Port St. Joe Bottom Fishing Trip

Recently I posted some pics of the catch that Craig and Mary made on their trip to Charlotte Harbor, so I thought I'd post a few more of their recent "Red Snapper Harvest" to Port St. Joe, Fl.

Craig's emailed me that

"We went on our annual Red Snapper Harvest.   Our freezer looks much better full of vacuum packed Snapper.

We chartered out of Port St Joe with Fishin Express.   It’s a big party boat.   We fished a couple days and limited each day on some decent fish. Nothing really big. We used live Pins and frozen squid when the pins ran out.

Some spots the snapper would kill our pins and not eat them.  Other spots, it was fish on as soon as the bait hit the bottom.

We did tangle with some nice Amber Jack. Seasons closed on them so back over the side they went.

At the cleaning station we did see some very nice baskets of snapper and grouper come in from the longer rang boats.

I have included a couple pics. I will send a few more as we got some great pics.

You should try it.   Its not far from I-10 if your still working west of us."

 

 

 

 The sunset of the marina is absolutely awesome!

I've never fished the area, but from the looks of it I may take a day vacation and give Port St. Joe fishing a try the next time I head toward Mobile, Al.

Fishing The Afternoon Thundershowers In July

Fishing the afternoon thundershowers in July is often productive just before the spigot turns on, and this afternoon was no exception.

Because of a Doctors appointment and a horrible looking lawn, I didn't expect to get out at all today but after manicuring the lawn, I decided to grab a rod and take my chances with the lightning in the wildlife refuge.

The air temperature was still 94 degrees when I drove into Peacocks Pocket road, and other than myself, there was hardly anybody in the refuge.

As I slowly drove along the marsh canal looking for signs of fish, I saw several spotted sea trout attacking baitfish along the surface.  I had a Johnson's Sprite gold spoon on the single rod that I hastily brought along with me and after making several casts to the sea trout it quickly became apparent that they weren't interested.

There was one very small trout that followed the spoon to the bank, but it didn't hit the lure.

As I drove along the road, I passed up several spots that had fish but had too much submerged grass to sensibly fish with a spoon.  As I continued towards one of the larger ponds, I spotted a swirl along the bank that looked like a nice redfish.

I pulled off the road just ahead of where I spotted the fish, just as it was beginning to rain, and shot a well placed cast towards the opposite bank a few feet ahead of where the fish swirled.

 As I slowly retrieved the gold spoon, I expected a hit, but after nothing happened a couple more unsuccessful casts, I was ready to give it up.

I walked a few yards up the road and made one last cast towards a dropoff at the edge of a weedy pond.  Almost as soon as the lure hit the water, an oversize redfish nailed the spoon and after a second or two, headed down the marsh canal.

The fish made three nice runs and almost got off on the brush along the canal, but I finally managed to get a boca grip on her and pull it up the bank.

 
The fish measured in at hare over 31" and after taking a couple of pics of the fish, I quickly released her back into the marsh canal.   Although the water was warm, it didn't take too long for the red to revive and swim off.

On the way home the rain stopped, but as I drove into my driveway the afternoon thundershowers started up again.  Luckily the rain didn't last long.

I almost forgot how productive fishing the afternoon thundershowers can be.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Dog Days Of July

Went out to Peacocks Pocket Road yesterday and it felt like the dog days of July, instead of what we normally expect in August.

Odie

After finally getting a severe oil leaked fixed in my truck, Karen suggested we take Odie and Elmo for a short "scouting trip" around Peacocks Pocket road.

I took a couple of spinning rods with me each tipped with a topwater and a jerk bait, and after some commotion with the dogs, headed out to the refuge.

As we crossed the Indian River I knew that a successful fishing trip was out of the question.
The air temperature was 95 degrees and there was virtually no wind blowing.  It was around 1:30pm and the air was stifling.

Since I've been out of pocket in North Carolina, I entered via East Gator Creek road to check out the water level in the area.  I was surprised to see that the levels on the marsh side of the road were relatively high for this time of the year, but the submerged vegetation was unbelievably thick in most areas.

As we drove across the second set of culverts at the "pocket" road, it was obvious that the brown algae in the river was not going away anytime soon.  The water looked muddy from the algae bloom on the Indian River side of the road and sight fishing was definitely not on the agenda.

For the most part, the water in the marsh canal was clear.  Although the submerged plants were clogging most of the small ponds, the water was clear enough for us to spot some mullet, several gar, and a couple of submerged gators.

