Holiday Campground – Bald Point State Park, Panacea

February 22-28, 2022

Photos below…click a photo to open the photo gallery.

Bald Point State Park in Panacea has some of the most picturesque, scenic areas along north Florida’s Gulf Coast. It’s located on Alligator Point where Ochlockonee Bay meets Apalachee Bay. Every fall, bald eagles, migrating ospreys, and monarch butterflies are commonly sighted as they head south for the winter. 

Favorites: Our campground, Holiday Campground, is awesome. We’re directly on the beach and the sunsets are beautiful. We can easily launch the canoe from the beach and fish in Ochlockonee Bay. We found a great place, Chairs Creek. It’s a really pretty canoe ride and the creek goes off in many directions. Every time we started trolling in Chairs Creek, we caught a trout….so we’d stop right there, throw the anchor and lo’ and behold, wouldn’t catch another thing. We repeated this four more times and caught a total of five trout when trolling and zero anchored in one place.

Our Charter with John Swanson (North Florida Inshore Charters) was a highlight of the trip.! Even Cary said he’s never fished with such a knowledgeable Captain. John was aware of all the likes/dislikes/habitats of all the fish in the Gulf and could spot fish in the water like nothing we’ve ever seen. He took us to a “secret” location 12 miles from shore where there was a shoal of only 1.5 – 2ft. We landed 7-10 (we lost count) large Redfish from 34″-37″. It was AWESOME! They put up a great fight!

Tropical Traders Shrimp is our favorite restaurant with an awesome bartender, Page, and great shrimp & flounder tacos. The Seineyard Rock Landing Restaurant/Bar was a new find this year. It has a large indoor bar and outside seating with a water view. We had many political conversations around that bar…all anti-Brandon/pro-Trump, of course! It is Florida, after all.

We took a day off and went to Wakulla Springs State Park, the WORLD’S LARGEST AND DEEPEST FRESHWATER SPRING! We took a guided boat tour down the beautiful clear, sapphire water of the springs where we saw a couple of dozen alligators and a host of diverse wildlife. It’s where they filmed the Tarzan movies and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Fish we caught: Ochlockonee Bay: 1 spotted trout released. Chairs Creek: 5 spotted sea trout – 3 throwbacks, 2 keepers. On our charter: Red Fish (one 23″, three 34″, two 35″, one 36″, one 37″, one 20″ spotted trout and one throwback (over the size limit).