St. Marks to St. Joe Fishing Report 1/8

[Flats Rascal]

Capt. Alex Crawford

Fishing Report for Florida’s Panhandle:
St. Marks to St. Joe Bay
Updated: January 08, 2005.

BEST-EVER REDFISH TRIP

On a trip between Christmas and New Years, we experienced the most successful redfish trip in my 26 years of fishing the Forgotten Coast. And this takes into consideration several spectacular redfish days with my old friend Captain Fred Morrow who is widely acknowledged as a world-renowned redfish guide out of the mouth of the Saint Johns River in Jacksonville, FL. I fully realize that this claim is saying a lot, but just read on!

The tide was not right and the current less than a mill pond in summer, but we began looking for flounder and sheepshead on the SGI bridge. With no live shrimp available, we had only some, less than totally fresh/IQF, too big 12 count shrimps as our go-to baits. At the beginning of the day’s trip, I certainly was not feeling like the ultimate prepared opportunist angler. We caught a few short sheepshead, no flounder and not the first black drum to start the adventure. I was starting to sweat and that means excuses about high winds, bumpy seas and incorrect tide conditions. Or, we begin moving from spot to spot in our ongoing effort to hunt down and catch finny critters. After a couple hours of no quality fish, the suggestion was cast out for discussion that we move to the Government Cut and try for reds. I protested this idea vehemently, explaining that the Cut would be like bumper cars with many boats trying to get anchored in fast current. Generally, I refuse to “stand in the river,â€