The Wakulla Beach area and St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge are a hidden gem in Florida’s Big Bend region south of Tallahassee. With the cooling waters of fall, more redfish are moving into the shallows of Apalachee Bay, and the bite is heating up.
Shyam Mistry and his wife, Olivia, are relatively new to the fishery. Having explored the waters for only a few months, their success is testament to the quality of the fishing.
“We have been exploring the magnificent St. Marks/Wakulla Beach fishery for the last several months,” wrote Mistry. “We have been able to land the following species all in the same area: redfish, speckled trout, flounder, black drum, jack crevalle, bluefish and others species. Wakulla Beach has some of the most beautiful sunrises imaginable, and the amount of wildlife we have encountered during our adventures will keep us coming back for a lifetime.”
In late September, Olivia hooked this 25-inch slot redfish off the coast of Wakulla Beach on a ¼-ounce Z-Man jig head and a live shrimp. Earlier that same day Shyam boated two other upper-slot slot reds on back-to-back casts with a popping cork and a live shrimp.