winter fishing

[bergie]

Hello, I am hoping you guys will be willing to give me some advice. I am from northern Mn. and am going to spend Jan, thru March in the Port St. Joe area, I heard about this kayak fishing and it sounds like fun. I just purchased a tarpon 120 and am going to spend some time in it before I start rigging it to fish around here. What I was hoping for the help with is saltwater fishing, although I have spent many thousands of hours fishing it has all been freshwater I have no clue about saltwater. First off does the fishing shut down in winter or will there still be something active when I am there?What kind of gear should I bring, reel capacity, rod length and action,anything else you can think of, I would appreciate any help you can give an old walleye fisherman. Thanks

[rev]

Best bet for that time of year in that area is the ICW ditch. It stacks up with trout in the wintertime. If you go west to the Panama City bays, you should be able to find reds on the flats. You might have some luck to the east around the mouth of the Apalachicola, too. St. Joe Bay proper pretty much dies in the winter time. I used to fish there quite a bit and the bite doesn't really start on the SJB flats until about March, temperature dependent of course.

[bergie]

Thanks for the advice, I was hoping the bay would be worth fishing because we will be staying on cape san blas, but I will check out the places you mentioned, what does ICW stand for. What about fishing the gulf side of the cape is that feasible or do you have to go out to far?

[rev]

ICW-Intercoastal Waterway. It runs between the Apalachicola and East Bay of Panama City. A canal connects to it from Pt. St. Joe. It's easy to understand if you look at a map.

The beach probably won't work that time of year. There may be some whiting or pompano around, but I'm not sure...they may shut down in the winter too. I'm pretty sure the pompano don't show up until a little later, though. Kings show up in mid-march, Spanish a few weeks later, then cobia in April, then tarpon in May.

That time of year, fish are cold. Priority number one for them is finding a comfortable temperature. That means either deep water, or stained water, or fresh water, or mud, or some combination thereof. St. Joe Bay has none of those things--it's clear, shallow, sandy, and has no freshwater influx. The same thing that makes it a really cool place to fish the rest of the year make it a crappy winter spot. Not saying you won't catch a stray fish here and there. But, if you were to hire a guide, he would not take you there that time of year.

Speaking of which, hiring a guide for a day is not a bad idea. It would give you an idea of a strategy to fish the area.

[BearsFan]

I spend quite a bit of time on the Cape. Sharks have been unreal the past couple of weeks with several over 6' landed. As for thre time you will be there the grouper bite should be fantastic. We had many this winter from 10-15lbs. Hypothetically speaking you could hit the barge beach side in your yak. It is in about 35' of water and is probably only about an hours paddle. I went out there two weeks ago in the yak and got some macks off of it. Granted you would need very calm conditions or a wet suit Jan. through March. PM me with any questions at all.
-Peter