# Cape San Blas in February



## Squidly (Aug 15, 2016)

I retire in January and will be in Cape San Blas in February to unwind a bit before moving on to whatever's next. Just me and the old woman in what I hope will be a pretty quiet community for a few weeks during winter.

I've read up on what I could find on the net regarding bay and surf fishing and it looks like its slow in February as I would expect but not much information out there for this time of year. It appears from what I've read that when water temperatures hit the 60's the fish either move south or into deeper water making it difficult (unlikely?) to catch reds, trout, flounder, pompano, etc 

My question is what fish are still in the area in February and what do I need to do get them in the bag and how is crabbing (Stone or Blue) this time of year?

Thanks for any advice.


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Here's this: https://proangler.us/fishingreport/apalachicola-fishing-report/

Scroll down till you get to the desired month. Was trying Half Hitch website there in PSJ but it's not working at this moment. If anything, just Google "fishing in Feburary Port Saint Joe".

Congrats on the retirement, mine started in Feb.


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## Squidly (Aug 15, 2016)

Thanks for the reply kanaka. The fishing report is better news than what I expected from information found on the web before joining this site. I searched this forum for Cape San Blas winter fishing and looked at threads originating in January/February for inshore but not a lot out there. I'll try your suggested google search. Much appreciated!


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## cody&ryand (Oct 3, 2007)

i am not sure how much help this will be but we fish appalacacola ever thanksgiving and the fishing is great but we are usually fishing in and around the mouth of the river and a little in the bays. we catch plenty of sheep head specs and reds and a few flounder using live shrimp on the bottom


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## grumpy old man (Dec 20, 2009)

fish the canal from the bridge in st. joe north to the tee where the canal meets the intercoastal waterway. also try the deep water where the old paper mill used to be. live shrimp is always best, but may be hard to come by in feb. if lure fishing, fish super slow. hope this helps. fish or no fish st. joe bay is a beautiful place.


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## Squidly (Aug 15, 2016)

Thanks for the replies gents. After thinking about it I figure the best way to get acquainted with the bay side would be to hire a half day charter and let them show me how its done in February. We'll have access to kayaks so if any of you folks can tell where to put in near some fishable water that would be great. I'll be near Pig Island and am hoping I can find some decent fishing in that area.

As far as the gulf side goes it looks like the Stump Hole is a hot spot according to the internet. Anything else up the beach?


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## Squidly (Aug 15, 2016)

Well I thought I should reply back on my thread seeing as how I asked for advice:

Caught plenty of whiting off the beach along with a few pompano and sand trout. Only one hard head! All caught off structure although others fishing flat water did OK. Don't over look small troughs 20-30 yards off the beach. Used fresh shrimp on octopus or circle hooks and 4 oz pyramids to hold the bait in place. Lots of bait thieves. Pompano are running. No sand fleas but fiddlers are plentiful in the state park.

On the bay side fished with Hal Tarpley and Kevin Quaranta of Shore Thang Charters. Caught plenty of specks, redfish, and flounder. Cast to some small cobia too but no hookups.

That's about it. Back next year!


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## Squidly (Aug 15, 2016)

Back again in 2019 for the month of March on Cape San Blas.

Most of the month fishing was pretty poor. The wind was ridiculous with gusts up to 25 kts and averaged 15 kts for many days. Muddy water was common which meant hardheads and a few whiting and some little fish 6-8 inches long. Brown with two barbels and white spots om the lateral line, No idea what they are and couldn't find them on the net. Any ideas?

Anyway fishing was pretty much dead for me until today. Caught 4 sizable whiting and 5 keeper pompano in about 4 hrs starting around 1400 and continuing until 1800. If interested you can check tides for this area.

Fished two rods with standard pomp rigs using yellow and red spotted L'il Corky's as floats (ex steelhead fisherman from PNW) and 2/0 circle seas with 3 oz pyramids to hold the beach. Very little wave action but braid in the breeze tends to drag weight hence the 3 oz weight and the casts were long.

Four of the five Pomps were caught on shrimp Fishbites and the other on the Sand Flea flavor.

All five Pomps were caught on the rod cast into in a bottleneck area between the first and second bar before it expanded out into a hole.

The whiting were caught on Native Clams before the pomp bite started today. 

Great day for me!


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