Bummer yall got stuck but looks like you were able to experience a good flood tide. I definitely saw you on Saturday morning (unless there was another black Professional out there), we were fishing the same area. Plenty of tailers around.
Friday October 16/Saturday October 17 NE Florida
Traveled from South Florida up to the Jacksonville area to meet my old friend and fishing partner to fish in the Cowford Redfish Tournament to benefit the St. Johns Riverkeeper (https://cowfordredfishtournament.com/about-us). Captain Rami Ashouri did a terrific job of organizing and running the tournament and many tournament sponsors including Hell's Bay Boatworks, Papa's Pillar, Florida Fishing Products, Bull's Bay Rods, Danco, Costa and others deserve our support and appreciation. I would like to thank all MS Forum members who provided some insight for me to fishing this area as it was my first time flood tide fishing in the NE Florida area.
Friday presented a 6'6" flood tide at about 0900 at Sawpit Creek. We launched and ran to a creek that drained the marsh on the east side of Clapboard Creek. We found reds tailing and roaming the edge on the back of the marsh and it was game on. Half way through the falling tide, I figured we should start poling off the flat--rookie mistake. I cannot believe how fast the water falls off those flats and out of the creeks and drains! We overshot the drain we ran in on, and ended up in 4" of water with the level quickly dropping. So, we were stuck with the next high tide not until 9:30 p.m. or so. After several hours of exploring the area on foot, following Captain Rami's advice we reluctantly left the skiff and walked out through the muck to the ICW (Clapboard Creek) where we flagged down a boat to catch a ride back to the ramp. He promised to run us back out the next morning when the high tide would be at about 10 a.m.
We got back to the marsh around 0730, and after slogging through the marsh we found the skiff still resting on the mud. By 0900 there was water under the skiff and by 0930 we were able to pole off the flat, back into the creek and then out to the ICW. The winds picked up so we looked for sheltered shorelines or flats to fish the rest of the day, found a nice creek that drained the marsh and staked out as the tide fell. We landed a few more reds and a trout in that area to close out the day.
Overall, it was a great trip, even after getting waylaid in the marsh! I met some nice folks and experienced a new area of Florida, learned some lessons about fishing the flood tides! Here are a few pictures from the trip.
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Friday presented a 6'6" flood tide at about 0900 at Sawpit Creek. We launched and ran to a creek that drained the marsh on the east side of Clapboard Creek. We found reds tailing and roaming the edge on the back of the marsh and it was game on. Half way through the falling tide, I figured we should start poling off the flat--rookie mistake. I cannot believe how fast the water falls off those flats and out of the creeks and drains! We overshot the drain we ran in on, and ended up in 4" of water with the level quickly dropping. So, we were stuck with the next high tide not until 9:30 p.m. or so. After several hours of exploring the area on foot, following Captain Rami's advice we reluctantly left the skiff and walked out through the muck to the ICW (Clapboard Creek) where we flagged down a boat to catch a ride back to the ramp. He promised to run us back out the next morning when the high tide would be at about 10 a.m.
We got back to the marsh around 0730, and after slogging through the marsh we found the skiff still resting on the mud. By 0900 there was water under the skiff and by 0930 we were able to pole off the flat, back into the creek and then out to the ICW. The winds picked up so we looked for sheltered shorelines or flats to fish the rest of the day, found a nice creek that drained the marsh and staked out as the tide fell. We landed a few more reds and a trout in that area to close out the day.
Overall, it was a great trip, even after getting waylaid in the marsh! I met some nice folks and experienced a new area of Florida, learned some lessons about fishing the flood tides! Here are a few pictures from the trip.
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