BigBendFishing.Net

Saturday morning my buddy and I took the kayaks out at Wakulla Beach to relatively calm seas and "partly cloudy" skies. We headed to the creek to the west to try for some reds. When we got there saw some action, but only managed needlefish, and a houndfish. We promptly left the creek for the bay.

In the bay we got into a mess of catfish, ladyfish, and several Jack Crevalles. Nothing for the dinner table, but hellaciously fun to catch. We also caught a baby Blacktip we returned, and hooked onto a huge Blacktip that did the headshake thing and broke me off; I wouldn't know what to do with a 5' shark once I landed it on a kayak so it's probably for the better. We also saw trout hitting the surface but couldn't convince them to bite. Those Jacks fight like champions though for such a small fish; what a time.

We ended up drifting to that island midway between Wakulla Beach and Shell Point to look for scallops. Saw several small shells and dead scallops, but nothing in the immediate area. At this point the wind and seas were downright silly, and we called it a day and made it back to shore before it got too hairy for kayaks.

We were cast-netting for baitfish, and took some fiddler crabs with us as bait. We never did put the fiddler crabs on a hook, and mostly were using pinfish and bull/tiger minnows. I was using a poppin' cork and about 20" of 20lb leader, and another rig for live-lining baitfish. The sharks were hooked with the poppin' cork, but they probably would've went after the live line rigs too. I'll definitely make that trip to Wakulla Beach again.

I don't take my phone on my kayak, so you guys'll have to take my word for it.

Monday afternoon we went to Mashes Sands for some ol' fashioned wade fishing. Again we cast net for bait and got plenty of bull minnows, tiger minnows, and some pinfish. We just put them on a live line rig, plain and simple. We went to the west side of the beach and cast into the deeper part, towards Ochlocknee Bay. The tide was going out and we were quite far into the sandbar. We saw the birds hitting the water and we cast into the madness to find ourselves on a school of Ladyfish and Jack Crevalles. What a time, we probably pulled 15 or 20 Ladyfish out of the water and several Jacks. The bait didn't last 20 seconds in the water before either a Jack or a Ladyfish hit. Again, nothing for the dinner table but a great way to spend a Monday afternoon.

We waited for the tide to turn and there was action everywhere, but the GF was hollering to leave once the bugs found us. All in all I think I got my fishing fix for the week, and got to see Juptier and Venus bright and lined up without the Tallahassee light pollution. Hopefully next time I go out again I'll have pictures of dinner to share.

It's a wonder you didn't find some trout in all those ladyfish, it's been my observation that they sometimes hang around with trout. Glad it was fun, anyway.

Great report, sounds like fun.

Also surprised a trout or two didn't come up. Sometimes you need something heavy to get below the lady fish and jacks to find the trout on the bottom. I will throw a heavy jig and work it on the bottom (if it makes it there) to try for a trout.

My question? How or where do you net bull minnows? Would like to try but not sure how to?

Thanks for the advice about the trout, I'll stay on ladyfish schools from now on and keep trying for trout.

Bull minnows, pinfish, and finger mullet are usually right up to the shore near grass beds. I just wade out with a cast net, 3/8" to 1/2" mesh is fine, and whatever size you're comfortable throwing for it to open up; 6-8' is a good size to start. Watch the water and you'll see schools running, then spread that net out and get 'em. It takes some practice, but a cast net pays for itself in a less than a month of fishing. Wakulla Beach, Bottoms Road, and Mashes Sands are all great places to load up on baitfish. It didn't take 5 throws to net several dozen baitfish in either of those spots, but Mashes Sands had an incredible concentration and not too many rocks to get snagged on. Just wade out a few feet and aim for the schools.

Where is a good place to get bait net, size,brand,etc? At end of mashes sand which way you go for bait, towards bay or to the left away from bay?


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I usually go left and throw around the trees. Don't throw straight out of the beach from the parking lot because of rocks. From the pier you can find bait right off the pier, throw off if pier or from shore. There's a little high tide channel behind the trees right off the end of the pier that holds a lot of bait.