St. George Island Report

Hi everyone, thanks for reading the St. George Island report. It was nice having a week off from posting!

I had to lay low after my cataract surgery. To fill some of the time, I built myself a kayak cart using these plans- https://palmettokayakfishing.blogspot.com/2011/04/diy-bulletproof-kayak-cart-build.html . I’m very happy with the resulting cart!

While cruising the internet, I ran into the Scottish Nature Photography awards. I particularly like the image below, which wasn’t even a first-place winner. The work is of the highest quality, well worth a visit- https://scottishnaturephotographyawards.com/index.html

This image, one of my favorites, wasn’t even a first place winner. © Mick Durham.

OK, the report.

Sunday,

Susan and I rode the Sienna all the way to St. George Island. We had a ron-day-voo planned with Jim and Kathy Tedesco, with a week-long stay at a beach house involved. The “beach” house was actually on St. George Sound, complete with a lighted dock, where by far our most consistent fishing happened.

Monday

Jim and I went fishing at the state park. We started almost at low tide, moving a few unidentified fish. We came to a distinct point on an oyster bar. I suggested we abandon the boat and work the point.

There were some fish there.

I hit first, with a slot red on a Clouser Minnow. I called Jim over, who hit next with a black drum on a slider. When the tide was too deep to wade that spot anymore, we had gotten seven of eight black drum and a couple redfish. Which was a good thing, because we didn’t touch another fish that day.

That night, though, we got a half-dozen slot trout off the dock, using my old friend the 3″ plastic shad.

Dawn on the beach at St. George Island is worth losing some sleep for.

Tuesday,

we went back to the same place looking for the drum. I hoped they would be in the same place on the same tide. Sadly, wrong, John! We fished around the oysters for a while without success, then went to another spot that’s been good to me. We worked it for at least an hour, for an undersized red and a single, 19-inch trout, both on the plastic shad.

We poled a mile or so of great-looking flats. They were wet, but fishless.

Tuesday night, the dock produced two trout and two redfish for us, on the shad.

Wednesday

Some marvelous engineering on the beach.

Susan and I went for a walk on the state park’s East Slough Nature trail, then walked about a mile of beach. I chatted with a couple other fishermen, both snowbirds. One told me he’d spent the last eight winters fishing the Florida coast from Pensacola to St. George Island. This year’s fishing was the worst he’d experienced, although he could offer no explanation as to why. The other was from Michigan. He spent a week this time of year every year for the last thirteen, on St. George Island. The fishing this year was the worst by far, although again, the reason was unknown.

The sunsets weren’t too shabby, either.

It seems our timing might have been better, but we had no way of knowing that until we got here. The dock produced a limit of trout that night, though.

Thursday

In the morning a strong cold front came through. We did exciting things like washing laundry and writing blogs. In the afternoon Jim and I went to the state park to fish. We got a half-dozen reds between us, all out of the slot on the low end. Got some trout off the dock after dark, using a Sting Silver.

Friday

we went on a tourist excursion to Apalachicola, which fortunately was uncrowded. The weather was spectacular! We had a great lunch at the Seafood Grill. I used my phone to take some (mostly bad) pictures around town.

I was looking forward to a hot evening of fishing off the dock. The fish did not get the memo- they never showed.

Saturday

was a clean-up and pack up day, as lightning flashed, thunder grombled, and rain fell off and on. A blog got posted. Our trip is ending…

Many thanks to Jim and Kathy Tedesco for making this wonderful week possible!

That’s the St. George Island report. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active! Take care of your eyes!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com
www.spottedtail.com/blog

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.