St. Vincent Island to Steinhatchee
Includes Apalachicola, St. George Island, Carabelle, St. Marks and Keaton Beach

July 25-27

NW

With daytime temperatures in the 90’s our bodies tend to sweat more with strenuous work out. Catching a 100+ lb. tarpon is a tough job and can turn into work after a while of fighting them. I can now add my name to the 100+ list as I landed my first BIG one last week at 140 lbs. Wow, these monsters jump out of the water as they “blow up” on the bait. What an amazing sight to see a huge fish jumping and thrashing around AND it’s attached to the pole your holding… What a rush! The fight lasted about an hour-my arms were like ’jello’, as sweat was pouring from my brow, however I wasn’t about to call “uncle” until he was landed.

Some of the larger fish in the area can weigh up to 200 lbs and require hours of fighting at times depending on how “green” it is when it’s hooked. Can you imagine hooking up and fighting a fish for two to three hours, well it doesn’t happen often, but it does happen…

Weather warning- during this time of year we are often plagued with pop up thunderstorms that can build up in a matter of minutes… While out on the water please keep an eye and ear out for inclement weather. Be prepared to move out of their way or go inland and wait them out as they usually last less than an hour but can be very intense packing high winds and numerous lightning strikes at times.

Remember safety first then fishing!

Inshore: The early morning and late evening bite for speckled trout has been fair to good along the grass flats of Little St. George around the old docks and around the cut, Yents Bayou as well as the grass flats around FSU lab east of Lanark Village around the docks. We have been using soft plastic baits such as Gulp, Bass Assasin (salt series), Strike King etc. using varying colored plastics according to the water clarity and color with ¼ - ½ oz lead heads (depending on water depth but targeting 3-4 ft of water) reeling in a medium erratic pattern, but keeping the bait from touching the bottom of the grass. Try working your jigs around the outside edges of potholes as many fish lie just on the edge of the pothole to camouflage themselves, while waiting to ambush baitfish that swim by. We have also been having varying success using live bait and plastic grubs try using a popping cork such as the old fashioned lead free red and whites and the Cajun thunder type. Work presentations with the tide using live bait, fresh dead bait or soft and hard plastics. We have been catching nice whitings, with mixed silver trout and speckled trout along the outside beaches (around points and gullies) of Dog Island, SGI, Little SGI and St. Vincents Island- little SGI old lighthouse point.

West Pass and Bird Island outside St. Vincent Island has been a very good spot for nice sized 15-18 inch whitings. The passes and cut are still holding some big shark for those that want to target them. Fish the deeper holes near the edge of the channel use big baits 6-10 inch dead bait(we use mullet, whiting and big pinfish) with heavy sinkers and multi strand metal leader to fish the mid to lower water column.

Large bait pods are all over our area waters some stretching miles with large hand sized LY’s aka pogeys. Tarpon sightings are more frequent now with schools of 20-30 rolling at a time as they shower the bait pods in the Apalachicola Bay, along channels in the head of the bay and outside beaches of Dog Island, Little St. George and St. Vincents Island. The tarpon numbers vary daily now but are around peak levels for the season. Fish for the monster tarpon using live LY’s or Bomber type hard plastic baits in varying colors, while working the bait pods. Average tarpon weights are around 100 lbs but some tipping the scales at 175-200 lbs. My best advice prepare for the big ones with proper fishing equipment- if you do hook up drink lots of fluids those rascals fight forever!

Offshore: The bite has slowed down a bit for offshore fishing but still possible to catch a nice mixed bag to bring home! Use live pinfish or blue runners, frozen cigar minnow, squid, goggle-eyes or Spanish sardines. Expect to catch a mixed bag of grouper, snapper, triggerfish and a variety of reef dwellers. King mackerel, cobia and sharks are holding in mid water depths. We’ve been hearing varying reports daily from SGI debris site and the Franklin County Reef many productive catches reported.

Loads of shark and barracuda have also been cruising the reefs and wrecks of the offshore waters so be prepared to catch or lose your catch to the preditor fish sometimes several times in a day while fishing for any offshore species fish. Please help us preserve our natural resources by being a responsible angler.

We hope to see you out there!

Be safe; keep an eye on the weather and tight lines!

If you’re looking for experienced, friendly native guides give us a call 850-653-2622 or drop us an email info@BookMeACharter.com

We’d love to take you fishing in our back yard!

Sandra Allen Book Me A Charter Guide Service Apalachicola FL (850) 653-2622

By Sandra Allen | www.bookmeacharter.com | Contact Us

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