We saw several more alligators, roseate spoonbills, blue herons, and a variety of birds in the area but all the way through the refuge, I only spotted three sea trout and a large redfish pushing baitfish to the bank.

We stopped at a couple of places so I could toss a bait around, but I never got a hit or even a follow up.

As we drove to the end of Peacocks Pocket road, we saw only one out of state visitor and one group of fisherman dunking shrimp in the river.

I plan to fish the area again late this week, but right now it's way too hot to bother burning up in the day chasing sea trout around the culverts.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Charlotte Harbor Fishing

Although Charlotte Harbor Fishing isn't exactly in the neighborhood, I thought I'd post a few pics from Craig and Mary who fish the Space Coast area quite a bit.

On a recent trip, he sent me this email.

"Hi John,

Our trip down to Charlotte Harbor was ok. Not as good as I had hoped. Ended up with a pretty nice flounder. Snook were biting but as you know, its closed.

Bass have been good. We have fished the Maitland chain a bit. Just this morning we caught a few. Monroe has been hot and cold. 

Mary has been lucky. Girl caught a 20" Tilapia and a 22" bass.

Here's a couple snap shots."

 I was curious about the Talipia, I was under the impression that they were strictly vegetarians but evidently they do take live and artificial baits.

Nice fish guys,

Till I get a chance to get out in our area and wet a line, 

Tight Lines to you all.

North Carolina Trout Waters

Since I've been spending a lot of time in North Carolina, I haven't been able to provide the up to date reports on the fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge like many of you are accustomed to reading.

As of last week, a couple of my readers said that the redfish on the Indian River  side of the road were biting quite well on cut ladyfish, live mullet and mud minnows.   Some nice slot size black drum are still being caught  by bank fishermen using shrimp along the middle to southern part of Peacocks Pocket road in the shallows.

I finally broke down and got an out of state freshwater fishing license for North Carolina so I could sample the mountain streams in the area.

Yesterday, I picked up an ultralight spinning rod at "Wally's World" along with an assortment of  Panther Martin and Mepp's spinners, a Little Cleo, and some other micro spoons to use on the native trout up here.  This morning I headed towards Franklin, N.C. to find some spots to fish.

The rules up here are confusing as hell, especially if you don't know the area.  The mountain trout streams are supposedly marked with different colored signs that designate how they can be fished.

• Catch and release waters for fly fishing only and are marked with red and gold signs.

• Catch and release for artificial baits with a single hook are marked with purple and gold signs.

• Delayed harvest trout waters are marked with black and white signs.

• Hatchery supported waters marked with green and white signs have a 7 fish creel limit with no size limit on the trout.

• Wild trout waters have a 7" minimum size limit, a creel limit of 4 fish per day, and can be fished only with artificial baits with one hook.  

• Wild trout/natural bait waters can be fished with single hooks and anything but live minnows.  These are marked with brown and gold signs.

• Special regulation waters are marked with red and white signs.

etc.

To play safe I fished only with several spinners and a couple of spoons with single hooks in the streams along Franklin Road.

I quickly learned that you need to be in shape to fish the wild trout streams.  There are limited areas to park along the narrow road and you need to climb down to the water through dense forest.

I considered fly fishing but unless you wade the streams, a fly rod in the areas I fished was out of the question.  The pristine waters are crystal clear and overgrown with vegetation making casting impossible in most areas.

I managed to lose a couple of small brook trout in the first area I fished.  The single #6 hook on my Lil Cleo spoon didn't do the job and when I finally lost the lure on a submerged tree root, I plodded back up the hill to find another spot.

The second area I fished was just before Franklin N.C. in the Little Tennessee river.  This area provided more casting area and was easier to get to logistically.

I missed a nice rainbow trout of around 14" at the bank and finally managed to land the fish below, which was at a little over 12", on a gold Panther Martin spinner.

 
The  same gold spinner managed to attract a couple of small bluegill and the little runt below.  I think it is some type of chub.

Anyway, after hooking another trout on the same spinner, I slipped down the bank as I was trying to land the fish and managed to break the reel on the ultralight fishing rod I had in my back pocket.

Fortunately, the combo wasn't expensive but after losing that fish I decided to call it a day and head back up the mountain to Highlands, N.C. and dinner.

Can't wait to get back home and catch some gator sea trout.

Till next time, Tight Lines.