New to site, visiting Big Bend next week (6/22-29)

[garndawg]

Howdy Gents from a lifelong freshwater fisherman!

Been reading on here and enjoying the stories.

Headed down to Carrabelle for family vacation this weekend and bringing my heaviest flyrod (8wt TFO Pro, Old Florida #4, SA Mastery Bonefish) to wet a hook in saltwater for the very first time. Got a box full of clousers (chart/white) and crazy charlies (shrimp'ish) and all I need is a sunburn...

No boat, house on the beach, canoe available to paddle out aways. (Well, I _have_ a boat, but if I put my old '83 Basstracker II in the bay, it'll most likely turn into a pile of powdered bauxite on me.)

Anyhow, enjoyed ya'll talk on here and if you've got any pieces of advice, I'd love to hear 'em.

BTW, birddog, I noticed your username said "BirddogMSU", right?

That wouldn't happen to be THE Mississippi State University, now would it?

If so, nice to see a fellow bulldog! (Class of '93, class of '95 here)

[Flint River Pirate]

Welcome Garndawg,

I have been flyfishing for years but never in salt water so I won't be much help. However you will find that we have plenty of experts on that topic. Good luck and be careful in that canoe!

[breeze]

Welcome, there, big dawg! I myself know very little about fly fishing, but if you're going to C'belle to do a little inshore fishing and if the flies don't pan out for you, keep a decent spinning rod handy and acquire some live bait for starters and try some good ol' surf fishing. You're bound to hang into something worth frying up for supper . Good luck, neighbor .

[birddog]

BTW, birddog, I noticed your username said "BirddogMSU", right?

That wouldn't happen to be THE Mississippi State University, now would it?

If so, nice to see a fellow bulldog! (Class of '93, class of '95 here)

Yep....birddog here and birddog_MSU on other forums. Class of '96 School of Forest Resources. Welcome aboard. Its nice to have a few "real" Bulldogs on the site.

[kikstand454]

hi!
hey man if you go west of carabelle..... over the river and down 98 a little bit, youll come to this little creek crossing. u have to be looking for it. you can pull down to it on the righ thand side and easily launch a canoe in there. that creek is FULL of short reds and other little guys and if you keep going out to the mouth of it its got a deep channel that has some bigger fish. it empties out on a great big canoe friendly flat that holds BIG trout on high tide. do all this as early or late in the day as possible- tide permitting. happy hunting!!!

[MudDucker]

BTW, birddog, I noticed your username said "BirddogMSU", right?

That wouldn't happen to be THE Mississippi State University, now would it?

If so, nice to see a fellow bulldog! (Class of '93, class of '95 here)

Yep....birddog here and birddog_MSU on other forums. Class of '96 School of Forest Resources. Welcome aboard. Its nice to have a few "real" Bulldogs on the site.

Thats right, me and few others. We try not to rub it in the faces of those poor boys who try to imitate our name in Mississippi

[garndawg]

BTW, birddog, I noticed your username said "BirddogMSU", right?

That wouldn't happen to be THE Mississippi State University, now would it?

If so, nice to see a fellow bulldog! (Class of '93, class of '95 here)

Yep....birddog here and birddog_MSU on other forums. Class of '96 School of Forest Resources. Welcome aboard. Its nice to have a few "real" Bulldogs on the site.

Thats right, me and few others. We try not to rub it in the faces of those poor boys who try to imitate our name in Mississippi

Thanks for the tips, kikstand. I'll try that.

Birddog, I imagine we've got a few of the same friends. I'm an ASE guy, but I ran with a couple of forestry majors back in the day...can't remember any names offhand, as it's only been thirteen years or so...

Hey, Muddy, I'll definitely give ya'll props for the better name for your dawg. UGA just has a ring to it. Definitely beats that goat you guys messed around with for a few years.

But all SEC fans know, real bulldogs wear MAROON!!!

[whitebc]

Welcome to the site, I won't hold the choice of SEC teams against any of yall... Everyone knows real football players wear the Orange and Blue though

[Littoral]

Wade the surf for Jacks Ladyfish & Spanish.

[noleflyfisher]

Wade the surf for Jacks Ladyfish & Spanish.

Good advice. If you don't mind driving, fish the state park on the east end of SGI. Park at the last pavillion and walk east, fishing as you go. Fish the troughs, swashes and bottlenecks and you will catch fish. Clouser on an intermediate sinking line is ideal. If you fish a floating line use bigger dumbell eyes and a longer leader. I used to do this a lot and caught all kinds of fish including redfish, trout, Spanish, pompano, whiting, jacks, ladyfish and flounder. Carry lots of water and keep your eyes open as the fish are often right on the beach (particularly trout). Hopefully the wind will be down and the water clean. If the wind is up and blowing onshore, stay away. I like to fish a rising tide. Good luck.