NATURE COAST WAYS

A Simple Guide to a Tidal Coast Vacation

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Overview:

INTRODUCTION

Everybody has a favorite vacation spot.

Ours is not a luxury hotel, grand amusement park, or world renowned shopping Mecca. It’s a little-known backwater fishing village called Dekle Beach, tucked into the “Big Bend” of Florida.  A small, nondescript sign points the way down a narrow black-top road winding through sawgrass, scrub oaks, palmettos and swamp cabbage.  The “beach” is one of several small sister villages, mere clusters of quaint houses, inhabited by locals who live quietly, and drive when necessary to the communities of Perry or Steinhatchee, 20 miles respectively to the north or south - or visited by those fortunate souls who have heard from varied sources about the peaceful setting or great flats or offshore fishing of the area.  Accommodation is limited, and prized by those in the know.

Imagine, if you will, stilt houses, mudflats, sand gnats – and envision a panorama of incredible sunsets.  Picture a rickety fish cleaning house on a narrow canal, crabs, pelicans and gulls waiting for fish carcasses – and see a photo of you on the dock, holding the day’s trophy catch.  Think of creaking, timber docks, the raucous din of gulls or the drone of a meandering airboat - and dream away long lazy afternoons reclining in a chaise, tall frosted glass sweating alongside, with those same muted sounds your own personalized lullaby.

Growing up in the area, one knows all these joys and more, and learns the corresponding common sense lessons necessary to be proficient, or at least comfortable, on the flats.

Like…..

Navigating the narrow, shallow channels and avoiding the shallow-water hazards such as oyster bars, shoals and rock piles

The purpose of the warning signs “Idle Speed Only” and the unmitigated response of the residents when you ignore said signs.

High and low tide and their effect on channels and canals.

Shuffling one’s feet when wading to avoid stepping on a resting stingray.

How to cut up live shiners (pinfish) for bait.

And a wealth of other trivia, so crucial for one’s enjoyment of the “flats.”

Not so for the casual visitor.

This one has little concept of how to go about catching a speckled trout.  Of which fish are not good to eat.  Of how much (safe) fun chasing “fiddlers” or hermit crabs can be for a child, as opposed to the painful pinch of a mature blue crab innocently picked up.  Of how to rig a rod and reel.  Of how to catch or cut shiners for bait. I cannot count the times that I’ve watched my husband become a hero in the eyes of a grown man who has just watched him artfully craft life-like bait from a shiner, (freshly caught by our small grandson, using a Mickey Mouse rod and reel and a tiny piece of raw bacon for his own bait.  Talk about the joy of fishing)!

While I am writing in this little primer of our experiences along the Nature Coast of Florida, and more specifically the beaches of Taylor County, the information should prove relevant to many other coastal areas of the southern United States and elsewhere.

Here, I hope to convey in a lighthearted manner some of the things we have learned over the years – some of the tips and tricks I would want someone to teach me, a mudflats aficionado “wannabe.”

What's Inside:

One:  WHAT TO PACK

FOR THE RENTAL HOUSE

FOR THE BOAT

FOR THE KIDS

Two: WHO NEEDS DEEPWATER?

Flats vs. Offshore

Creeks

Reds and Flounder

Speckled Trout

Ski, Kneeboard, Snorkel, Swim, Kayak

Three: FISHING GEAR AND TACKLE

Rods

Reels

Net

Tackle Box

Tools

Hook, Line and Sinker

Knots

Pop That Cork!  Pop It!

BAIT BASICS

Jigs, Lures and Live shiners (Pinfish)

Click here for an excerpt from the book:

HOW TO CATCH, CUT AND FISH PINFISH

Now, a few words on actually fishing on the flats.

Four:  TIDES

Incoming or Outgoing for Fishing

Five:  BOATING FOR DUMMIES

Channel Markers

No-Wake Zones - Be Considerate!

Your Friendly Game Warden

Boat Lift/Launch Ramp

Checking in with the Marina

Draft

Six:  JUST FOR KIDS

Seven:  PERILS and JOYS

Thunderstorms

Sun

Low Tide/Big Boat

Stingers/Teeth/Fins/Shells/Hooks

JOYS

Eight:  TIPS, RESOURCES AND RECIPES