Ochlocknee River & Bay

[DuctTapeKing]

Got to the Mashy sands boat ramp at 9:00am. Not Much Water to be found. Slide the 17ft. Carolina Skift off it's trailer at 9:30. My buddy rgharris and I decided to run up the river looking to see if the patten that works on the aucilla/ ecofina would work in the Ochlocknee. We found several river bends with very deep water....20-30ft. We worked these very slow with shrimp, jigs, and deep H2O plugs, no luck. I figure this pattern may have not produce because of the nature of the river itself. Since the Ochlocknee is a river fed by over land flows it is more likely to be affected by tempeture changes. The aucilla/ ecofina is spring fed so they stay the same tempeture year round. Hince the fish like those spring fed rivers more when its cold because they will be much warmer than anywhere else. Anyways thats my reason for not catching any in the river today. Well after trying in the river we headed back out to the bridge to try another patter that has worked for me before when its cold. We knocked off some oysters from the pilings and fished right up next to them to try for some sheepshead. No luck. So at high tide we head to the oyster bars at the mouth to see what they had to offer. We finally found some fish. We caught 15 short trout, 1 16.5" keeper, a few very small crockers, and a hardhead catfish. After trying a few different bars the tide had changed (3:30pm) so we decided to try something else. We fished in front of Chairs Creek didn't even get a nibble. All of our fish today were caught on CT's with a 1/8oz jig head and a fresh shrimp body. It was a beautiful day to be on the water. And I didn't even have to get out the Duct Tape!!!!

[tin can]

Good dill.

What was the water temp in the bay?

[dstockwell]

Good report..

[mjsigns]

Good report-

[wevans]

Water temp was 56 at 9:30 TC
Hey Duct, did a feller in a G3 wish ya'll better luck than he had I fished from daylight ttill around 9:30 or 10, from the bridge to the outside Oyster bar without a single bite Then went Bass fishin and got 3 keepers
PS: the river temp. at the state park was 63

[Chalk]

Good report....

[Aucilla]

Informative! And a double-header reprort, it turns out. I bet I hit those same deep places you did, dtk, almost exactly a year ago, with the same result. Maybe they'll hold trout, like it is said they do, when it gets colder.....

[DuctTapeKing]

Yes Wevans that was us. I thought that might be you by the boat but I didn't see Soppchoppy Red Neck on the side...Did I just miss it? Also just wondering is there ever a time of the year that those river bends just before the Ochlocknee opens to the bay hold fish? I'm thinking good and deep...maybe strippers when the move up the river? Not asking for any spots just patterns you look for. By the way it took all day of hard fishing before we got any. I was suprised to find the fish at the oyster bars. I thought they would have moved up river. In the winter how far up river do the trout and reds run? I'm thinking the state park??? Thanks for any help you can give.

[qoutrage]

Good report DTK. No luck reports are as good as good luck reports. Now we know- 'don't go there for a fews days or a week'.
Thanks for relating your efforts.

[wevans]

I still aint put the name on the new hull I have very little luck locating the fish in them holes they jsut don't seem ta fit any pattern as to when and where the will be. I have caught a Red as far up as the Dead River/Sopchoppy River junction they seem to be more numerous between the park and Shell river and in the creeks inbetween I have only caught one Trout in the river in the last three years

[Aucilla]

Also just wondering is there ever a time of the year that those river bends just before the Ochlocknee opens to the bay hold fish? I'm thinking good and deep..

Right in there, there are big deep spots. I been told they hold lunker trout in the winter. I tried last December, but only once, and didn't get anything but an adventure running into an abandoned, unmarked trap at WOT, a good time towin' some folks to a landing I didn't know about, and an unplanned first-time night ride in my 13-er after a beautful sunset.



Got to fish with my Bride, too, for a change.

[DuctTapeKing]

A 2 month old boy and a 2 year old boy keep me at the house most of the time but a few years ago I fished that bay a couple of days a week in the spring summer and fall. I just have never really fished it in the winter. Thanks for your knowledge.....or should I say experience. So would you in the winter still fish the bay area and look for deep holes in the channel, or have all the fish swam up river? I have heard if you can get your offering to the bottom you can catch a few white trout???...I have just never tried. Not even sure I would know a white trout from a speckle trout.

[wevans]

I mostly fish for Bass during the winter "Grouper on the light wind days" but will take my saltwater rig and fish the holes after getting my limit of Bass I think if I really wanted to catch a Trout, I would go to Saint Marks or Spring Creek Maybe some of the others can give you more info on the Winter fishing around the Bay

[GT Fisherman]

You can catch reds and stripers in those deep holes until Thanksgiving and I have caught trout up around the state park as late as Christmas but you have to resort to live shrimp that late in the season.

[wevans]

I reckon that's why I have such a problem with em, I can count on one hand the # of times I've fished with live bait in the last 5 years