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This year we sold our little 16' bay boat w/70hp and really upgraded to a 20'6" Wellcraft with a 200HP Johnson. Having fished the flats in past years we wanted to still be able to do this but also try some offshore bottom fishing and trolling, which I have found that I know very little about. I know that I will be giving up my favorite creek entrances with a boat that drafts 18-20" of water but it still allows me to fish the bay for trout, etc. Problem is that I am a little reluctant to go out of Econfina or the Aucilla with this size boat. I claim to be no expert but never had any trouble with the small boat. Would anyone want to comment on my concerns or does anyone typically take of boat of this size out from these locations. Which location/ramp is better? I would hate to think I am being overly caucious or maybe it's that I'm getting old............ I do know that it's a gas guzzeling run from st. marks.........

You can definitely go out of Econfina if you play the tides in the summer. I would not attempt it in the winter. I use my go-devil/jon boat for winter fishing getting in and out of Aucilla and Econfina. I haven't attempted it at Aucilla, but some do. Steve Stinson takes his 21 foot Sea Pro out of there. I just went to a deeper draft boat for the same reasons you did. We will be playing the learning game together. I bought a 17 foot Proline - the old DEEP, HEAVY Proline .

You will be tide dependent at Aucilla. Even in the Spring and Summer the tide can can leave you high and dry. You can get out on a full or half tide. I've been stranded more than once in the Aucilla and have to set and wait for enough water to get back in. That was in a "Bird Dog" mullet boat that draws little water too.

I have seen a 23' mako go out of the Econfina before, so I know it can be done. I also saw that boat caught on the sandbar at the mouth on his way back in on a low tide.

You will be at the mercy of the tides in either place. Both are fine on a mid to high tide. But lows in either place can be a bitch. I have had to drag my 13' cypress jon boat back into the Aucilla before, and it only drafts 5 inches.

All that's been said is day-amm good advice. I'm not saying I know everything about Ickky, but the key seems to ride on two factors: 1. The Tide; and, 2. The Tide. The low tide will make your boat get down close to several big rocks in the river. These are no ordinary poking-up rocks, but giant slabs of limestone that can go from bank to bank of the river. One is in the first bend, a left turn, just a little ways down from the ramp, just before you get hard into the left bend where several fish camps and docks can be seen to the left going out. There are several more of these a little deeper, going out and several rock spikes as well. The trick is to invest the time and patience to go slow with the motor trimmed at about at least a 30 deg. angle (45 deg. is safer). Of course, at around high tide lots of old timers will haul in and out of the river on a plane at high speed, but they know what they are doing, probably having lost enough props and lower units in getting to know the river like the back of their hand.
The other tide related problem is out, just past the weather rack, going out where sand from the river mounds-up and gets fairly shallow around low tide. Running fast in this stretch, even though you won't bottom-out plays hell on propellers, especially composite and aluminum ones, but does major damage to your rubber water pump impeller.
Rule of thumb in Ickky, is, "The bigger the boat, the bigger the problem." Just check the tides and run the river in and out around high tide, +/- 1.5 hours, and go slow and trim-up your motor. Luck/Enjoy!

This is all good advice, thanks. Am I hearing that Econfina might be a better place to get out of than the Aucilla given enough water? Both ramps seem pretty good, if I remember correctly.

The ramp at the econfina is what the ramp at the aucilla hopes it might grow up to be one day. There is no comparison. If I had to make a choice between the 2 it would be econfina all week and twice on sunday.

The only thing I have launched recently from the Aucilla has been a jon boat but I do remember almost dumping a friends boat off the trailer on it's side years ago when the tire fell in a massive hole, but that was before the improvements were made........

Improvements....

Yea Tom, improvements. They replaced the big holes with big rocks. Enconfina is hands down easier to run, and the ramp is 10 time better. Now let me tell you about another bad hazard that has gotten real bad at Aucilla. That's the thieves. They are about as bad there as any ramp I've been at anywhere on the Gulf. I lived there many years and know some of them. There are some sorry folks that live farther up the river, again I know, I'm kin to a bunch of them.

CSM, you got it right about the theives at Aucilla. One of my first times in J.R.'s store he was actually not out fishing and when I went to the register to pay for my purchases, I noticed what looked like a snub-nosed 38 barely visible under his waistband. I remarked something like, "You have a lot of trouble with robbers and shop-lifters around here?" He said, "Yeah, and there's thieves down at the river ramp, too and some even in the river, sometimes!" I figured you just might want to grab some heat when you grabbed your rod and reel, when fishing out of the Aucilla -- better have a permit with that heat, too!

LC it has gotten better in the last few years. In the mid to late 70's it was downright dangerous down there. A lot of the misfits there were locked up by the late 70's. Many of them are out now and back on the river. Just watch yourself and your gear if you go there. The brother of Chuck Shields...(Shields Marina in St. Marks) Benny Shields got involved with that bunch. They found what was left of his body floating in the Aucilla. Those people who done it are out of prison now and back on the river.

Back in the mid to late 70's it was dope, dope and more dope. The Aucilla was taken-over by dope runners and so was Steinhatchee. Like you said, most of that has dried-up, a little, anyway, but you never know if there's a little action going on at any one time. Them dopers carry some awesome fire power at times. But I wouldn't be so scared going down there with you and your tricked-out M-15 or whatever the Few Good Men use when danger is about!

i have ran are 21 1/2 foot sea pro out of econfina w/ out any problems ... and seen one 20 somthin foot deep V w/ twins get out of the river they just went slow.

I've only been on the Encon twice and the Aucila twice, both times in my Bass/Flats boat "it drafts less than 8"s "I made it out on all ocasions, but it was not fun Every time I went out, I saw someone stuck at the mouths and once "during the winter" I easly counted a dozen boats waiting on high tide "many hours away" I will go there only when these crazy people have a bash on here or the FS forum decide that's the place for a bash Otherwise, I stay Saint Marks and West