This could be the year for anglers to hit Aucilla River
By Rick Farren
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
With cold weather coming this weekend maybe our favorite inshore species, sea trout and redfish, will finally move into one of the local rivers in search of a nice place to spend the winter. Not that it hasn't been fun for Big Bend anglers to catch fish on the flats in December, but somehow it just isn't right.
As one angler put it, "It's been a long fall."
So far, redfish have made a few forays upriver, but sea trout have mostly been hanging along the shoreline, apparently waiting for the water temperature to drop just a few more degrees before starting their annual inland migration.
One of the best wintertime trout spots along the Big Bend - the Aucilla River - hasn't lived up to its reputation of producing big catches of big fish the last couple of years. This year, however, heavy rains that more or less "flushed" the fish out of the river the last two winters haven't hit us yet.
When in the Aucilla, fish congregate in holes between the boat ramp and the mouth of the river. If you're not sure where to fish, watch what the other anglers do and how they navigate the river. If the trout are in the river, there will be plenty of boats to watch. Your first time out you might want to fish while drifting with the current until you catch something. Then quietly drop an anchor and keep fishing the same spot.
Shallow-running john boats or similar craft are best suited for the conditions because the Aucilla is a shallow river. The turnoff to the only boat ramp on the river is about a half-mile east of the U.S. Hwy. 98 bridge over the Aucilla.
The St. Marks River probably draws the largest number of fish from the flats and can accommodate larger boats. But unlike the Aucilla, where fish tend to concentrate in a few holes, the St. Marks has miles of deep water where they can seek comfort. During really cold spells look for "flats" fish as far upriver as the bridge over U.S. Hwy. 98 in Newport. More than once I've seen redfish caught off the public dock near the bridge in Newport. Already this year redfish have been caught as far upriver as the power plant in St. Marks.
If it's your first time on the upper St. Marks, a good place to get started is the first half-mile or so above the power plant in St. Marks. If you don't find fish there, start working your way upstream, stopping to fish scoured holes on the outside of bends and sections below the spring runs that dump into the river. Redfish, spotted sea trout, flounder, mangrove snapper and sheepshead all use the river in winter.
In both rivers, live shrimp work well if you can get it to the bottom and keep it there. Sometimes the current in combination with a falling tide can make that difficult. Barring that, use a plastic grub and fish it very slowly on the bottom. Although warmer than the flats, river water is still cold and fish aren't going to be very aggressive. But they won't pass up an easy meal.
New rules proposed for permit
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has proposed a rule amendment that would limit to two the number of large permit that may be possessed aboard any vessel. The purpose of the rule is to protect permit when they aggregate to spawn.
Recreational fishermen currently are allowed to harvest up to six permit 11-20 inches fork length daily. One permit harvested under this bag limit may exceed 20 inches fork length. The proposed rule would allow possession of no more than two permit larger than 20 inches fork length onboard any vessel. If approved, the rule would take effect July1 and apply statewide in both state and federal waters.
A final public hearing on the new rule will take place at the Feb.2-4 FWC meeting in Panama City.
New rules for dolphin and wahoo
The FWC has approved a series of new rules to manage dolphin (mahi mahi) and wahoo in Florida waters. Several of the rules are intended to be consistent with recently implemented regulations in Atlantic Ocean federal waters, which were developed to prevent overfishing of dolphin and wahoo in federal waters.
Current statewide rules allow a 10-fish daily bag limit for recreational harvest of dolphin. The new rules create a 20-inch fork-length minimum size limit for all harvest of dolphin on Florida's Atlantic coast and establish a statewide maximum recreational harvest limit of 60 dolphin per vessel (except 10 dolphin per paying passenger on for-hire vessels).
For wahoo, a statewide daily two-fish recreational bag limit was created, and the sale of recreationally caught dolphin or wahoo was prohibited (except qualified for-hire vessels may sell recreationally harvested dolphin). All dolphin and wahoo must be landed in a whole condition. The new rules take effect Jan.3.
