BigBendFishing.Net

leonreno wrote:Careful on some of those suggestions, Econfina and Aucilla can be a little hard on the lower unit if you are not careful. ...

I didn't know that!

I take my pontoon boat out of all the ramps suggested. No problem.

Jumptrout51 wrote:I take my pontoon boat out of all the ramps suggested. No problem.

No problem, on the right tides....

I am bangin my trailer axle getting out of aucilla on a 0.7 tide. Worse if the wind is from the north.

I cant speak for all the ramps mentioned, but a number of them have low water issues.

That's good to know. The lift they have at Keaton Marina is one thing I really love about that place. I don't have to worry about wettin' my trailer. Not that I'm real concerned about it. I usually dunk it in my local lake when I get back home to give it a good rinse.

I was looking on google earth. What's that small place between Pattys Island and Gull Island? I think it's called Live oak Island, but not sure. Looks like it would be a good place to stay and fish! Anybody know about it? By the way. If any of you have not used google earth yet, DOWNLOAD IT! It's great to see everything. And handy when doing this sort of research!

jsuber wrote:Econfina has this http://www.econfinariverresort.com/

No need to go to Econfina. nothing there.

Houndstooth wrote:I was looking on google earth. What's that small place between Pattys Island and Gull Island? I think it's called Live oak Island, but not sure. Looks like it would be a good place to stay and fish! Anybody know about it? By the way. If any of you have not used google earth yet, DOWNLOAD IT! It's great to see everything. And handy when doing this sort of research!

Live Oak Island is all private residences. No place to stay.

Well we came to a decision! haha We'll be at Keaton 3-10-07 through 3-13-07. I have made a good list of places to try though, thanks to all of yall. We just decided to start the season with ole faithful. We're gonna try something different afterwards. Thanks again for the info guys!

NFGFC will be holding its' March tournament in Keaton on the 10th. You guys should join the club and fish with us.

I certainly appreciate the invite! I have saved the NFGFC's web site just incase something changes, but I just don't come down enough to join up. Besides, yall would just take my hard earned money! hahaha Good luck to you on that Saturday. If you see a Fisher 220 DLX Fish pontoon boat around that day, It'll more than likely be me. Hopefully I'll be wishing I got in that tournament because I'll be catchin' some nice'ens...Hopefully! Good Luck to ya!

I would think both of those boats would be pretty good for those rivers. We used to use a 19 Stratos Multi Speices boat for flats fishing, and coming out of the Econfina we would never go out on a tide less than 0.4', it gets mighty shallow for some of those rocks and bars on the way out.

Our old boat here for reference: Stratos Boat Picture

I swear! The people in my group are hard at making plans. haha I have reserved rooms at Keaton for Thursday 3-15 through Sunday 3-18. This is final. Anyway, I wanted to thank all of you for the info. I am new to this site and your fast responses were just what I was lookin' for.
Leonreno, that was a nice boat yall had. My previous boat was a 95 Stratos 201 Pro XL w/ 200 Evinrude. I loved that boat! I miss the speed. But we do get way more use out of our pontoon. In my opinion it's perfect for flats.

When we got our new boat we conidered a pontoon boat, especially if you take more than a few people, its good and stable for family fishing. But we decided on a 2002 Cape Horn Bay boat, 22'. We wanted something to take a little deeper on good days out to shallow reefs, only down side is we are not a little scared to take it out of Econfina. But good luck down around Keaton, should be a good place to fish that time of year.

Just run wide open at Icky and you'll be fine. If the first bump don't stop ya - don't let off the gas - just give it all you've got. Oh yeah, wear seatbelts if you got'em!