# Steinhatchee Sunday April 3.



## Monty (Jan 10, 2018)

1st trip of the year for me. Can't wait. Target will be trout, seabass, and maybe sheephead at the reef. Putting in at the public ramp in Jena across from Sea Hag. 

I hope to be there by 9:30. Love to see someone from this forum show up or express an interest. If its good fishing I'll be going again soon (2 weeks) and will have an open spot on the boat. 

I'll try to post a report and I'll try to remember to get photos.


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## Monty (Jan 10, 2018)

Monty said:


> 1st trip of the year for me. Can't wait. Target will be trout, seabass, and maybe sheephead at the reef. Putting in at the public ramp in Jena across from Sea Hag.
> 
> I hope to be there by 9:30. Love to see someone from this forum show up or express an interest. If its good fishing I'll be going again soon (2 weeks) and will have an open spot on the boat.
> 
> I'll try to post a report and I'll try to remember to get photos.


Made the trip. Morning started out really foggy and bit cold (46). Weather man said 5 mph wind when I left Lake City.. Nope, the wind we got to Steinhatchee was 20 at least with white caps every where. The guy at the bait shop where I bought shrimp said "Go north." So that is what we did. Should mention, I thought the $4.17 gas would keep people home. Nope. The boat ramp parking lot had a bunch of trucks with trailers parked at it like 50. It was low tide when we headed out. I mean a big north wind blowing the water out low tide. Made our way across Deadman Bay and did find some clear water. The grass is all sparse and looking winter dead. Moved 10-15 times, staying in 4-7 ft. of water on the flats. We do have flats up here in north Florida. Little fish (pinfish, etc) were present and nibbling on the live shrimp and gulp lures...just when we hit certain areas. That was a good sign. No trout all morning. No Mackeral. No nothing else. Wind laid down in the afternoon. Started picking up lady fish and a few puffers. Then by 2 pm the wind laid down, tide had come in quite a bit and we started catching a trout every 30- 40 minutes...at best. maybe caught 6 short trout and 3 keepers. Best bet would have been to wait a few more weeks. 

So Steinhatchee. I'm giving it up. For a little fishing town in the middle of nowhere, it sure has intense fishing pressure. Condos and new marinas are being built all over. Its apparently a great redfish area and the offshore stuff is great. But flats and nearshore, just not so great. Once scallop season starts, forget it. 10K boats show up every weekend and they're all drunk. I've been thinking that for several years and my next trip will be Suwannee.


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## Fishbster12 (9 mo ago)

Monty said:


> Made the trip. Morning started out really foggy and bit cold (46). Weather man said 5 mph wind when I left Lake City.. Nope, the wind we got to Steinhatchee was 20 at least with white caps every where. The guy at the bait shop where I bought shrimp said "Go north." So that is what we did. Should mention, I thought the $4.17 gas would keep people home. Nope. The boat ramp parking lot had a bunch of trucks with trailers parked at it like 50. It was low tide when we headed out. I mean a big north wind blowing the water out low tide. Made our way across Deadman Bay and did find some clear water. The grass is all sparse and looking winter dead. Moved 10-15 times, staying in 4-7 ft. of water on the flats. We do have flats up here in north Florida. Little fish (pinfish, etc) were present and nibbling on the live shrimp and gulp lures...just when we hit certain areas. That was a good sign. No trout all morning. No Mackeral. No nothing else. Wind laid down in the afternoon. Started picking up lady fish and a few puffers. Then by 2 pm the wind laid down, tide had come in quite a bit and we started catching a trout every 30- 40 minutes...at best. maybe caught 6 short trout and 3 keepers. Best bet would have been to wait a few more weeks.
> 
> So Steinhatchee. I'm giving it up. For a little fishing town in the middle of nowhere, it sure has intense fishing pressure. Condos and new marinas are being built all over. Its apparently a great redfish area and the offshore stuff is great. But flats and nearshore, just not so great. Once scallop season starts, forget it. 10K boats show up every weekend and they're all drunk. I've been thinking that for several years and my next trip will be Suwannee.


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## Naturecoastfly (Mar 26, 2019)

Sorry it wasn’t a productive trip. These fish are super weather and tide dependent. Usually at Hight tide I’d say stick closer to the coastline than that far out but Usually a good wind this time of year is a good thing. I guess the cold snap just had things shut down. 

And you aren’t kidding about the crowds. I try not to even put the boat in the water on the weekends.


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