Cape San Blas/St. Joseph Bay

Trip: Cape San Blas/ St. Joseph Bay
Date: October 7th-9th, 2006
Camp Location: St. Joseph Peninsula State Park

Kayaking trip turned kayak fishing trip.
Ok. Personally, I have caught many fish in my life including some good sized bass. I have even caught a couple of nice bass from my kayak, but to combine fishing, ocean, scenery, fishing success, and kayaking, makes anything else difficult to compare.
Although I had goals to attain, I had originally said that I wanted this trip to sort of go with the flow. Basically, that is what happened. Chris and I elected to drive down, separately, Friday evening so we could get the most out of Saturday and begin our paddling experience. Since we arrived late in the evening (State Park closes at 7:30), Chris arrived first and had to find a place for us to crash. His only option was an old hotel near Mexico Beach, which, by the way, had the strongest water pressure of any shower I have ever experienced. I have used pressure washers with less PSI. After experiencing Chris’s new coffee grinder and brewing system via his new JetBoil stove (Nice) we pushed on to one of the local tackle shops next to Piggly Wiggly. There, we were informed that the fishing in the bay probably doesn’t get any better than it was. Also, he said that the tourist fishing season is pretty much over in October even though the fishing is great. After we told the guy we were going to be fishing from kayaks, he explained that we would have a major advantage to anyone in a motorized boat because the Reds and Trout were close to shore in the shallows. In my mind, it was "on" for me. I have always wanted to fish down there and catch Red Drum and Spotted Trout since I got my kayak. We got our necessary supplies and tackle and pushed-on to St. Joseph Peninsula State Park where we decided to go ahead and set camp, eat some lunch and prepare for our launch and fishing excursion. While setting-up camp, all insect warnings were confirmed and validated with brute force. I’m not confident that a glass bubble could keep the yellow deer flies away but Deet did a descent job against the mosquitoes and for the most part the flies too. Although, should your Deet coverage fail to cover each and every exposed pore, or should the last application of Deet expire, the deer and dog flies will find any neglected morsels of epidermis and commence destruction of it. We did adapt. Moving on, we carried the boats to the bay side beach and public launch within the park. With more than ample room for moving about and parking, this area was perfect for launching kayaks. After launching we paddled out a ways, against our advice of 20 yards or so, and attempted to cast a few times with little success. It wasn’t long before we seemed to have been drawn back near shore, as advised, to what turned out to be (we think) mullet jumping from every direction. We were near the bridge within the park. I eventually switched to a smaller top-water popper and soon had my first fish, which turned out to be my biggest Spotted Trout of the trip. For obvious reasons, we stayed in the same vicinity for the remainder of that evening with success. Chris and I both caught Red Drum, Spotted Trout, and Saltwater Catfish. What fun that was.
After finishing up for the evening, with the sun meeting the horizon, Chris and I loaded the boats back up and luckily saw Barry driving down the park road as he just arrived. We all drove back to the campsite. Barry set camp while Chris and I finished organizing our gear and getting a fire ready for later.
Ah, the luxuries of car camping. Everything you need right at arms length. Folding chairs, half a cord of firewood, more than one set of clothing, and the freedom to drive to the Indian Pass Raw Bar. I must admit, aesthetically, the restaurant wasn’t what I expected but it was quiet interesting. First of all, we got there after they closed. They were gracious enough to allow us in but we were informed that they could only cook shrimp and maybe oysters. This of course would suffice, and we ate till our stomachs were content. Apparently, the restaurant had recently went through a makeover and had changed its appearance according to what I had read and been told. I was expecting a dilapidated shack with a bunch of character, but regardless, it was very nice, good food, and very nice people. One of the coolest features about the place was its beverage cooler. One wall of the restaurant is nothing but beer and other beverages for you to choose from. Basically, they use the "honor" system, where you retrieve your beer from the cooler and when paying your bill you tell them what you drank and how many of each. Really cool concept. To give you a real good idea of the feel of the place, I’ll pass on the phrase we were greeted with; "Welcome to Mayberry!".
Sunday, our plan was to drive, with boats, to Indian Pass at Apalachicola Bay and paddle across to St. Vincent’s Island. With 20 mph wind and little contemplation we decided against it and decided to drive to St George Island to check out that region for future trip opportunities. It was a pretty neat little community with a Tybee Island feel about it; old and fun and not lacking character. The St. George Island State Park was really nice but we neglected to explore the campgrounds. The wind was just as crazy there so we decided to retreat back to St. Joes Bay where it seemed the calmest. Between Cape San Blas and St. George Island it took between 30-45 minutes driving. After reaching the bay we put our boats in the water by mid afternoon with plenty of time to paddle and continue our fishing. Our previous hot spot did not seem to be holding as much fish so we paddled farther northwest along the shoreline. I must admit that I was prepared to give up on casting and just paddle a while and enjoy my surroundings until I saw a very large Red swim slowly across my path. My energy level instantly rejuvenated itself and it was "on" again. Well, at least it was "on" for Chris. He soon caught what could have been the same fish I saw because it was a pretty large Red Drum. It was nice (see picture). Chris would continue to catch additional fish and I believe another large Red. While I had several bites and few missed fish I was not as lucky as the day before. Later, and as the day was nearing its end I paddled back towards our put-in location and tried fishing once again. This time my luck would strike in deeper water. I managed scoring a couple more Spotted Trout and a good sized Ladyfish (aka: Tenpounder) (see pic). For me, that Ladyfish made my trip. It was the hardest fighting fish I have ever landed. What a blast! Luckily for me, Barry brought his camera instead of his fishing pole and got a few good photos for us. Oh, Chris and I also caught what I think may have been some variation of a Lizardfish that was quiet possibly the ugliest creature I have ever seen. After catching the Ladyfish I was done for the evening and offered my rod and tackle to Barry so he could give it a try before the day expired. Apparently something in the deeper water was cruising in because he had something on two separate occasions cut his line.
We all elected to retire back to the campsite for the evening and plan for our next meal. On our return, our new camping neighbors explained we had a visitor to stop by and keep an eye on things for us. They explained that we had a small family of raccoons come into the camp and check things out. He explained that one of the raccoons tried getting into Chris’s large duffle bag and was sitting on top of it for a while. He also mentioned that a couple of the raccoons were fighting. Had we thought and prepared carefully enough we would have brought a frying pan to eat our catch but instead we decided to pick up some shrimp at Piggly Wiggly and brought it back to boil while hanging out by the fire pit. Well, it wasn’t long before our little friends joined us for the evening (see pic). While Rocky elected to sit in the nose-bleed section (Palm tree) and watch from above as we continued with our meal preparations. The shrimp turned out great and so did the Cocktail sauce Chris made (Ketchup and Horseradish Sauce, mixed until desired hotness is achieved).
The next morning we chose to pack up and drive to St. Vincent’s again before going home but it again was too windy to paddle. We talked ourselves out of it and decided to find a good place to eat. The Raw Bar was closed for Columbus Day so we pushed on to Port St. Joe Marina’s DocksideCafé where we ate well (good place) before concluding our trip.
Good food, good friends, and good times.