# Port St. Joe Bay



## Poor Poor Fisherman (May 26, 2016)

Three of us just returned from 3 hard days of fishing in the bay at Port St. Joe.  We have been going there since 2007 and fished those waters maybe 40 days since then.  We know those waters and how to find fish.  And we seem to always have great success!!  It has been our favorite Florida destination.  We would maybe have 1 out of 3 days on a trip that were not so good but we would always end up with a very successful trip.  

This trip however was the worst trip ever for us .......... by far!  Somehow, we wondered if we were doing something wrong.  The only things biting were the Pin Fish, a few Lady Fish, and Horse Flies!  We couldn't find any Flounder, Trout, Red Fish or Mackerel!  

Then we met a guy who has fished those waters consistently for over 25 years and he also said that his trip this week was horrible.  He then told us that it was the worst he had ever seen it.  

We really gotta wonder if the Red Tide from last fall is still effecting the fish.


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## Heartstarter (May 26, 2016)

Im sorry to hear you guys had a bad trip. Its been a slow recovery from the red tide but it recovered pretty well. Im in St Joe usually every other weekend and last week was my best ever for big upper slot reds, flounder and trout. There were also a ton of triple tails around the buoys. Pompano were still on the surf at Cape San Blas to but tapering off. I keep my boat at Captains Cove marina at the highland bridge and the flounder bite there in the ICWW has been super hot. Fishing is like that I guess. Im going back tomorrow and ill post a report monday.


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## DAWG FAN (May 26, 2016)

*Psj*

I was down 3 weeks ago and we absolutely killed the redfish. All slot reds and finished the day out with 4 trout and a few flounder. I have been getting excellent reports from my buddy down there. They have been catching big trout for the last week or so. Maybe it was just a bad fish biting day or weekend.


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## Joel (May 26, 2016)

Waiting to hear your report, Heartstarter.  I'll be down in 3 and a half weeks.


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## fairweather (May 27, 2016)

Poor poor, that would have been during a full moon at night, I think. I was down there last month in similar conditions and fishing was really off. A number of fishermen in the area blamed the full moon, as the fish will feed at night and aren't eating during the day. I've never paid much attention to it, but maybe there's something to that.


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## T-Boy (May 27, 2016)

Was in Panama City from 4/16 to 5/21/16 and fished everyday but maybe 3. Fished the pier and went out in our boat at least 8 times up to 4 miles out. We had some good days on Spanish and Kings but almost everyone said it was much slower than last year at this same time.

Last year I caught 19 kings up to 30lbs, this year I caught 8 kings and the largest was 13lbs.

There were some good days but overall much slower for most.

Some of the really good fishermen think the Red Tide conditioned the Kings to stay out in deeper water. I don't know but it was slower for me.


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## Poor Poor Fisherman (May 27, 2016)

*Bad Trip to Port St Joe*

Ha thanks to each of you that weighed in on my PSJ report.  

Fairweather, we wondered if maybe the full moon and cloudless night could have been a problem!  Maybe the fish had fed all night and were dormant or just hidding in the deeper water??   You confirm our thought.  And that thought would make sense and help explain the success reported by Headstarter and Dawg Fan.  In all our past trips, we have never had such a bad experience.  Maybe we were there when moon and cloud conditions were different.  And T-Boy, we also think that the Red Tide still is affecting the bay??  

But, I do want to wish each of you great future success this year in the bay or whatever waters you fish!


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## Heartstarter (May 29, 2016)

Well I said i would report back after I went fishing in St Joe this weekend so for what its worth here goes............Yesterdayday morning went to one of my favorite spots at the marina and the first cast i got a 26 inch red. I ended up with 2 there pretty quickly about the same size. I got one flounder there also. Another guy that was fishing caught a red that was over slot. Trout bite was good at Town Beach, deep water flats and Middle Grounds flat. I fished a 3 inch gulp with chartreuse tail and a few live shrimp under a cajun thunder but the pinfish strip shrimp pretty fast. I did run into a few guys that didnt do very well but most are doing well. The moon last week definetly shut them down especially later in the morning though. Water got too rough for me to cross the bay to pompano point so thats all ive done so far. Good luch guys


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