# St George Island



## bigmouthbass (Jun 27, 2010)

ill be down there first week of april and plan on spending the week fishing. i wanna catch a big shark but mainly just fill a cooler with fillets of fish. whats usually runnning that time of year. im trying to buy a kayak to run my baits out off the beach. thanks in advance for any suggestions


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## Surf Religion (Mar 13, 2016)

We vacation there the third or forth week in March and I am jealous, as just when the water temps/fishing starts to heat up I have to leave. Last year I caught lots of sheephead, whiting, black drum and redfish and a few Spanish, pompano and flounder, as they had just started to run. Fishing from the island will depend on where you stay. There is a gated community on the west end called the plantation that is not open to the public unless you rent a house there. We have started sucking it up and paying more to stay here because it it so private and because it has the only shore access to "the cut". The cut is a huge rock jetty and one of the best places on the island to fish. Let me know if you are staying here and I will give you some tips on fishing it. The other end is the state park which also has a gated fishing are. For a small fee you can get a key to the gate which gives you access to the east end of the island from shore. They limit the keys/cars so get there early. If you can find a sunny day, incoming tide, when the wind is blowing the surf flat you can limit on mackerel and pompono in no time. You can also catch flounder, reds and trout there. I have never had much luck on the bridges, but the anywhere surf is great for whiting, pompano, black drum and sometimes a red. The bay is great for flounder, trout and reds. Make sure to go to Fishermans Paradise in Eastpoint right before you get on the bridge and Charles will hook you up. The bait/tackle shops on the island suck! Best of luck.


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## bigmouthbass (Jun 27, 2010)

thanks for the info.. from what i have seen the house we are staying in is east of the bridge near 8th st. im hoping to catch lots of fish. i did buy a kayak and plan on taking baits 2-300 yards off the beach in hopes of catching a big shark.


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## SloppyTilapia (Oct 4, 2013)

I saw some pictures from about 2 years ago of a guy kayaking baits from around "the cut"........he caught some 8 foot sharks and a goliath grouper!! Bait of choice was stingray wings. But, I think this was more around the dog days of summer when he was catching them.


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## Surf Religion (Mar 13, 2016)

From what I have seen down there shark fishing this time of year is an after dusk or 
dark thing. Big bull sharks are thick in the fall, but spring and early summer they seem to be further off shore until dark. If you catch any fish to clean, I would save the inards and chum where you want to fish and you should find something. I also catch some nice bonnet head sharks in the surf while fishing for pompano. They are smaller, but great eating as far as shark goes. I think there is an article on preparing them in the Florida Sportsman website archive.


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## BoilermakerJohn (Nov 25, 2014)

I've caught many a shark up to almost 10 feet in length on st george but I mainly go in May when the water has gotten a bit warmer. Fishing the east pass can be very productive. Also, I wouldn't chum a public beach. That just seems like a bad idea and if you were to flip your kayak on the way out I sure as shit wouldn't want to be in an area I had chummed. Sharks are there. Biggest one I caught was a hammer just under 10 feet on a huge trout carcass (10lb trout... she was delicious) I mostly use stringrays and small sharks though as they stay on the hook a lot better. Bonnetheads and sharpnoses make great bait.


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## Surf Religion (Mar 13, 2016)

Well said. I agree chumming where folks are swimming is a bad idea. I was thinking more of finding a more isolated spot (state park has plenty) way out over the second bar. I will say though that I see guys shark fishing there in October using those floating chum cages with an anchor and bloody carcass right down from where folks are swimming. We do not let the kiddos swim if we visit in fall because there are big bulls everywhere. I have never seen a big one in Spring, but as stated above they are there somewhere.


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