Gulf Coast fishing for Redfish in a 16 ft Dixon Twister

[George/Land O' Lakes]

Mike,

Here's a short story about where I fish. I bought the airboat I did to fish in the extreme backcountry of the Gulf Coast of Florida from about Yankeetown in the north to Tarpon Springs in the south. There are vast expanses of uninhabitied shoreline, mangrove islands, creeks, salt lakes and grass flats which see very little fishing pressure due to the lack of water, mysterious rocks that pop up out or nowhere and scarcity of launch ramps.

To get an idea of what the area looks like, go to Google Earth and look up Ozello, FL, or Homosassa Springs FL. Take a good look at the shoreline and maze of creeks. It's really a great place to fish. Very little chance of anybody "sitting in your fishing hole" when you come around the corner. the only thing that can get back in most of these places is a airboat. Lots of limestone on the bottom which attracts redfish, speckled trout and sheephead.

This fishery is mostly a winter one. Low winter tides and winds from the east will blow most of the water out of the flats outsie of the backcountry. When this happens, it's time to head out to the deep bends in the creeks, junctions of two or more creeks emptying into a large creek and other deeper holes. What happens is all the fish and sources of food, dust frop into the holes and wait for the tide to wash their dinner to them.

Everytime I find a deep spot (by deep I mean 4-10 feet surrounding by inches of water), I mark it on my GPS. this way I go right to the spots until I see fish in them. We then back off and drop live or dead shrimp or cut mullet (big reds can't resists a big filet of fresh mullet) in front of them and hold on. Right now I have over 97 spots that are are the right stage in the tide at different times. Based on what the tide is doing I can just cruise around and hit the holes that the water is moving best into.

A good day will result in 30-50 redfish with some trout and sheepies thrown in for good measure. We rarely get skunked in this are one the temps fall and the fish make their way back into the creeks. This fishery lasts until the water warms up past about 76 degrees at which point they leave the backcountry to forage out on the flats.

Once I figure out how to post some pictures, I'll show you my boat and the area I fish. I promised to take Chuck Rackley out so we''ll make sure to take lots of pictures.

Hope this gives you an idea of what I'm doing here. If you make it out to the Tampa area, I'll show you first hand....V/R
George

[Wildfowl]

That sounds great. Got my mouth watering for redfish.

For some reason watching them fish the channels on the outdoor shows has always sparked an interest in that species.

Just might take you up on the offer.

Thanks for painting the picture.

[airhead]

George,

I hate you,you luckey dog Just kidding i'm really jelious. The only thing that i know about the cost on the west side of Florida is that once you get below Panama City it turns into marsh for some time. I learned this by trying to help the C.A.P. find one of my best friends that left Cross City in a small plane many years ago and has never been found. Bad experience!

On a more positive note, I can see where an airboat would get into places others can't. Maybe someday i will be able to come that way and find you or someone that can show me some of this.

I'm glad you figured this out and the pictures aren't that hard, but i had problems with that also. You see everyone isn't blessed with this computer stuff like Papee

Keep posting'

Jim

[Duane Scarborough]

George,

Though I live in North Carolina now, I grew up in Southwest Georgia.

When I was a teenager, and well into my 20's-30's, we did a lot of fishing on the flats of the FL panhandle. St. Marks was a prime spot, as was the Incofina River area.

We didn't venture much further south. The Incofina tore up a few props on our outboards. we'd idle out to the flats, and idle back in. An airboat would have been very handy back then.

Thanks for sharing with us, and good luck.

Duane

[Wildfowl]

I haven't figured it out yet either... Papee are you blessed or cursed?

[airhead]

Wildfowl,

We are all blessd just in different ways.

Jimology.

[Papee]

I like to hear any fishing story, true or not.

Hey Guys, I just posted a video help on resizing a photo and posting it here in a post. The video and instructions are in the Help section titled "Adding Photos".

[George/Land O' Lakes]

Pappee,

Why does it (the website) tell me I can't view pictures. It says I don't have the required permissions. How do I obtain those permissions??

thanks

George

[airhead]

Are you logged on when this happens?

Jim

[Papee]

How about now George?