(May 1999)

Captain Randle Leger was the main speaker for the evening. He began by passing out an April tide chart that he had printed from the internet web address shown on the sheet. He had placed an asterisk by the dates with the strongest tides. He said that he uses a high tide of 3.5 feet or greater as an indicator for recommended fishing days for his prospective charters.

Randle said that the fishing has been very good recently, even though it had been quite windy the previous Thursday through Sunday (April 8-11). He place 3^rd in a trout fishing tournament on Sunday, April 11. Randle’s standard trout fishing pattern is a lure with a pastel pink tail, white body and chartreuse head. He fishes soft plastic grubs on a jig head in these colors. He suggested that flies tied in these colors with a rattling mechanism would be effective for trout fishing.

Randle also passed out a map of Apalachee bay with trout fishing areas marked. Each of the circled areas was numbered and he described them as follows:

#1 - This area is at the mouth of Oyster Bay. Captain Jody Campbell spends the entire month of May in this area. Big spawning trout move into the rocks and oyster bars in this area particularly during May. He suggested that you start fishing on the outside of the rocks and fish toward the rocks and repeat the drift, if you are successful. Otherwise, move to another rock and try again until you locate a productive area. The rising tide offers the best fishing opportunities. There are big redfish in this area, too, because of some deep channels in the area.

#2 - Live Oak Point is a 3 foot deep area with sandy spots and a deep channel to the right. This area is very good for trout on the top of the tide. Cobia are here, too. Randle caught 4 cobia here last year which were approximately 30" each (less than keeper size) and broke of a large one.

#3 - At the northwestern tip of "Patty’s Island Depression" in an area about the size of two football fields, the depth is about two feet deeper that the surrounding areas. This area is only good on a rising tide. There are large numbers of small fish, so this is not the area for large trout.

#4 - This area is adjacent to Patty’s Island. There are not as many fish as in area #3, but the fish are larger. Top water baits are the best. This area has potential on the rising and falling tides.

#5 - This area is easily accessible from St. Marks. This is a 6-7 foot deep area where the live-bait fishing guides fish for large trout.

#6 - This area is near Stony Bayou and is about 12 inches deep on a dead low tide. It is not only shallow, but rocky, thus dangerous. A friend of his reported having seen a dozen or so redfish greater than 30 inches in length tailing in this area recently. He caught some of these fish on a "Nip-A-Ditty".

#7 - Gray Mare is one of the most productive spots in Apalachee Bay for trout. The "Gray Mare Gang" wins tournaments fishing in this general area.

#9 - This spot is east of the Aucilla River entrance. Randle fished at this spot the previous Sunday when he placed third in the tournament. This site is directly in front of Rose Creek. He looked for the break line between the clear and turbid waters about one mile from shore to determine his fishing spot on Sunday, and caught 4 limits of trout with his partner.

Randle continued by saying that the successful location of trout is related to finding the depth contour lines as the tide rises. He generally starts fishing out near the stake line in about 6 feet of water and moves inward with the rising tide. He thinks the best trout fishing area is between the 5-foot and 4-foot contour line, which moves inward as the tide rises. The clarity line is more important when high winds cause water turbidity.

Walt Loomis asked about the prospects of catching species of fish other than trout in these areas. Randle said that he has recently caught small cobia and bluefish in the Aucilla area. He also mentioned that there is an unusually large number of hardhead catfish in this area this year, and expects another die-off of these catfish similar to the extensive ones in previous years.