BigBendFishing.Net

Anyone fished out on the flats yet? Better yet are the trout on the flats yet? We're gonna head out next weekend (03/04) to christen my brothers new boat. If nothing else it'll be good just to get out on the water again.

here's what they were saying last year this time...

http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpbb/vie ... &start=600

and the year before that...

http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpbb/vie ... start=1150

In '03: http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpbb/vie ... start=1450

In '02: http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpbb/vie ... start=1650

Man, There's a lot of information that TomK keeps up for us to use as reference material!!

RB-
That is some great info- It should be a thread on its own- "History O' the Flats"

From the posts it looks like we are about 30 days from the flats exploding!

If the water is warm enough and there's bait, there will be fish on the flats. Last time I was out was weekend before last and the water temp was getting close to mid 60's in spots. That's definitely warm enough to get the redfish going and I'm guessing the same for trout. We're having a couple of cold nights right now but it's getting nice and warm during the day so I don't think the water is going to cool off that much if at all. I'm guessing the flats action picks up sooner this year than usual cause it seems like the weather has been warmer.

Jumptrout has an encouraging report on this forum and another guy posted that he saw a small cobia a few days ago. Good luck and let us know how you do.

Here is a great website to help keep track of sea surface temperatures.:

http://imars.usf.edu/cgi-bin/db?site=wf ... mode=daily

This link is for the Florida West Shelf, if you go back one page there are links for many other areas, here it is:
http://imars.usf.edu/sst/index.html

Hope it helps..
P.S. You will have to know how to convert Celsius to Farenheit.

Celsius to Farenheit. That's easy. If it's cold it's Celsius. If it's hot it's Farenheit.

F=C X 1.8 + 32.

Here's another link to seawater temp. This is for the Turkey Point Marine Lab near Lanark Village. http://www.marinelab.fsu.edu/coast/timetemp.html

Fish have been seen and caught on the flats, if you count 200 yards or less off the hill.....I have personally seen and caught them and had several undisclosed informants tell me that as well...From St. Marks to Spring Warrior...

I already said 3 feet or less.
Gee, I wish Gomer could stay up past 7:15.

You might of said it, but not in this post Trashtalk51...Stay focused on the post at hand

I'm too tired. This OLD TIMER is going to bed.
Early to bed Early to rise. Fish like Hell and make up lies.(Tincan,aka Gomer)

Thanks guys, but I've got another question. With all the fresh water (rain) will that help push the trout out?

The best thing we have going for us this spring is water in the ditches. Historically,when we have water in the ditches we have a banner year on the flats. The recent rains are running off slowly thru the creeks to the flats. That helps as opposed to a deluge of tannin water dumped in quickly.
My suggestion is go fish and enjoy a great year on the flats while you can.

We're going regardless - unless Mother Nature changes our minds. My brother and I try to fish the flats quite a bit, but our Dad is going and were really hoping to get in some fish for his sake. My 8yr. old son is going also and embarassed all last year everytime we went. It's bad when an 8 year old asks if he needs to help grown men catch their limits. We trust him with everything but measuring fish - he's been known to stretch a few to make them legal.

Thanks for all the info and we'll post our results when we get back.