# St. Marks fishing question...help



## Hit-n-Miss (Jul 29, 2012)

by Hit-n-Miss » Sun Jul 29, 2012 - 7:57 

Going to be down for 3 days and 2 nights to fish and scallop at the end of August. My lovely wife set this up for my birthday(love that woman  ) but I have never done more than a day trip before. A good friend and my brother are coming with me and we would like to maximize our time and get a varied creel of fish. I was thinking of hitting the St. Marks, Wakulla or Dog ballard reef at dawn. Scalloping in the late morn to midday and trout fishing in the afternoon and sunset. I know where to find the scallops so that is not a problem. However since I mostly fish Ecofina and Keaton I really dont know where to go at St Marks. I have the FS St Marks map so if anyone can point me in the right areas that would be very helpful. We would like tips on targeting spanish, black sea bass, cobia and what areas to catch trout during the day. Any info would be very helpful. Is it even worth going to the reefs this time of year and what could you catch(and what method would you use to catch it?) We are all life long fishermen but my brother is coming down from North Carolina and I would like to put him on a mess of fish or maybe his 1st cobia. Thanks in advance for any and all help. 
Hit-n-Miss 

Posts: 1310
Joined: Thu May 20, 2004 - 12:15
Location: Boston Ga. 
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## Hit-n-Miss (Aug 1, 2012)

Anybody


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## alphachief (Aug 2, 2012)

Anything east of the lighthouse out by Gray Mare rock is decent for trout.


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## Hit-n-Miss (Aug 2, 2012)

alphachief said:


> Anything east of the lighthouse out by Gray Mare rock is decent for trout.


 Thanks I have fished the East flats some but not near there. I give it a try.


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## FSU Turtle (Aug 7, 2012)

The water temps are getting really high and the rain has colored the water so fishing has been a little tough lately out of St. Marks. My best luck has been to fish where the tides are moving water pretty good around creek mouths and oyster bars for reds, and out a little deeper (6'+) for trout. I don't target spanish but just keep your eyes open for schools of bait and diving birds and you should get in them pretty easy around the stakeline and a little south. As far as the reef fishing you should be able to catch sea bass, triggerfish, and grunts off the reefs but check to see what is legal to keep. I would recommend getting there early to beat the crowds, and I typically like using lighter tackle with jigs tipped with shrimp or pinfish strips or small bottom rigs with live baitfish. The St. Marks reef is mainly concrete rubble in a straight line and is a little over 20', the Dog Bollard is more scattered but further east and slightly deeper, and the Wakulla BBRR reefs (I and 2) are reef cubes with scattered rubble in about 20'. The Rotary is also not too far and has more and varied structure, but also has a lot of pressure. You can get GPS numbers off your map.


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## Hit-n-Miss (Aug 8, 2012)

FSU Turtle said:


> The water temps are getting really high and the rain has colored the water so fishing has been a little tough lately out of St. Marks. My best luck has been to fish where the tides are moving water pretty good around creek mouths and oyster bars for reds, and out a little deeper (6'+) for trout. I don't target spanish but just keep your eyes open for schools of bait and diving birds and you should get in them pretty easy around the stakeline and a little south. As far as the reef fishing you should be able to catch sea bass, triggerfish, and grunts off the reefs but check to see what is legal to keep. I would recommend getting there early to beat the crowds, and I typically like using lighter tackle with jigs tipped with shrimp or pinfish strips or small bottom rigs with live baitfish. The St. Marks reef is mainly concrete rubble in a straight line and is a little over 20', the Dog Bollard is more scattered but further east and slightly deeper, and the Wakulla BBRR reefs (I and 2) are reef cubes with scattered rubble in about 20'. The Rotary is also not too far and has more and varied structure, but also has a lot of pressure. You can get GPS numbers off your map.


Thanks. Is the stakeline the line of dots on the map from the sandbar to around liveoak pt?


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## FSU Turtle (Aug 8, 2012)

Hit-n-Miss said:


> Thanks. Is the stakeline the line of dots on the map from the sandbar to around liveoak pt?



Yes it encompasses the refuge boundary both east and west of the St. Marks River. It is a line of poles that runs from liveoak island on the west to across the east flats. Several of the poles are missing so you won't find all of them shown on the map, but you can see the ones remaining from a decent distance (they are approx. telephone pole size and stick up about 10').


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