Anybody Like To Surf Fish?

[Stoli]

I don't get to do it often but I love to surf fish on St George Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida. You never know what you might catch. Have caught whiting, redfish, trout, flounder, an occasional Pompana and less desirable non game species like lady fish, blue runners, and those God awful saltwater catfish if you leave a bait on the bottom too long.

I have seen other catch small sharks and stingrays.

[Blacksheepvol]

I've fished Saint Joseph bay. We caught basically what you mention, plus a stingray or two. That bay is a big nursery. We like to go up to the park end of the bay and anchor in about 2 feet of water near the sand bars so the kids can catch hermit crabs and the like while we fish out into the depths.

[Stoli]

I have never had the opportunity to fish in a boat on the bays down there but I am told that you can just follow the birds in the fall when the shrimp are moving out of the brackish water across the Appalachicola bay. I was standing on the edge of the surf fishing one morning on a day when the water was very clear and saw three huge stingrays (the big red ones) swim within 6 feet of me.

I have hooked into some stuff before that I never landed. A good sized redfish is a battle in the surf.

[Blacksheepvol]

We fish off a pontoon boat in the bay. The coolest sight for the wife would be the pods of dolphins or the HUGE sharks we've seen. For me, it was the stingray with a 5 or 6 foot span fly out of the water, stay airborne for 10 feet or so, then disappear into the depths again. The guys in the park later said they only do that when a big shark is chasing them.

[Blacksheepvol]

well, ray of some kind...I don't know a sting ray from a manta ray from a devil ray.

[tebowisgay]

We go to gulf coast every year around spring break. When the bait is close to the beach catch them on a sabiki and you can catch nice Spanish Mackerel on most every cast. Underestimated table fish if same day fresh.

[Stoli]

I have seen the big rays come out of the water down there. I assumed they were diving after bait fish and had not of them being chased by sharks but I guess that makes sense. You see a good many dolphin around St. George and I have noticed that is usually a good time to have a line in the water.

I have never caught any of the spanish mackeral. So far as eating, the whiting, pompano, trout, and redfish, are all good. The whiting are excellent if soaked in milk for a while and then breaded and pan fried. I brought back a cooler full of trout one year and ate on those for several months.

A ran into a guy using a cast net to catch mullet in the bay one year and he gave me a mess of those and they are pretty good fried.