I spent the month of June traveling by car along the Gulf Coast. I took Hwy. 98 along the Florida panhandle, which is a slow drive, but if you want to see the beauty of the water and beaches, this is the way to go.


I learned that the beaches along Port St. Joe, Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and Apalachicola are called “Florida’s Forgotten Coast.”

The month of June was busy for the people who live on the ‘forgotten coast.’ One event that was ­different was the Annual Mullet Toss. Men, women and children can all participate. It costs $10 to be a contestant, which gives you a T-shirt and two dead mullets to toss. If you stand too close to the tossers you might get sprayed with sand, mullet juice, or just get one that missed and hits you. This event is full of fun and prizes.

Father’s Day is the kick-off day for the Big Ben Twenty Saltwater Classic. There are more than $130,000 of prizes in this contest, including a boat and cash prizes. Many of these events are for charity, or betterment of the Forgotten Coast.

St. George Island is a tourist mecca, but due to the high price of gas, it was a quiet place for those that live there. Many tourists usually arrive this time of the year for sun, fun and relaxation.

A tidal wave associated with the hurricane roughed up the Forgotten Coast. One was ‘That Place on 98,’ which now has been rebuilt and serving people along Hwy. 98 again. This restaurant is just seven miles from Apalachicola, serving all types of food, along with ­oysters, crabcakes and seafood.

Papa Joe’s Oyster Bar and Grill is an Apalachicola landmark where the locals congregate and tell ‘Fish Tales.’

Trout were cruising the flats, as they do here, with grouper catches out in the deep for those with ­larger boats. I also saw some pompano and whiting being landed by surf anglers. Bait was large sand fleas and some were connecting with large shrimp. Those who were trawling with cigar minnows were boating big size kings. Fishing there was about as great as it is in our waterways.

I spent the night in Apalachicola and toured the historical city.

Local news this week is that a task force is again studying Cockroach Bay and this time it is being considered to ban outboard motors and making it a pole or trawl zone. Some aerial photos were taken with propeller scar marks in the seagrass.
All reports are great fishing, even in small showers. A few days of bad weather kept the ­anglers home. Some tell me that they checked out their boats and others cleaned out their bait boxes.

I drove over to Simmons Park and found many who were fishing from the banks and piers with ­others trailing their boats and launching at the park, where ten or more trailers were parked. Trout catches were being made on the west side of the park.
Sheepshead catches were being landed at piers -- this white meat fish is a great tablefare. Redfish were the king of the waterways in both the Little Manatee and Alafia Rivers.

I saw a few flounder catches, along with whiting, caught by Billy Goat Island. The broken bridge waterways are yielding some hefty redfish and sheepshead. Bullfrog Creek has been a good source for trout this week.

It is summer -- family time -- be sure and take your children fishing; they are the anglers of tomorrow.

-- Aleta Jonie Maschek is a ­member of Florida Outdoor Press­.

© Copyright 2008 by The Observer News Publications and M&M Printing Company, Inc.

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