Local Fishing Information

Local Fishing Information
Land Fishing
The most accessible land fishing is from our beaches. What makes it so easy is that you are allowed to drive on them. Anastasia Island has miles and miles of drivable beach. Just load up the car and pick your spot. The only thing that we ask is that you pay attention to the speed limit on the beach and put your trash in a trash can. Please help us keep our beaches beautiful! A few favorite spots to fish from the beach are down around the Matanzas Inlet (see photo below), south side of the Matanzas Inlet, in Crescent Beach (across the street from our shop), around the St. Augustine Beach Pier and Anastasia State Park. Using dead shrimp, you can expect to catch plenty of whiting, pompano and possibly a redfish. As for fishing the Intracoastal Waterway from land, there aren't very many choices. But the few choices you have are pretty good. Try the west bank of the ICW at the base of the SR 206 bridge, for redfish. Rattlesnake Island, directly west of the Matanzas Inlet is also well known for variety of good fish. Just south of Matanzas Inlet is Summer Haven Creek, which has several access pull-offs from A1A. Further south, along A1A (but before Marineland), are several places to fish off the side of the road. We've heard really good reports of black drum and sheepshead during certain times of the year from this area.
Pier Fishing
There are two piers on the Atlantic within a thirty five minute drive of our shop. The first, and closest, is the St. Augustine Beach fishing pier. It is located just south of Anastasia State Park on A1A Beach Blvd. In 2002, this pier was left high-and-dry by a beach renourishment project. It was completely unusable. However, hurricane activity in 2004 fixed that problem. The other, and always usable, pier is in the oceanside town of Flagler, about a thirty five minute drive away. They have a very nice facility complete with bait and tackle sales on the premises. So if pier fishing is just your thing, that's where you will have to go for now.
Bridge Fishing	Matanzas Inlet and Bridge
First and foremost is the Matanzas Bridge. It's first because it is the best! It gets its name from the Matanzas Inlet that it crosses. The word "Matanzas" is spanish for "slaughter", and on a good at the inlet that's exactly what you'll do to the fish. There is plenty of room on the bridge to fish from, but parking is somewhat limited. So get there early! Throughout different times of the year, you can expect to catch whiting, black drum, redfish, speckled sea trout, sheepshead, flounder, bluefish, shark, tarpon and even snook. The baits of choice are live shrimp, live fiddler crabs, live sand fleas and live mullet. But, if you must settle for dead bait, then dead shrimp, dead mullet and dead sand fleas aren't too bad either. The only other bridge to fish from on Anastasia Island is the SR 206 bridge. This one is located just one block north of our shop and crosses the Intracoastal Waterway. The area that you are allowed to fish from is actually a catwalk underneath the bridge itself. The catwalk is in close proximity to the boat channel that passes under the bridge. This makes it a good spot to go when it is raining. When fishing the SR 206 bridge, you can expect to catch angel fish, spade fish, bluefish, flounder, red fish, speckled sea trout and the occasional sheepshead. Live shrimp and mullet are the baits of choice, however, dead shrimp and mullet will usually work also.
Boat and Kayak Fishing	Moses Creek Pellicer Creek and Flats
Of course, fishing from a boat or kayak gives you the most access to great fishing. Not only can you get away from the crowds of people, but you can get to some of the best fishing northeast Florida has to offer. Of all the miles and miles of Intracoastal Waterway that you have to choose from, there are two places in particular that we want to point out, Moses Creek and Pellicer Creek. These two gems are a couple of the most beautiful places around. And better yet, hardly anyone goes there. Moses Creek is located just north of the SR 206 bridge, around Crescent Beach. From our shop, it's about a twenty minute paddle to get to the mouth. And that's if it's low tide. What's great about Moses Creek is that it is so close to put-in access. Once over there, you have a multitude of habitat to fish. You can work around the mouth, fishing the saltmarsh cordgrass. Or, you can go up the creek and fish the deep holes at every bend. It's the only place we've been where we caught our limit in speckled sea trout within thirty minutes. Ten miles south of Moses Creek is Pellicer Creek. This place is famous for the flats that guard its entrance. It's one of those places where you should have someone with you who knows where they are going. There are hundreds of oyster mounds out there that can give you a headache. On the flip side, those oyster mounds can produce some of the best redfishing around. In addition, Pellicer Creek has something that Moses Creek does not, SNOOK! As you can see from the photo, the flats of Pellicer Creek are huge and provide lots of places for fish to hide. You can easily spend a weekend just exploring the place. That's half the fun! The other half is catching your limit in redfish, speckled sea trout, flounder and possibly snook. If you have questions regarding any of the places mentioned here, please don't hesitate to call us. Phone number is at the top of the page. We can give you information on the tides and put-in locations. Have a great time on the water and always file a float plan before going.
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