Yates Creek?

[SoberAngler]

Is the area outside of Yates Creeks grassy, sandy, mixed grass/sand or oysters,rocky? How far due west of the Yates Creek mouth (at high tide) does one need to go (in miles) to find 3' minimum depth? Launching at Yates Creek best to go due west, south or north? Thanks. (seeking reds, trout maybe flounder).

[Apalachee Inshore]

Yates creek has grass and oyster bars. More oysters if you turn to the right. Your water depth is going to be tide dependant. You don't want to be in there close on a low unless you have a shallow running boat. This time of year you are looking at redfish with maybe the occasional trout or flounder. If you like it there stop by Walter Bs and sign the Yates creek petition. I haven't heard anything from anyone official but there are rumors of access to the creek being cut off if the county doesn't buy the surrounding property. Someone who knows more about this please chime in.

[red_yakker]

Yates creek has grass and oyster bars. More oysters if you turn to the right. Your water depth is going to be tide dependant. You don't want to be in there close on a low unless you have a shallow running boat. This time of year you are looking at redfish with maybe the occasional trout or flounder. If you like it there stop by Walter Bs and sign the Yates creek petition. I haven't heard anything from anyone official but there are rumors of access to the creek being cut off if the county doesn't buy the surrounding property. Someone who knows more about this please chime in.

I've heard about the petition. It's a little misleading. The County leases the Yates creek ramp from the Clark family. The Clark's have always allowed the public to use the ramp even before the County leased it, and have said in the past that they have no interest in selling the land.
There's a group trying to convince the County to buy some additional land at Yates Creek to make into a County park, but the proposed park has nothing to do with the ramp, and the County doesn't have the money to do any of it any way.
To me, it sounds like someone really wants that park and is willing to mislead the public into signing a petition out of fear of losing a ramp.
Personally, I'd rather see the taxpayer's money used to address the congestion issues at the Keaton and Steinhatchee ramps. They handle hundreds of boats a day during scallop season. Yates Creek gets 10 or 20 on a busy weekend.

Now, back to the original question. At high tide, you can run most boats right along the marsh line, but watch out, because north of the creek are plenty of oyster bars. South, you have one big bar in close, and one little guy out a little deeper that's easy to overlook until you hit it at full speed

You may notice that the oyster bars between Yates Creek and Spring Warrior Creek can get a bit overcrowded with fishermen in the cooler months. It's for a reason. Lot's of fish.

[Apalachee Inshore]

Yates creek has grass and oyster bars. More oysters if you turn to the right. Your water depth is going to be tide dependant. You don't want to be in there close on a low unless you have a shallow running boat. This time of year you are looking at redfish with maybe the occasional trout or flounder. If you like it there stop by Walter Bs and sign the Yates creek petition. I haven't heard anything from anyone official but there are rumors of access to the creek being cut off if the county doesn't buy the surrounding property. Someone who knows more about this please chime in.

I've heard about the petition. It's a little misleading. The County leases the Yates creek ramp from the Clark family. The Clark's have always allowed the public to use the ramp even before the County leased it, and have said in the past that they have no interest in selling the land.
There's a group trying to convince the County to buy some additional land at Yates Creek to make into a County park, but the proposed park has nothing to do with the ramp, and the County doesn't have the money to do any of it any way.
To me, it sounds like someone really wants that park and is willing to mislead the public into signing a petition out of fear of losing a ramp.
Personally, I'd rather see the taxpayer's money used to address the congestion issues at the Keaton and Steinhatchee ramps. They handle hundreds of boats a day during scallop season. Yates Creek gets 10 or 20 on a busy weekend.

Now, back to the original question. At high tide, you can run most boats right along the marsh line, but watch out, because north of the creek are plenty of oyster bars. South, you have one big bar in close, and one little guy out a little deeper that's easy to overlook until you hit it at full speed

You may notice that the oyster bars between Yates Creek and Spring Warrior Creek can get a bit overcrowded with fishermen in the cooler months. It's for a reason. Lot's of fish.

That you for clearing that up. That whole area is low and I don't see how they could build anything there without building it up significantly and that would bring tons of environmental issues as well. And I also agree that more could be done elsewhere for the amount of money it would cost. I asked a few locals and nobody was quite sure what the deal was, then a guy I know who has a house down there by Yates called me all stirred up about it but he didn't seem sure about anything other than they were going to cut accesss off. It is a cool little landing for jonboats and kayakers but if they build a park they would also have to dredge a channel if they want much more than that there. If they are not cutting off access I see no need to build a park.