others I feel are heavily regulated to benefits a minority not the majority.

On a positive swing I have seen new species show up more often than they should. I have seen mangrove trees taking root. Hell even get to see a flamingo all the time. We got manatees, and the springs are still pumping out cold fresh water.



Personally I am not scared of growth or change; as long as this happens looking to preserve what makes the area attractive to growth/change. We have all seen tragic change to a fishery we love, and usually they don’t recover to the level of before.





In a nutshell I’m wanting spark a discussion about:

What you have seen change for the bad?
What has changed for the good?
What was fishing like 10 years ago?
Are we doing enough to protect our resources? (The water/the fish)
What will fishing look like in ten years?
Are our regulations enough?
Are our regulations enforced?
Are the regulations wrong?

Hope y’all get what I’m at here. Hoping some veterans of the area chime in here and share some wisdom..




Tight lines and tighter knots.

[Phil. 4:8]

Good morning Mr. Beard and thanks for "sparking" us to discuss the place that so many of us love and enjoy. I appreciate your saving the earth at the coast and I assume everywhere attitude. If not me, who will pick it up, clean it up and save it up for the future. For my forty plus years of fishing Apalachee Bay and surrounding areas I can share that many things seem less while others are certainly more. It's been years since we got our limit of trout, while we usually catch our limit of reds (one is easy). The water is really still clear and clean in the wintertime and not so much in the heat of summer, which may have something to do with the environment, but I'm no expert. The folks at ramps are more courteous today than years ago. That may be because they are giving us old guys a little more respect. We still see dolphins play in the boat wake and birds seem plentiful and the pleasure of just being out there is still great. So, based on your photos and my personal experience, the "good times" are not over and as long as folks love their Mother Nature and act like the stewards God intended us to be, there will be a future place for our grandchildren to love as well.

[Whaler1981]

I'm gloomy. I see the BP oil well blowout as the moment my own fishing downturn began but its the bigger picture climatic factors that worry me the most. We're in bad trouble.

[FlyrodC]

Nice Red…ummm…Red. Beautiful fish.

I’m lucky enough to live in Florida and Montana and get to flyfish Apalachee Bay and Southwest Montana. They are equally beautiful and largely protected. I fish with a few fellas with young sons and my message to them is always, “The good old days are now”.

That said, the amount of pressure up here can occasionally negatively affect the experience. More people are fishing and fishermen are becoming conditioned to have someone wade in 50 yards above or below you, leapfrog boats floating down the river and just generally have to deal with people when out fishing. But peace and quiet is out there for them that enjoy searching for it.

I haven’t been fishing Apalachee Bay long enough to provide a comparison to the actual “Good old days” but have been fishing there since 2014. My take is that if a fella wants peace and quiet when fishing in either Florida or Montana, it’s best found during the week. North Florida has so much protected coastline and is sparsely populated, much like Madison and Beaverhead Counties in Montana, where I do most of my northern fishing, if a fella hunts spots, finds spots and keeps them quiet, you can carve a nice little niche out for yourself. The North Florida coastline is so, so vast that a little trial and error should result in some good days, some fair days and some poor days. For me, exploring and trying new spots is a ton of fun.

So, like I said, I’m fairly new to fishing AB but overall I’ve been doing pretty well. I’m FlyFishing only including even when searching for fish. A few buddies used to bust my ass hard about not picking up a spin rod but over time, I’ve learned where to target fish while blind fishing with a fly and have been able to keep fish in the freezer pretty consistently the last few years. My personal rules are that I won’t kill a Red over 24” nor a Trout over 21”.

I’m fairly new to Sight Fishing in the bay but have been improving on that front each year. Had some pretty good coaching from a local guide who knows that 1. I won’t step on his toes when out there and 2. That he won’t be competing with me down the line. Really enjoying the hunt for visible fish even on days when I pretty much don’t see any.

Anyway, fish numbers and fish catches are cyclical. This past spring a pal of mine who fishes a pretty good bit made a comment to me that he felt the fishing was slow in N. Florida this year. My response was that I had a great season and I can’t wait until the fishing is “on”!

[SCALAWAG]

Just my opinion, i think the mindset of the newer generation of outdoor enthusiast is not the same, it seems to be how many, how much.
And no respect for the environment or there fellow enthusiast. I was at keaton two weeks ago beach road had trash all the way to the ramp and it got worse the closer you got and i know the county had just recently had a two day clean up on that road. seems like the side of the road and ditch was everyone's personal trash can, then take a slow ride thru the flats and the bottom looked no different. And i want even get started about where all the scallop shells are being dumped. I haved lived in Florida half of my life (Mexico Beach, Port St, Joe) i now live in GA.
I have seen it change a lot, it is depressing.

