St. George Island/Apalachicola/and St. Marks Spring break 4/9/2007

[Possum]

I know this is a late report, but I saw where Dhaun said that if we started giving saltwater reports he might do an area for saltwater. So, here goes, 3/19 at St. Marks went there first because wind on the Island 15 to 20 mph. Caught two Redfish, one 22 and another at 27 inches. 3/20 went to St. Marks again because of the wind, nothing. Left there and trailered back to Apalachicola and fished the drains there, nothing. 3/21, fished the drains in the morning, again nothing. I went to see Charles Pennycuff at East point tackle, he told me were to go behind the Island. Charles is an old Tennessee boy who opened the bait store slash feedstore 20 years ago. If you go, stop in and say hello, tell him coach from Whitwell told you about the place and he might put you on some fish. Anyway, Charles was right, I went where he told me to and I caught 10 trout in the 2 to 4lb range, most being in the 3 to 4lb range during high tide. Lost a big red, liked to have stayed longer, but it was dark and the tide was moving out. Also, wife called and wanted to go to dinner. Went back to the ramp on the Island and had to get out of my boat and push it about 100 yds. to the ramp because it was so shallow. lucky it was deep at ramp. It was 10:00 and wife was glad I was alright, but mad because it was too late to go to dinner. We had a great time, me fishing and and the wife and kid enjoyed the beach. Cannot wait to go back, expect another report in the near future from down south. If you have never done this type of fishing, keep it that way, just don't do it. Consider yourself warned.

 

[Liveliner]

Amen to that Possum. It is a different world full of new and exciting adventure. Fishing those saltwater flats will Flat ruin you. Hope to see more salty reports including a few from me.

I plan to be putting in some time with my Shark research team on St Simon Island, GA in May. Hope to show you some real Bulls...and Sandbars, Lemons, Hammers, Blacktips, and....

 

[DoubleB]

St George! My favorite vacation home. That pup Blacktip in my profile pic was caught from the fishing pier there in September. I'm so jealous!

 

[Possum]

If that pier you are talking about is the old bridge, a lady and her husbund I was talking to the last night I was there said they had recently caught a 120 lb Tarpon off that bridge. I am like you St. George area is becoming one of my favorite spots. Their might be better fishing in Veinice or Lafitte La., but either of those two places have yet to prove that to me. You might catch more trout in LA., but the bigger better quality trout are in Florida. As far as Redfish goes I think it is a coin toss until I learn any different.

 

[Possum]

There is a marina and place to stay up the St. Marks and Wakulla River.

http://www.shellislandfishcamp.com/page2.htm

This is one of the better Redfish areas down there. Just find the saltline. Smaller Reds will stay in an area no matter the salinity, but the big reds follow the salt, or bait. This is an excellet place to stay it is like 60 bucks a night and you can keep your boat at the marina. They will also clean your fish and ice them down for you. If you are staying there the ice is free. Another good thing about this area is that it is easy to get out of the wind there. The Reds hang around the oyster bars, just use extreme caution when you get out of the river channel. You can also run up the river to do some bass fishing if you would like. Their is not much to do there except fish. The rooms are nice and clean, the people that run it are about the nicest people you will meet. From St. Marks to St. George it is about an hour away if your family stays there and wants to visit the beach while you fish. This place is about seven and a half hours from Cattanooga. Eighteen miles South of Tallahassee.

 

[DoubleB]

Yep... It's the old bridge. While night fishing there at the same time, Someone on the other side caught something big! I have no idea what it was, after fighting for 10 minutes, the line broke. Are you staying in the plantation by any chance? If I win the lottery, that,s where I'm buying a house...

 

[Possum]

When I take the family to St. George we stay on the Island up next to the park. I have plenty of parking for my boat, and a place to charge batteries. The condos have a pool, a place to grill, and are right on the beach. The condos are about 150 dollors a night, but with the full kitchen, bedroom, living room and so on, we save money by not having to eat out that often.

 

[digitalcb]

Speaking of Appalachicola it is also home to the St Vincent's National Wildlife Refuge:

http://www.fws.gov/saintvincent/

It is probably has the best shelling beach in Florida. You can literally pick up a toe sack full of shells in one afternoon.

Wildlife include Red Wolves, Asian Sambar deer, White Tail Deer, Wild Hogs, Aligators, etc.

A porpoise once followed me along the beach for an hour there. I saw him and thought it was coincidence So I walked out into the Gulf to see if he was "Flipper" looking for a friend. He (she) disappeared. When I resumed my walk he reappeared matching my pace. We repeaded this several times with the same result. Just another beachcomber!

 

[Possum]

Also, in the summer, you can go to St. Joe's, which is a shallow bay and snorkel for scallopsemoHungry You can also wade the grass flats off Cap San Blas which is close by for trout and REds if you don't feel like trailering a boat. So, much to do down there, so little time. You can put out a crab trap in July those are good too. Apilachicola bay is where 80% of the nations oysters come from. Those are easy to get almost anytime.