# St. George Island report (10/12/2015)



## SloppyTilapia (Oct 4, 2013)

Went fishing off the beach from about 1030-1400 yesterday and had a fun day. Only bought a small bit of shrimp with the intent of using mostly artificials and netting some bait. Caught about 15 small jack crevalles in the 1 lb range, 3 whiting, one lizardfish, one ladyfish and one 14" flounder. Most of the fish came on the limited supply of shrimp, but caught quite a few fish on a gold Krocodile spoon as well. There is tons and tons of bait in the surf right now, it was a constant barrage of fish moving out there. Could spot some blues and reds busting the bait, but never hooked up with any of them. Was a beautiful and fun day on the beach.


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## george76904 (Mar 10, 2013)

Great to hear it! I'm heading to the east end of the island tomorrow. I'm excited! I've seen some hot and heavy action out there before. Hoping to come back with a cooler of blues! 
Maybe I'll see you out there.
Will


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## george76904 (Mar 10, 2013)

Also what are you talking about when you say lizardfish? I do not know of any surf fish by that name. Would you be willing to provide a picture?


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## SloppyTilapia (Oct 4, 2013)

Lizardfish are long, skinny fish with a mottled pattern, kinda brownish or orange in color with a triangular shaped head and a mouth full of teeth. We catch em a lot when fishing in the flats, but this is the first time I have ever caught one in the surf. I have always heard that they make excellent grouper bait. My computer is running slow right now.....so, unable to provide a pic. I'm going to pick my boat up out of the shop today, so I don't when my next surf trip will be. Post a report when you get back


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## John Smith_inFL (Nov 22, 2009)

Something like this 








I have seen them caught from the dock . . . just like puffers, throw them back.


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## pmcdaniel (Nov 13, 2013)

Nooo..puffers are good eating.


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## SloppyTilapia (Oct 4, 2013)

Thanks for posting the pics, BareFootJohnny. Them some ugly little buggers.


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## george76904 (Mar 10, 2013)

Sell unfortunately the surf was exceedingly slow. On light tackle in the surf caught some whiting and some jacks. Put one jack on the shark rod. But the little sharks just ate it around the hook. I put a smaller whiting on for one last bait before we got done Friday evening. About 45 minutes of soaking later. The reel starts going out. It was the strangest shark take I have ever seen. I thought it was a stingray because it didn't do any head thrashes or jumps, it didn't even run that hard. My dad left me to deal with the stingray myself when a big bull shark about 8 ft long started cruising past about 40 yards from shore. About the time he got 100 yards away to go try and catch the other shark. I saw the dorsal fin of my shark. Nice bull, but he had wrapped himself, which explained why he felt like dead weight. I was basically dragging him sideways through the surf. We got him up on land but he still had plenty of fight left in him. Just as we got him dragged up past the wave line, I found out that the hook was not set (he thrashed once with slack like and the hook just went plop onto the sand.) He was hard to get an official length on because he really wanted you to keep your distance. He was around 58 inch fork length, so we decided to keep him as we hadn't gotten any other keepers. I am cleaning the jaws and tanning the hide now, in addition to having the freezer full of shark meat


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## SloppyTilapia (Oct 4, 2013)

Thanks for the post!! Was there still tons of bait around? My guess is that the fish in the surf are too stuffed from real bait to chase plugs, dead bait or unnatural looking stuff. I need to take a few days off from work to get back down there before it gets too cold. Now, with hunting season open, there is just too much to choose from every weekend.


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## MrBoo (Jun 2, 2014)

We were there from 10-18 through 10-24 and fished several days. There wasn't much signs of life most days early in the week and with all the wind. Fished the surf Sunday and managed some small whiting and a small pomp. Fished the pier Monday and the wind almost blew us over the railing but fishing was much better with a bunch of quality whiting, some cats a red, a white trout and some stingrays. Went out with Chris Robinson Tuesday and caught some quality reds and a bunch of trout. Fished the surf again Wednesday and landed a few reds, some whiting and a shovel head. Went to the East End Thursday. It was a little slow at first but things picked up later in the afternoon. Bait rigs picked up whiting, a lizard fish, 5 shovel heads and a few Lady fish. We started catching Pomps and lady fish using Mirror lures around 5ish with several doubles and sometimes two pomps on a single lure. Most were smaller but we did manage three keeper size in the mix. This came on the flat on the point just past the deeper hole heading toward the ocean side.

We used live shrimp, sometimes tipped with fish bites, frozen shrimp almost always tipped with fish bites, and some frozen squid on our bait rigs.


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## SloppyTilapia (Oct 4, 2013)

MrBoo said:


> We were there from 10-18 through 10-24 and fished several days. There wasn't much signs of life most days early in the week and with all the wind. Fished the surf Sunday and managed some small whiting and a small pomp. Fished the pier Monday and the wind almost blew us over the railing but fishing was much better with a bunch of quality whiting, some cats a red, a white trout and some stingrays. Went out with Chris Robinson Tuesday and caught some quality reds and a bunch of trout. Fished the surf again Wednesday and landed a few reds, some whiting and a shovel head. Went to the East End Thursday. It was a little slow at first but things picked up later in the afternoon. Bait rigs picked up whiting, a lizard fish, 5 shovel heads and a few Lady fish. We started catching Pomps and lady fish using Mirror lures around 5ish with several doubles and sometimes two pomps on a single lure. Most were smaller but we did manage three keeper size in the mix. This came on the flat on the point just past the deeper hole heading toward the ocean side.
> 
> We used live shrimp, sometimes tipped with fish bites, frozen shrimp almost always tipped with fish bites, and some frozen squid on our bait rigs.


Awesome.....sounds like you had a great week down there. Are you sure those pomps you caught on the mirrolure weren't juveline jack crevalle? I caught quite a few little jacks when I was down there last. I have never really had much luck off the pier down there, but have heard of some great spanish mackerel blitzes during the right time of year.


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## MrBoo (Jun 2, 2014)

We saw a lot of people struggle on the pier and we did at first. A few slight adjustments and we started catching... I'll be honest, I didn't pay that much attention to the mirror lure fish, but I thought they had the single dorsal and I know they had a rough sticky patch in front of it so it was easier to handle them from the under side. All were released as quickly as possible and they put up a decent fight! But I will concede they could have been Jacks and I just didn't notice because I assumed they were Pomps.


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## SloppyTilapia (Oct 4, 2013)

Sounds like they were probably jacks, afterall. The only time I ever go to the pier anymore is when the surf is just too rough to fish. Big black drum are in the bay in June/July, so that is worth a stop on the pier. One day I hope to take my polarskiff down there and try the flats out. But, that is a 3 hour trip for me one way without dragging a boat. So, may have to wait for the next vacation.


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