St. Augustine kayak/canoe report

[skg]

Went backwater fishing in some intracoastal tributaries in areas near Fort Mose state park. My friends Nils and Chris shared a canoe and I was on a kayak. High tide was at 10 AM and we fished the entire outgoing tide. Beautiful clear day with 80 degree temps.

Our first spot was in a deep channel running between two oyster beds. Immediately started catching nice size Spot that were all between 10"-12". The spot were hitting on shrimp and wouldn't touch mud minnows. Probably caught and released ~20 Spot between the 3 of us.</p>

Next we paddled to fish around some nearby docks and structure. By this time the afternoon sea breeze started kicking in at a steady 20 knots, pretty tough conditions. Using mud minnows we caught one small flounder and a monster oyster toad fish. Not a terrible day considering the blustery conditions, but I was hoping for some more flounder and a redfish.. We've already got plans to come visit our friend Nils again so we can do it again... Tight lines.

Check out this report and many others on the iPhone app I created called iFishEarth or iFishEarth.com. It's free to download and is an excellent utility for fisherman.

[Mark O.]

looks fun...nice to be able to catch some shade from the docks...Is that first pic what you're referring to as a spot? I'm no fish ID pro...but I call those pinfish.

[skg]

It prob is a pinfish, I did catch one that day (Friday) near the docks that was way smaller. I guess I just thought they were spot because they were all fairly large and seemed to be part of a school, which pinfish generally do not do. Used to catching pins when they are the size of my palm, so the cobia can inhale them.

Kayaking the creeks is a nice change of pace from Cedar Key where I usually fish.

[andrew0616]

[QUOTE=skg;554336]It prob is a pinfish, I did catch one that day (Friday) near the docks that was way smaller. I guess I just thought they were spot because they were all fairly large and seemed to be part of a school, which pinfish generally do not do.

skg Those are pinfish, no doubt. they do travel in schools. im from miami and down there and up here i cast net them by the dozens. they are baitfish, which most baitfish travel in schools to have a better chance against predators.

[skg]

Right, you catch them around structure/ grass etc. b/c it's their habitat. Not like the numerous species of "white bait" or mullet that do travel in schools. The fact that they were all about 10" kind of threw me off, not used to seeing pins that big.