[doomtrpr_z71]

My personal opinion on it, the trout seem to be more scattered this year but there's plenty of over slot trout. Frankly the best thing they could do for the trout would be to do a slot limit with the length 12in-19in and be done with it, short mortality is high anyways. The red population for sure is solid, I had no issues with them trying to bump the limit to 2 last year. The Spanish seem to be off this year but the weather was a bit off this spring. Grouper and snapper definitely haven't been off this year. One thing I've noticed in the last 10 years, steinhatchee has gotten more popular and they have way more tournaments than in years past. The grass seems to be in great shape, it just greened up slower with the cooler water temps this year. I will admit that scallop season does seem to bring out more idiots for the summer but the rest of the year it tends to be good people.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[slow motion]

Hope you and the family are doing well Red Beard. Only fished the area for the last 6 or 7 years so I can't really comment on health of the fishery. Seems to be crowded some days some days not. I love the fact so much of the area is State or Federally owned and protected from development. I'm blessed to be able to occasionally enjoy it. Wish I had found it sooner. As to the FWC enforcement, I imagine they do the best they can but the sheer number of boats and area they have to cover is overwhelming. Luckily most people are honest and law abiding.

[rockyg]

My Dad started me fishing at St. Marks close to 60 years ago, and I've been fishing in this area ever since. Things have changed but not nearly as rapidly as in other parts of Florida.

We used to catch (and keep) lots of 12-14" trout back in the days of virtually no limits. You can still catch trout in our area and I caught and released 2 of my biggest (29 and 30") ever in the last 5 years, so I'd have to say trout fishing is still ok. I'd like to see them close it for December to February. Way too many fish are caught and taken home out of the river during the winter. You would be amazed how much that one thing would improve the local trout fishery.

Redfish......my personal favorite. Most of you would not believe it but fishing for redfish prior to the Net Ban was nearly non-existent. We would fish for them in the river in the cooler months and catch a few every now and then. Nobody fished the flats or creeks during the cooler months. If you tried one of the dozens of mullet guys would run up to you and suggest you go try somewhere else. After the Net Ban it was redfish heaven for a few years. Nowadays it's still pretty good if you know where and when to go. So Redfishing is way better than the way back old days and still what I would call ok.

St. Marks has frankly gone to pot since Covid hit. The number of boats out on any given day is hard to put into words. Really makes me miss the good old days, like 2010. lol

[Hit-n-Miss]

The boat ramps have gotten ridiculous, which is really frustrating when you have to go on the weekends. The one over slot per boat rule I think is stupid(either be per person or not at all). And if you are going to shrink the slot size on trout, then why not lower the bottom end to 14". I personally love to eat fish, and have been freezing them for later my whole life. Are they better fresh? Yes but frozen is still delicious.

[Red Beard]

I have enjoyed reading everyone’s view on the matter. Thank you for sharing. Hope everyone has a great week.




… I know that net ban never sat right with a lot of the older salts of the area. But to know it made the Redfish fishery better, is a blessing. That’s a fish that has become my bread and butter and am thankful to have.

[SHOWBOAT]

Agree seasonal closures could be helpful. Trout stacked in creeks during the winter are extremely vulnerable. I also wouldn’t have an issue if the limit was 3 vs 5. I have no desire to keep a trout under 15”…I don’t even like to target schoolies. Would love to see 17-20” with one over a 3 fish limit.

I think we have the most beautiful redfish in Florida, and they’re readily abundant. Our diversity is awesome: scallops, triple tail, tarpon, cobia, decent trout, reds,etc. permit and consistent snook are all we’re missing. The reduced number of boats and quality hunting make up for that.

There is a reason I moved here over 20 years ago and never left. Wish quality hunting land wasn’t 10k/acre, but we’re real lucky overall.

[Hit-n-Miss]

I also think the winter closure would be good.

[BloodyChamp]

Trout are absolutely abused in the winter. We’ve discussed that many times. Redfish are also abused even though it’s unheard of among us. Then there’s the Wacissa River which I can’t stand to look at for a long time after it starts at The Head as everybody whose abused it for so long has swore up and down that they’ve only helped the place.

Problems won’t be fixed until people start owning and truly caring about some stuff. Rules are a formality. Heck what else can you do to protect a Redfish with the strict rules they already have?

Now with that said everything around here has persevered. The water around here is a resilient hunk of the Earth. Hopefully everything around here remains protected so that it doesn’t end up like South Fl.

[Red Beard]

I definitely would like to see a trout closure in February time frame.

Redfish I believe is good as is.

My issue mainly is the lack of follow up with data to show the results of these limits implemented. But at the same time where is the data for the closures?

Who is lobbying for these open and closed seasons?