# Need Surf Fishing tips for St Joe Bay area...



## letsgohuntin (May 11, 2006)

I will be spending a week (end of May) on Cape San Blas off of Port St Joe, and  I plan on doing a lot of fishing. I have a charter one day, but will have to fish from the surf and wading the bay/flats edge the rest of the time.

I have done the basic surf fishing of casting out squid or shrimp and catch whatever swims by... but I want to step it up this time and target some game fish such as reds and trout and maybe a flounder or two.

I have done some web research, and many articles suggested using Mirrolures for top water and many said that the DOA Shrimp lures where just deadly.

Does anybody else have any expierience in the area or maybe can suggest baits and lures and perhaps some hotspots to fish from shore?  Any other game fish that I could easily target from the beach? 

Thanks!


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## volguy (May 11, 2006)

*me too*

i will be there from thurs 25- mon. 29.  might have room for one more on friday, sat and sun if you want to go.  right now it is just me and my dad fishing.  shoot me a pm.

for a guide, you need to go out with capt bobby out of presnells.  he is by far the best guide for st joe bay.  i have been fishing down there for 5 years now and i have NEVER seen him come in with less than a limit of both reds and trout.  he is like some kind of miracle fish finder.LOL

as far as wading, it is best to go the the state park at the end of the cape and walk around to the left (facing out toward the bay from the ramp parking lot) and fish as far around thru there as you can on the grass flats.  you will catch all kinds of different species.  

also, (going onto the cape) once you go past the air force base on the right and go around the big curve (you will see all the rocks there on your left seperating the ocean from the road, they call it the stump hole), you will see a place on your right for parking and a little launch that some yakkers have put in at (pig bayou).  wade out thru there and you will catch some reds and flounder in the bay/bayou there.

as far as bait, you can cast net all the menhaden/greenbacks/pilchers (all the same thing) you want that time of year on the flats and tote it in a pull behind bucket or you can throw grubs and topwater.  best colors for the bay are electric chicken and motor oil.

the bay is an awesome place when it is on.  clear, beautiful water and white sandy beaches.  however, it has been pretty bad this year.  not catching near the fish they have caught in past years.  bad red tide last year.


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## Swamprat (May 11, 2006)

Don't know much about the surf action around there but as far as the flats I would stick to Mirrorlures or Zara Spooks in the morning.

Once the sun gets up switch to jig or trick worm type of bait and target sand pockets in grass beds or deeper holes or channels in the flats.

As far as live bait goes live finger mullet or shrimp are the ticket. If you have a cast net then mullet are plentiful. I generally stick to the ones 4" and under. I would look for a channel between spoil islands and either free line it or suspend it about 4 feet below a cork in the channel. Trout, reds, small sharks use these channels. Flounder will also be in there as well but you will need to put the bait closer to the bottom.

Also wading and gigging flounder can be productive in the evening before sundown.

One of my favorite areas to wadefish is just East of the turn off for Cape San Blas on Hwy 30A. The road basically follows the bay and there is a couple of areas called 9 mile and 12 mile I beleive. The locals can tell you where it is. Plenty of open water and hardly anybody out there.

Hope this helps and enjoy


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## taylornelms (May 11, 2006)

We actually just got back from Port St Joe Tuesday night. WE fished from our boat and i did a little surf fishing. I would recoment for surf fishing a steel leader with two treble hooks on it. Try to put the front treble hook through the top of a cigar minnow and the back one through the underside. Do whatever you can to get it hooked really well. We fished off the beach in Cape San blas two years ago this way and caught a ton of blue fish. Not the best tasting but an 8lb blue fish is fun to catch. The trout seemed to be pretty good. I mirro lure that suspends is a really good choice. TRhere is a marina called Presnells and tehy will hook you up with a good one. If the bay is like glass i would fish the top water mirro lure and its its somewhat choppy i would fish the suspending one. We caught them both ways. Who are you goin on a charter with??? Also shrimp bumped across the bottom will always wrk for flounder. Some peopel fish for them under the bridge between mexico beach ands psj.  Lety us know how it goes. Good Lukc.


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## taylornelms (May 11, 2006)

cant believe this many people had this much info on this particular place i guess i should have asked before we went. Again let us know how it goes were goin back down the week of the 21st and any info would be appreciated.


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## Brine (May 11, 2006)

*surf fishing...*

www.floridasurffishing.com has alot of good info on surf fishing florida as well as surf fishing tackle/techniques etc...


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## Jorge (May 12, 2006)

A lot of good suggestions here. If you are going to use natural bait, try to use live shrimp rather than dead. I always take down a 5-gallon bucket or two and use one of those small battery powered aerators, which work fine for shrimp so long as you put a little fresh water in occasionally. Another good bait is sand fleas. They are pretty easy to dig up if you know where to look. I usually fish with them just off the beach from the wash to the bottom of the trough. No need to cast a long ways.

If you want to use artificial, try read head jigs with either a curly tail grub or fluke. I have also had great success with the electric chicken color. You can either fish them alone or under a popping cork such as a Cajun Thunder. This is a very good tactic to use in the bay for trout. I have easily caught as many trout with artificial under a Cajun Thunder as with live bait.

Good luck!


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## letsgohuntin (May 12, 2006)

Lots of good info guys, thanks a lot everyone!

