flatsfisher
Recruit
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2003
- Messages
- 5
Planning a camping trip to the Fort Desoto camp ground in mid January. Are there any productive flats in around the park or Mullet Key area this time of year?
<br /><br />The majority of my fish were caught on the main road coming into the park. Just after the main boat ramp, there are several little areas off of the bank where you can fish. Try to hit these spots at the HIGHEST point of high tide, just before it goes low, or the LOWEST point of low tide, just before it goes high. The changing tide moves a lot of baitfish, and redfish, trout, snook, etc are sure to follow.<br /><br />Just passed the boat ramp, there is a little are to pull off the road, and you can see the water where the mangroes have been cleared. I caught 6 redfish in the very first clearing in less than 3 hours, ranging from 23-29". I lost a larger fish due to the oyster shells, definitely a red. Be sure to rig with a leader, I was using 12# line, and no leader, on my trout rod/reel for fishing at home in texas. <br />I did a lot of walking around, and would cast just about anywhere that I had room to swing the rod. I was using a mullet colored mirror lure (small one), a gold spoon, and a DOA shrimp. I caught at least one fish on all three. The weather conditions were terrible, as well. It was 45* and windy...this was all between 6am and 9am<br /><br />After I finished there, I moved further onto the island. I decided to try my luck off the surf. Jim (the park ranger) says the east beach is the best for surf fishing..So I waded out chest deep during low tide, using a mullet. I casted it out probably another 100-150 feet, and free-spooled the reel and walked back to the shore. I put the rod on the beach *bad idea*, but I didn't have a rod holder with me. While that bait was in the water, I went ahead and started casting my gold spoon around crab grass. I had a few hits on the spoon, but didn't hook or land anything. They appeared to be rat reds though. I was walking further down when I noticed a few gulls/pelicans working an area a little ways away. I walked over and casted, from the beach. 2 redfish in 6 casts...awesome! 22" and 24"<br />After those two, they were spooked...<br />The live mullet wasn't doing much (mid day now), so I decided to head back to the flats and try my luck again.<br /><br />From the surf, I headed to the area where the canoe/kayak rentals are at. I rented a kayak, and took my light weight spinning rod/reel. The guy at the desk said several people, despite the cold weather, had been seeing a lot of snook under the mangroes, just off the oyster shells on the bank. Jim had also told me this...he said they would kill a live shrimp, but I didn't have any.<br />After losing 3 of my DOA shrimp lures, and one gold spoon, I finally landed a snook, first one ever. He was sitting just under the trees, in water just deep enough to keep him submerged. Jim said they do this during the winter because the shallow water heats up quickly with the sun, he was right! Anyways, the snook was just over 27", I was later told that is a fairly good sized snook for this time of year. I went on to catch a few small redfish (using a spoon again), and what looked to be a pompano, not sure (nothing I've seen at home in texas).<br /><br />By the time I got back off the kayak, I had landed over 15 redfish so far that day, One snook, one pompano, and didn't touch a trout at all...I was satisfied, so I headed to Jim's house and got some lunch.<br /><br />I started up again just before dark, finally had some action off of the beach. I caught another 26" redfish on a live mullet, and I got into a little school of trout with my mirror lure.<br />For the trout: I remembered earlier during low tide, (east beach) there was a really shallow flat, maybe a foot deep, with an area coming into it that was about 2.5-3ft deep...<br />Jim said my best bet for trout would be something like this, a little hole or cut in the water, that is exposed to the eye during low tide, but submerged when high tide. Well, I remembered where it was, once again he was right. I landed 4 trout, from 13-21", within about an hour(high tide now)<br /><br />Once it was dark, I tried my luck on the pier. I caught a few trout under the lights, and stopped fishing, just to watch the few others that were there. One caught a large gaftopsail catfish (they called it a sailcat), another caught a huge skate, and one guy caught a fairly large black drum, ~30".<br /><br />Well, that was my first day ever fishing in florida, and I continued the next 4 days, all with similar results. I ended up heading to a local public canal as well. Jim told me the snook school during the winter in the canals because the water is generally warmer. I ended up catching 8 snook total, my first was the largest.<br /><br />If you see a park ranger, and talk to one...and his name is jim (middle aged, anglo with greying hair, tall and slim), tell him Shawn from Texas said hello. He's very friendly, and would probably point you in the right direction. I'm sure the fish have moved since, but who knows?<br /><br />BTW, every fish I caught was released, so I know there are at least 30 redfish, 8 snook, several trout, and a pompano still there for you to catch!