St Marks 4/9: Social distancing

doomtrpr_z71

Senior Member
Due to the recent scare we are teleworking and decided to take a day trip to the wonderful place that St Marks is. After leaving Warwick at 630 and phone conferenced until 930 upon which we arrived at the lighthouse to be greeted by a mostly empty parking lot. We eased out with the tide being low and noticed there were as many people Wade fishing on the long bar as there were trailers in the parking lot. With someone already fishing the end of the long bar at low tide we proceeded to run out to the rock garden. I was pleasantly surprised that the marine forecast was off and it was a bit calmer than predicted. Our first stop proved to be a good one and we stumbled upon a school of Spanish as soon as I cut the big motor off.

MVIMG_20200409_111158_1-01.jpeg


IMG_20200409_121112-02.jpeg


It was all fun and games until our luck ran out and our 20lb fluorocarbon wasn't up to snuff and I lost my favorite Poppin mullet to a large Spanish. However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I changed colors and and on the first cast I caught a nice 22in trout.

IMG_20200409_121747-01.jpeg


And I proceeded to catch the biggest ladyfish I'd ever seen as well, and while they may not be edible unless you're quarantined for longer than so far, a school of them makes a good time. We also got a good overflight by a c130 as well.

IMG_20200409_125711_1-01.jpeg


We drifted in with the tide and I finally caught a good doormat, flounder have eluded me as I seem to only catch shorts and this alone made my wife pleased about me taking a day trip instead of finishing my honeydos.

IMG_20200409_140857-01.jpeg


Well after the tide started coming in, the weather man's call for 15mph wind came as well and it got fairly rough, at one time on the drift we were doing 5mph just with the wind and things got much rougher. Tragedy struck soon after as my beloved legend inshore snapped in half during a cast, guess when things are normal I can see how good their warranty is. We decided to call it since we had a decent box of fish and had not stopped to get breakfast. The Karen's didn't have to worry about us buying up all the local supplies, we didn't stop anywhere ahead of time and our supplies consisted of 2 packs of crackers and 4 bottles of water so we didn't complain too much about calling at 230 and heading to Riverside cafe to grab a bite to eat. The only thing in our way was the fact that somewhere along the road from 98 to the light house is a bearing buddy that my trailer decided to sling off. Thankfully Shields was open and got me squared away, their ramp was being used a bit more than the one at the lighthouse. All in all a solid day:

IMG_20200409_161716-01.jpeg


No complaints for a day trip, that was for sure, however after pulling back into Warwick at 645, I was greeted quite poorly
IMG_20200410_125232-01.jpeg

a quick lift with the backhoe confirmed the worst, the bearings are on the way out so I'll gladly take pleasure in rebuilding a
hub in my pasture and not on the side of the road.

All in all a solid day, 5 keeper trout, 2 Spanish, a bluefish, a flounder, a couple of catfish, and who knows how many poor man's tarpon made for a great day on the water and got our heads clear. We didn't catch many short trout, the trout were solid as we had two that we were worried when we were measuring then we're going to go over 20 but were 19. We caught pretty much everything in 5ft except the flounder was in 3ft. The pink and yellow popping mullet did the best, we had a few bites on a pink pro dog, margarita lime chicken worked the best for trout tricks under a popping cork. The plugs worked better as we got a lot of short strikes on the popping cork from Spanish and trout hitting the orange tails on the trout tricks. The Spanish didn't care for spoons surprisingly as I tried my mackerel rig with no takers. I also had no luck with my chatterbait and pretty much no luck on suspending plugs, even when they were worked fast.
 
Last edited:

trad bow

wooden stick slinging driveler
Sounds like a great trip
 

notnksnemor

The Great and Powerful Oz
Is the city ramp in St. Marks open?
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
The fishing gods always take their tolls and give up their rewards…
I have made my share of sacrifices to Davy Jones locker...
And had bad luck with wheel bearings on the highway and have had them fall apart in the driveway coming back home…
As fisherman, we take what we can get and enjoy it.
Good trip and write-up. I'm heading down there alone in a few short days.
 

Big7

The Oracle
Good trip. Love to grill those Spanish Mackerel !!!
 

doomtrpr_z71

Senior Member
The fishing gods always take their tolls and give up their rewards…
I have made my share of sacrifices to Davy Jones locker...
And had bad luck with wheel bearings on the highway and have had them fall apart in the driveway coming back home…
As fisherman, we take what we can get and enjoy it.
Good trip and write-up. I'm heading down there alone in a few short days.