VolGuy, pm sent.

One more question...when fishing the flats using topwater rigs  like a Mirrolure, are the fish agressive this time of year with a quick retrieval of the lure... or do they like a slow jerky retrival with lots of pauses? Of course I'll expierment with everything, but getting a leg up on the fish always helps!

I'll also be sure to get a casting net and grap some minnows to try the live bait. Thanks again everyone...  

BTW, great web link Brine... lots of good reading on there!


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## Turk (May 12, 2006)

You're picking a good time to go...bait will be everywhere! It's usually pretty easy to p/u a bucket of pins around the docks at Eagle Harbor (state park) using a sabiki or just a bream hook tipped w/ squid. LY's can be cast netted anywhere in the bay along the edge of the grass. As far as top water I've had the best results with "chuggers" and pencil baits w/spinners. I usually go to the bargain bins at Wal-Mart and buy a bunch of cheap topwater plugs. I haven't been able to see any difference. To really get your string pulled you can try soaking a choffer or big pinfish at the "Shark Hole" on the bay side of the cape near the point. Any local can give you the exact location...lot's of good sized blacktips. Check out the fishing report at Half-Hitch Tackle's web site or go by their store in PSJ for good, current advice. Good luck and post some pics when you get back!

Turk


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## letsgohuntin (May 12, 2006)

Turk said:
			
		

> \ To really get your string pulled you can try soaking a choffer or big pinfish at the "Shark Hole" on the bay side of the cape near the point. Any local can give you the exact location...lot's of good sized blacktips. Check out the fishing report at Half-Hitch Tackle's web site or go by their store in PSJ for good, current advice. Good luck and post some pics when you get back!
> 
> Turk




I definatley want to give the sharks a try for fun... I remember as a kid we spent a lot of time at Mexico Beach, and all the locals there always comented about how many sharks there were at the cape...I've heard some call it the shark capital of Florida  
If I rememember correctly , that's where that kid got attacked while surf fishing a year or two ago!


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## SnapperSlapper (May 12, 2006)

*St. Joe*

I have fished that bay many of times and also the beach as well.  Miro lures work good.  Use live shrimp along the grass lines.  You can wade most of these.  Be carefull--lots of sea urchines in the grass.  Wear a good pair of wading shoes.  The spines hurt when you get thme stuck in your feet.  Also, try using cut mullet for red fish.  Use a leader with flurocarbon for the trout.  They are real finicky.  You can always see schooling fish out in the bay.

As for the surf, use live shrimp for best results.  Pompano, whiting, sharks are a common catch and somtimes you get lucky with a spanish.


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## How2fish (May 12, 2006)

letsgohuntin said:
			
		

> I definatley want to give the sharks a try for fun... I remember as a kid we spent a lot of time at Mexico Beach, and all the locals there always comented about how many sharks there were at the cape...I've heard some call it the shark capital of Florida
> If I rememember correctly , that's where that kid got attacked while surf fishing a year or two ago!


I think your thinking of the boy that was attacked near pensacola pass, where his uncle fought the shark off..try live shrimp near the mouth of the Intercoastal waterway, get one of thos bait saver buckets and you'll be set watch for the locals wading near the bridge there is a channel there and they fish the edge, I caught a HUGE sailtop cat there and have broke of some really big sharks, so its a kinda cool place,trout and reds are what are normally there,good luck


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## gmcpipkin (May 13, 2006)

My family and I have been going to Mexico Beach / Port St Joe for the last seventeen years. The fishing can be unbelievable from the surf some times. The best bait I have found is sand fleas. Look for them right were the surf breaks on the beach and you can see them bury into the sand. Dig right there and you will find them. If you have kids, this is a great way to keep them occupied for hours plus get some great bait. Rig your rod like you were carolina rigging for bass. For the leader use 20 pound flourocarbon and attach a 2/0 diaichi bleeding circle hook. An 1 oz. egg sinker is usually enough weight but you might have to go larger depending on the current. I have caught pompano, trout, reds, black drum, whiting and croaker using sand fleas. We mainly shark fish while we are there. My dad, brothers and I got addictited to shark fishing about eight years ago and can't get enough of it. We paddle our baits out about two or three hundred yards with a john boat we take with us. We use whole blue fish or bonito on 9/0 penn reals and hold on. Seeing some of the sharks we catch will make you think twice about swimming. We will be down the week of June 10 this year going at it hard agian.


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## letsgohuntin (May 13, 2006)

*Mexico Beach*

We use to dig up those sand fleas at Mexico Beach as a kid...never really fished with them though. I'll be sure to give some a try.

We always liked surf fishing on the beach the other side of the canal...always caught a lot of whiting over there. Like I mentioned before though, we were more or less just messing around and liked catching whatever swam by...mostly catfish though .  Back then that beach was pretty much desserted. That was about 15 years ago, so I wouldn't doubt if it was all condos by now.  

When I think back to how "careless" we use to swim at Mexico beach, like swiming out to the sandbars through those deep channels ... no telling at the sharks that were around us. We would even see 5-6 footers swimming around while we were out on the pier, and didn't think twice about going right down and swimming out over our heads.

You could'nt pay me to do that now!


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## letsgohuntin (May 15, 2006)

here is another site with lots of good info for inshore fishing on Florida's beaches.

http://forum.boatlessfishing.com/


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