BigBendFishing.Net

Wife turned 30 this weekend so we went down to the coast to fish for the weekend. she loves to fish and is very good at it.
go to ecofina thur. and started fishing around 2. caught trout on about every cast for a couple of hours and then a storm hit right when we were going to redfish. we ended up with around 35 trout and only 7 keepers.

friday the trout were a little slow in the morning. knew we better get an early start with all the storms and rain coming in. beautiful morning until around 1:30 when the gail forced winds got up. caught a few trout early, but not like thur. had 6 keepers although all keepers both days were between 17-20 inches. then the fun started. we ended up with 6 redfish between 25-27 inches in about 2 hours. it was so much fun. have never caught redfish like that at econfina. we finally went in because the wind was so bad (about 25 mph with 40mph gust).

caught trout on candy corn grubs without a float, and red/white topwater, rattletraps and jerkbaits. they were pretty much hitting anything you could throw at them.

we left for apalachicola around 4 p.m and drove in the monsoon about 45 mph the whole way from econfina. never seen that kinda rain.

no fishing saturday because of the wind. man it was windy. so much rain, we couldn't head up the river to freshwater fish.

sunday was amazing. after much thought on where to go because of the mud in apalach. bay and the dirty water in st joe, we went to st joe. caught 30 redfish and 1 trout in st joe bay on sat. it was awesome. i will try to post some pics, but i don't have a digital camera and have to scan my pictures. by the time we left the reds the wind was blowing so hard we couldn't trout fish but about 1 hour.

monday morning was slicked over. we went for the trout first around blacks island because i knew the reds would be in their hole . finally after about 2.5 hours without even a bite, we found a school of trout and they were big trout. we ended up with six, lost three at the boat and all trout were between 19-25 inches. hit chicken bone grubs without a float. boy the trout are scattered. that was the only place we could find them and they were in an area the size of my boat. finally the quit biting and we went to the redfish hole. got there and a huge wall of muddy water had set in on the bay and we couldn't find them. oh well. i thought that it would be a sure bet, but then again i never thought i would see st joe bay so muddy that you couldn't even see the bottom in 2 feet of water. great weekend of fishing if you could stay out of the wind and rain.

Sounds like a great time with a fun companion A late Happy B'Day to your wife

What were the Redfish hitting??

anything with a spinner.

Thanks

Volguy, I'm planning a trip to st. joe bay. Are the reds on the oyster bars or sand?? never been to this bay. Any help would be appreciated.

Roleman. No oyster bars to fret over at st. joe, but watch out for skinny water inside of blacks island and some shallow sand bars on the state park side close to shore. You will love the bay and its bounty. if anyone knows of an oyster bar in the bay please correct me

You are correct, no oyster bars, just sand and grass. this is the only place I fish and love it. I have had success in the past with reds at the head of the bay near the radio tower and a long the west shore. Remember that St. Joe Bay is set up in a north/south direction. I am heading down next weekend for 3 1/2 days of fishing, should be great. This time of year they do well on the Spanish out in front of the marina south of Presnells in town

Thanks pennfish and Scott7138. Guess you don't knock off any skedges. One less worry. Can't wait to get down there.

still be careful however. last weekend the tides were super low in the morning and i was amazed at the number of old wooden piers that are about 1 above the sand/mud bottom on the eastern/presnells side of the bay. the large flat from blacks island to the city ramp was bone dry. you really learn an area when the tides are that low. found some awesome holes.

on your topic though, definetly no oysters because it is almost all saltwater. very very little freshwater in the bay. it is a very clear bay (unless you have 15 inces of rain in three weeks ) and what we always call the "back" is behind and all around blacks island which is a gigantic grass flat. i would focus on this area. just get a hot spot map and study it real hard and it is almost obvious "all the breaks and troughs" where to fish once you study the map. use very light line like 8 or maybe 10 lb test. chicken bone grubs or electric chicken are the colors of choice along with topwater.

good luck.