Apalachicola Bay question...

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
I've heard recently from a couple of sources that the Bay fishing has recently been very marginalized, or to quote the sources, "dead" or "killed".
I'm trying to set up a travel trailer in the area for a spring and summer personal fish camp.
One of the members on this forum asked in a PM if 'the fishing has come back?'... When speaking to a local down there about my setup, he said, "You know the Bay fishing has been killed, right?"
One person said that the whole horizon oil spill mess finally got the better of the bay. Another person said that there has been something dumped in the river upstream that came down and killed the fishing.
I think if the horizon oil spill did it then there would be serious problems with all the other bays from st.joe bay westward...
And I have always considered that bay to be fairly non-productive in the winter except for the sheepshead fishing in the cut and at the SGI Bridge.
Plus, abnormally high amounts of freshwater entering the system also puts down the fishing for a while. It has been very wet this past late fall and winter and into the present.
Is this just a winter and weather-related slump that I would expect, or is there something deeper going on? Has anybody heard of this or know anything about current state a fishing in the bay?
 

Dustin Pate

Administrator
Staff member
The only thing I have seen recently was a report of some fish showing up with sores on them. I believe FWC was looking into it.

The oysters are struggling though. That was a byproduct of the oil spill. They never got one drop of oil, but they opened the bay for unlimited harvest on the thoughts the oil would kill them once there. The oystermen all but raped the bay of oysters. Now they can't understand why they have none to harvest. They blame it on lack of fresh water, but there are numerous studies that have shown that summer was the nail in the coffin.
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.

MudDucker

Moderator
Staff member
Kool, but that doesn't give any info about Apalachicola Bay. It is about Apalachee Bay... Between panacea, St Mark's, Keaton Beach, and over towards Suwanee.
I've been soaking up a lot of that big bend forum lately, as I have done an awful lot of fishing in St Mark's lately...

Those two guys are guides in that area. You do know that Apalachicola Bay is considered to extend from east of St. Marks to Cape San Blas.

I haven't heard a good inshore report in the area in awhile, other than netters after mullet. The storm screwed up a lot of grass beds and this weather has been anything but predictable.
 

Fourfingers

Senior Member
We still catching reds wade fishing but spectrout been tough for us last couple years. We catch small ones but the keepers been little harder to find. White trout been plentiful.
 

Hooked On Quack

REV`REND DR LUV
Nicodemus knows a lil sumpin 'bout this place, maybe he'll chime in..
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
Still haven't heard a real good report from Apalachicola. A triple tail chasing friend of mine said he struck out on these earlier trip.
I set up in Pensacola instead. But the heat has had me slackin...
 

Jim Baker

Moderator
Staff member
Still haven't heard a real good report from Apalachicola. A triple tail chasing friend of mine said he struck out on these earlier trip.
I set up in Pensacola instead. But the heat has had me slackin...

We caught 34 TT. 4 legal, one 24", the rest short. Last Monday. Appalachee Bay. Tide Creek Charters.
 
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