Last trip to St Mark's I sacrificed a little bit of a prop, this time a bearing buddy, small prices to pay for a good and safe trip. Looks like my next trip will be to steinhatchee, have fun and be safe fishing solo.
 

Hickory Nut

Senior Member
Hard to beat, bearing failure or not. And I appreciate the pictures, they really add to your story. I sure would like to be closer to the coast so I could manage a day trip. Had to cancel a 4 night trip in Steinhatchee last week because the locals don't want no out of towners hanging around. Can't say I blame them but I sure miss the fishing.
 

doomtrpr_z71

Senior Member
Funny thing now that I have it pulled apart, it wasn't the bearings, the hub itself is bad so I'll take the loss of a bearing buddy as payment to the fishing gods. 6 hour round-trips add up on a trailer plus I doubt the trip to islamorada a couple years of go didn't do the trailer any favors.
 

pottydoc

Senior Member
Hard to beat, bearing failure or not. And I appreciate the pictures, they really add to your story. I sure would like to be closer to the coast so I could manage a day trip. Had to cancel a 4 night trip in Steinhatchee last week because the locals don't want no out of towners hanging around. Can't say I blame them but I sure miss the fishing.
The locals have nothing to do with it. The State has closed all vacation rentals. The locals are hurting, already. I promise you they would love for you to spend some money there.
 

doomtrpr_z71

Senior Member
The locals have nothing to do with it. The State has closed all vacation rentals. The locals are hurting, already. I promise you they would love for you to spend some money there.
And I'd rather fish steinhatchee myself to give river haven and good times some money, hopefully this Idiocracy is over with soon.
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
Shell island fish camp hasn't closed.

Question for doom…
In what area did you ruin that prop? Inside on the oyster bars? Outside near the rock garden?
Hopefully it wasn't in the middle of a grassflat that I consider rock free.
From my experience, no rocks on the East flats til you get over there near the rock garden, and nothing to worry about on the West flats except a couple of oyster bars close to a couple of the creek mouths. I'll run pretty fast, loose and shallow in both areas...
Knowledge is golden.
 

doomtrpr_z71

Senior Member
Shell island fish camp hasn't closed.

Question for doom…
In what area did you ruin that prop? Inside on the oyster bars? Outside near the rock garden?
Hopefully it wasn't in the middle of a grassflat that I consider rock free.
From my experience, no rocks on the East flats til you get over there near the rock garden, and nothing to worry about on the West flats except a couple of oyster bars close to a couple of the creek mouths. I'll run pretty fast, loose and shallow in both areas...
Knowledge is golden.

On the previous St Mark's trip? That was a surprise, I was between black Rock, death rock, and sundowner rock. I was just idling around to start my drift over, I considered that area Rocky but was surprised to find it while idling and surprised at the prop damage. I never go west when fishing at St Mark's but if you don't have those rocks marked I'll send you a gpx file.
 

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
That would be awesome! I don't know my way around much over there shallow East of the rock garden. Always extremely cautious 'round there in my new big boat.
I have a couple of GPS trails that I used to zoom over there and come in from deep water. After that I'm inching...
Should I drop you my phone number or email in a PM?
 

doomtrpr_z71

Senior Member
That would be awesome! I don't know my way around much over there shallow East of the rock garden. Always extremely cautious 'round there in my new big boat.
I have a couple of GPS trails that I used to zoom over there and come in from deep water. After that I'm inching...
Should I drop you my phone number or email in a PM?
Email sent
 

Hickory Nut

Senior Member
The locals have nothing to do with it. The State has closed all vacation rentals. The locals are hurting, already. I promise you they would love for you to spend some money there.

Thanks for that. I know the ramps and rentals are closed but I had also read the area was not taking too kindly to visitors only because their virus numbers were near zero and they didn't want a potential breakout. I can't wait to get back down there.
 

pottydoc

Senior Member
We didn’t interact with many of them, a couple of folks at Charlie’s that I’ve known for years, and the guy at the counter at Hungry Howies maybe a couple others, but they all seemed glad to see us and for the business. Could be some of them are feeling a little non social, but their just hurting themselves. Take away the folks there fishing, and the Hatch closes down overnight.
 
Top