Our thanks to Richard Simms and his wife Barbara for the use of this article and photos.
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Raging Redfish Photo Gallery
by Richard Simms
posted October 14, 2004
It never ceases to amaze me, but each of those rare times when I hook a redfish, I marvel at their power and tenacity. I love freshwater fish, all freshwater fish. But I'm sorry, none of them hold a candle to the power of their saltwater counterparts.
The following photos are a glimpse of a recent few days on St. Joe Bay, FL.
I've never fished St. Joe Bay in October, but I'll be back. The redfish were hot and couldn't resist a poppin float with a pink DOA shrimp.
Of course sea trout fell victim to the same presentation.
Two days the weather was lousy and Barbara couldn't lay on the beach. So she damaged a few trout lips with me.
The grass flats in the back end of St. Joe Bay average 2 to 3 feet deep, and it’s clear water. Besides the poppin corks (one called Cajun Thunder is a local favorite), topwater baits called Mirror Lures are good for chasing trout.
Sea trout, like many saltwater species, have a mouthful of teeth. It'll take my fingers a while to heal after this trip.
One day I was reeling in a small, 12-inch, sea trout when he stopped dead for a second. The line went slacked and I reeled in 5 inches of my fish that a shark couldn't get in his mouth.
There’s one primary characteristic of St. Joe Bay… miles and miles of shallow grass flats. Of course the tides vary considerably and different fishermen prefer differents tides stages. I haven't done it enough to know, but on these few days, I seemed to do best for a couple of hours after the tide peaked and started to drop.
St. Joe Bay is covered in miles and miles of eel grass. It's a very unique ecosystem that's filled with scallops (in season). Sting rays skate along the sandy bottom as well as the occasional shark. Horseshoe crabs and starfish crawl through the eel grass. Whether you catch fish or not, it's always fun to prowl the grass flats.
And on the third day, the weather was beautiful... bright sun and no wind. Barbara loved it, but as you might guess, the fishing was tough.
Even in a screaming wind, St. Joe Bay is a hard place to leave when the redfish are on the prowl.
Barbara struggles against a redfish that doesn't want to come out of the grass.
A little pink from a day on the water, we enjoyed an evening visit to Margaritaville (actually this is at a Mexico Beach restaurant called Toucan's).
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