BigBendFishing.Net

I will be staying a SGI this weekend but with the predicted wind forecast out of the SW I was thinking about trailering the boat to CSB for calmer waters and hopefully cleaner water. I was at SGI last weekend and got blown around and the water there had turned to chocolate milk. I've never fished St. Joe bay before. I see there is a public ramp in the state park. Are there any issuses I need to be aware of? Any fishing info would also be appreciated. Thanks

Check the when the state park opens. I know I've tried to launch there before early in the morning and the gates were down, I had to wait for someone to come along who had the gate code.

Eagle Harbor in the State Park has a ramp. Unless you have an annual pass and the code, then it opens later than I would prefer to start fishing. The city ramp and Presnells both open earlier. Not much hard to hit, but there are some shallow sand areas. Have fun.

There's a $10 launch fee at Presnells but it's worth it. Good ramp with plenty of parking across the street and they will pick you up from the parking lot and take you back to your truck when you're ready to leave.

Thanks for the info. FWC cite doesn't mention any of that. Says $4 fee open at 8 am but it also says Presnells fee is $6. Figures the site would misslead you

State Park opens at 8 and there is an $11 charge if you have a boat with you. As mentioned already Presnells has a nice new ramp and there is a $10 charge. If you are going to fish the west side launch at the SP. East side launch at Presnells. If it windy at SGI it will be windy at SJB but blowing a different angle since it runs north and south. Water will be cleaner. If you have any tag alongs who rather go to the beach the SP offers that and they will be entertained while you fish.

The reason I was wanting to launch at the SP was because of the SW wind prediction. I figured I could stay on the west side tucked in on the lee side.

The SP will be the best with that wind. We did the same a couple of weeks ago and it helped us out. We actually crossed to the East side first but it was not much visibility so we came back to the west and it was much better.

NOAA is only calling for 5-10 this weekend so unless they are wrong the wind shouldn't be much of an issue wherever you decide to launch.

And with a sw wind, the bay side of the island should be well protected

The wind is not the main issue. Unless the bay has cleared up since Sunday, cleaner water is what I'm really after. Also I didn't have much luck last weekend and I fished all over the place. My plan is to go offshore but the forecast doesn't look good for that. Hopefully that will change too. I just want St.Joe to be an option if I need it and don't want to go in it blind.

That area got another frog strangler today. It might clear up some before the weekend but if I were going, I think I'd plan on fishing SJB. Unlike other places, it's somewhat protected and other than the ICW, there aren't any rivers or creeks running into SJB to muddy it up like other places.