st marks florida panhandle

[virgil]

i will be going to st marks florida at the end of january. we can go out up to 50 miles and was wanting some pointers for type of bait and for grouper and whatever is in season. we will be doing some trolling and bottom fishing.also what is in season in january? any advise would be helpful. thanks

 

[Pineyrooter]

From St. Marks you wont need to go 50 miles or 20 miles for good fishing. You'll find hungry grouper anywhere from 15-70 feet this time of year. There are lots of rocks and hard bottom out from St. Marks so grouper arent that hard to find if you watch your bottom machine. Live bait will be tough to find in numbers so I'd suggest going with LY's and squid. The cold water temps will slow the grouper bite way down so you may have to move around some or drift over hard bottom. The 24 barge area and Rotary Reefs are good places to start. Bull Reds will be working these areas too. Trolling can be productive using Rapala 18's & 20's as well as Manns Stretch 20's & 30's but again the cold water will slow things down so make sure your plug is running near the bottom but not on the bottom. Good Luck!

 

[jamessig]

You might find some useful info here:
http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zeromain?id=1
I think red snapper are the only species closed now. Inshore you can catch trout and redfish and maybe sheephead. Flounder should be on near shore structure. For grouper head out to structure in deeper water. Google St. Marks and artificial reefs and you might get some numbers of spots. The caveat is most public stuff gets fished pretty hard.
You should be able to sabiki pinfish under any bridge near where you launch if you want some live bait. Small bits of squid or Gulp on the bottom couple of hooks on your sabiki will catch pins if they are there. Fish the length of the bridge, they will probably be in 20'- 30' or so of water though. If you don't get bit within a minute try another spot. Any bait store will sell a variety of frozen baits. Boston mackerel are bigger than cigar minnows and better for grouper IMO. Sardines are worth having too. Always take some squid for triggers. Unless you plan on fishing for flounder with shrimp or bull minnows stick with frozen baits from the store.
Keep an eye out for birds working or fish busting the surface on the way out to your spots. More than likely it's bonita and a small spoon or bubble and straw rig ripped through them will get you hooked up. Fillet but leave the skin on and cut each fillet into two to six chunks for grouper bait. One inch squares would be good for a chicken rig.
When you get to your offshore spots have someone fish a chicken rig and any fish small enough for a grouper to eat drop back down on a circle hook. I think it's currently illegal to use any reef fish that has size and bag limits as bait though FYI.

 

[grim]

Try these two sites for additional information:

http://www.jerrysbait.com/

http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpBB3/index.php

 

[virgil]

fishing info

thanks for all of the great info about st marks fishing. i will use all the info that you have given me so that maybe we will have a great time.thanks again.