# Crooked Creek - Hwy 388 in Bay County -



## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

On the way to doctor appointment this morning in Panama City Beach I dropped a buddy off with my boat at the new Crooked Creek ramp on hwy 388 in Bay County. Neither of us had ever fished there before. He was to explore the creek and find some deep holes for specks and reds. He found a couple of holes upstream from the ramp that were void of fish. Downstream from the ramp all the way to West Bay no holes were located. Low tide and north wind means very low water. Picked him up about 1130 so I did not fish with conditions the way they were. There were 3 rigs in the parking lot.

Checked out Burnt Mill Creek ramp which was close by. 15 rigs in the lot. Encountered some oyster-men coming in with 9 sacks of oysters they had raked to fill a restaurant order. They are getting $60 a bag so that means retail they are up from that. Too rich for my pocketbook!!!

The new ramp at Crooked Creek leaves a lot to be desired when actually used. It looks like a first class setup but that is not the case when launching a boat. The design is flawed with very narrow 2 ramp lanes separated by a dock and the ramp is very long and steep. :thumbdown: Launching a large boat would be difficult and forget launching a wide pontoon boat. They missed the boat on making this spot a premier ramp, but at least it does provide better public access which was very limited to a tiny access point by the bridge on 388. There you had to park alongside the hwy.


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## k-p (Oct 7, 2009)

Thanks Fishwalton for the info. That's not surprising given the area. Can't figure out if things are getting better or worse but I think it's going downhill.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Combining a dr appointment and a fishing trip is a very good use of time and gas. We need you back in the workforce!
Good ramps are hard to come by. Seems the harder they try and more they spend the worse they are. My ramp in Alabama is corps designed and you need a CDL and a couple years of truck driver training to be able to back down it. The new sandy landing on Escambia is poorly designed with a steep metal dock that slants the same as the ramp. They poured rocks on both sides leaving you nowhere to tie up. I like wide with lots of concrete. One long pier will work but I like a little dirt on the sides

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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

I think ramp designs look good on paper and that makes the politicians and grant writers happy. We have some decent ramps in Walton County but some of the newer facilities have design flaws simply because they didn't consult any 'users' . They don't take into consideration historical use, river history, etc., and just build what ever the engineers put on paper. They have spent a ton of money fixing mistakes and even then the fixes fell short. I'll change the subject now and get back to fishing for I can get off on a tangent when it comes to government........


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## Scruggspc (Mar 20, 2013)

I put in there a couple months ago and was flabbergasted with the design. Like that creek would rise 25'.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*Bluff*



Scruggspc said:


> I put in there a couple months ago and was flabbergasted with the design. Like that creek would rise 25'.


:laughing: Yep, I think the ramp may be at about the highest bluff on the creek.


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## bowfisher91 (Feb 19, 2008)

I had to do some work near that bridge a few weeks back and was dumbfounded by the amount of concrete, ditches, and rip-rap they used for that little launch. It looks incredibly over designed by folks that don't use boats. Like you said, the lanes are tiny. And those loose/unstable floating platforms are an accident waiting to happen.


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## 60hertz (Oct 1, 2007)

That place scares me every time I drive by it.


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