Fishing October’s Lower Tides on the Gulf Coast

One thing I can’t predict is the weather or wind, and it turned out that we had a fair amount of the latter this past weekend when Hurricane Matthew chewed up Florida’s east coast.  Big storms like Matthew produce winds on both coasts. However, it looked like our fish didn’t really care. Trout and reds …

Redfish Turn Red in Tannic Creeks After Big Rains

If you’ve ever wondered why redfish (red drum) are red, head to a Gulf-facing coastal creek just after a big rainstorm.  On Florida’s Big Bend, big summer storms often bring multiple inches of rain.  It usually backs up into the swamps and filters through the coastal swamps to the Gulf, bringing significant amounts of tannin …

Too Windy To Fish The Gulf? Head Up A Big Bend Coastal Creek

    Springtime often means that the winds howl on Natural North Florida’s Gulf Coast.  It’s not unusual for winds to be light and variable, 3 to 7-knots, in the morning hours, but turn to a 20-knot westerly sea breeze by noon.  The land heats up faster than the water, and that convection causes rough …

Trolling For Trout–A Favorite Big Bend Wintertime Fishing Technique

Many of the Gulf-facing creeks along our Big Bend coastline are as wide and deep as our smaller rivers.  Three good examples are Barnett and Dan May creeks, in Levy County near Suwannee, and Dallus Creek, in Taylor County.  And slow-trolling lures, especially MirrOlures, is a time-tested method used by local anglers to catch fat …

Hungry For A Trout Dinner–Fish Suwannee’s Barnett and Dan May Creeks This Winter!

There are lots of deep holes in creeks and rivers all along our Natural North Florida Gulf coastline, but few are as easily accessed as Dan May and Barnett Creeks.  These creeks are big–as big as many of our coastal rivers–and hold swarms of fat spotted seatrout during cold winter days.   There are several excellent …

A Natural North Florida Winter Traditon– Trout in Suwannee’s Coastal Creeks

There are probably no two wintertime trout spots on Florida’s Big Bend more famous than Dan May and Barnett creeks, south of the Suwannee River.   These are not piddling little ditches draining small patches of coastline, but big creeks that rival some of Florida rivers in overall size and tidal flow. January‘s deepening winter usually …

Florida’s Big Bend Coastal Creeks Offer Excellent Wintertime Fishing–Just Don’t Get Stranded By The Tide!

Fishermen are lucky.  When wintertime arrives in Florida, all that’s usually necessary is a light coat to keep away the cold.  However, cold-blooded fish species like seatrout, redfish (red drum), black drum and sheepshead, are not so lucky.  They’re cold-blooded, and as water temperatures fall into the 50s, they seek the warmth of deep creeks, …