Florida Panhandle Saint George Island & Bald Point State Park

Florida Panhandle
Saint George Island &
Bald Point State Park

Dec 19-21, 2020 Saint George Island
Dec 21-23, 2020 Bald Pt. State Park

Gorgeous!! Untouched! Miles of flats!

Beautiful waterfront campsites!

Great food at a local hangout!

And we made a new friend…

Water temp 58-60 degrees. Brrrrrr. Ok, with waders, no problem. With leggings and a pair of Cary’s ankle-high rubber booties (size 12) I wear (size 6) it really wasn’t too cold. After the first 5 minutes, I could no longer feel your feet. They remained numb for the next 2 hours. FYI- water height to Cary’s mid-calf. AKA to Jamie’s hips.

After an hour or so of walking south and east, on my right I saw a fish come flying out of the water! A trout! Whoohoo! I was laser focused on him. For the next 40 min he continued to jump out of the water. 1st to my right (3:00), then at about 1:00, then at about 11:00. I just kept slowly tracking him. And then…one last jump at 9:00 and within a minute….GOT HIM! I’m reeling him in and realize, uh oh….Cary is waaaay over there with the net and the stringer.

I yelled for Cary and he yells back….”keep him in the water!” Huh? At this point he’s dangling in mid-air and thrashing back and forth. He’s a beauty. A 20″ trout. I’m thinking, in the water, of course. So being the experienced fisherman I am, I start to sloooowly lower him tail first in the water. Cary is still yelling, “keep him in the water!” I’m thinking, “I know that, Cary.” 🙂 And when it finally occurs to me that he should be UNDER the water, he thrashes once more and poof, spits the hook and off he goes. 🙁

All wasn’t lost! About 1/2 hours later, it happens again! Only by this time Cary smartly kept right by my side when I hooked the next one. Cary dipped his net and sure enough, another beautiful trout and BIGGER than the first one. Trout on the grill for dinner!