BigBendFishing.Net

My family and Steve Brantley's family left after church Sunday afternoon and headed to Dog Island. We camped near the East end until yesterday.

Had a great time with the kids and got some fishing in as well. We caught a lot of trout fishing the grass flats behind the island with bull minnows and finger mullet castnetted along the shoreline. Several times we got humbled by very large fish grabbing out live baits. I assume these were tarpon, since we saw several rolling in the late evening and early morning.

Looked for scallops off Lanark, but did not see any. There were only a few scattered boats with dive flags up, so I don't think anyone is finding many there this year.

All in all, a great weekend. My wife has the camping fever again, so I am sure we have more adventures in our near future.

- Steve Stinson

Cool...sounds like fun. I bet yall were glad to have that sae breeze!

I didnt know you could camp on Dog Island. Where can you camp and what permission is required? How do you know where you can go?

BH -

I launched at Lanark, drove to a nice looking spot on the island, and set up camp. Nobody bothered us at all, no permits, or other items necessary.

There are no amenities, so you have to be able to rough it for a few days. The A/C, hot shower, and cold Grey Goose martini sure felt good when we returned, and I'm sure these bug bite will heal up in a few days.

One word of caution - we did have a couple of boats motor by very close to mine in the middle of the night. Each time we heard them and spotted them with a light. All of our gear was still present in the morining, but I am not sure it would have been there if we hadn't heard them idle by.

One of my coworkers recently had the prop stollen off of his boat while it was anchored offshore from his house on Alligator Pt. So keep a close eye out if you decide to go.

The infamous Dog Island pirates. You gotta watch 'em.

Here are a few pics of our weekend home....


Melissa - The Island Queen


Dakota Brantley - "If Ya squint REAL hard, the no-see-ums can't bite your eyeballs!"


Andrew Stinson on the gator with Jeremy and McKinsey Brantley in tow.


Answered Prayers - Loaded and ready to Fish!


Camp Dog Island - Steve Brantley cooking some dinner.

Can't wait to go back again - Steve Stinson