Capt. Rick Davidson, Editor (grassflats2@yahoo.com
Fishing Report FEBRUARY 2021
In spite of dicey weather for much of the month, the fishing around Deadman’s Bay has been awesome. Some really big fish caught this month, including the second largest trout I’ve ever seen on the gulf coast. Here are some pictures of this month’s catches. As you can see it was “trout month”.
Trey Peters with a fine redfish that made his day. 
Here’s a reminder: sheepshead season is coming, probably this month. 
Steve Bond fished out of his kayak to catch this nice keeper trout. 
Monica Russo fished near Keaton Beach with a Mirrolure and found this hungry trout. 
Mackenzie Dyer with a beauty fishing around oyster bars near the river. 
Kevin Daugherty fished south with one of our guides to find this redfish. 
Justin Tell with a typical late-winter trout. 
Jessica came down from Georgia to fish with one of our guides and caught this nice trout. 
Jeff fished with one of our guides and caught this big redfish. 
Jason landed this WHOPPER 
Hunter fished with another one of our guides and brought back this big trout. 
Garrett and Gage Hiers fished from a creek shoreline to catch this redfish. 
Jeff and Ian came from Wyoming to find this nice trout/redfish pair. 
The shallow water can hold big overslot redifish and Drayden was there to find them. 
Chance Strickland with a beautiful big trout.
This is Charlie Walters, and an 8 pound trout he caught on the flats. I’ve seen one bigger in our areas, caught at Keaton years ago. He tried to release it, but it didn’t survive the attempt. It’s always good to release really big trout if you can; they are usually prolific breeders. What a fish!!
MARCH 2021 FISHING FORECAST
Things will get even better this month with rising water temperatures. Redfish are already schooling close to shore and are taking topwater and suspending plugs as well as jigs and soft tails. Flooded oyster bars and marshes on higher tides have given up good solitary fish. Larger trout have been taken in slightly deeper water and have been eating lures as well as Gulp baits under popping corks. We can expect cobia to start to arrive on nearshore structure; watch for them cruising the flats as well. Offshore, amberjack, gag grouper and red snapper seasons are closed, but there are still kingfish migrating southward and red grouper over structure. One definite positive is that we can expect an early arrival of sheepshead on nearshore rockpiles and other structure, since some have already been caught. Fiddler crabs and live shrimp are the go-to baits for sheepshead. Remember the bag limit is 8 fish over 12” per person, and there are concerns over the health of the local fishery, so please stick to the limits.
There have been important changes in the flounder regulations. Starting March 1, the minimum size will change from 12” to 14”; the bag limit will change from 10 to 5 fish per person; and recreational harvest will be closed later this year form October 15th through November 30th.
There are a ton of tournaments coming up in March:
March 6: Fishing with Nate Tournament
March 13: Salty Gators Fishing Tournament
March 20: Steinhatchee Community Tournament
March 27: Hooked on Heroes Veteran’s Tournament
For more details on any of these tournaments, call the Ship’s Store. We are looking for volunteers to take veterans fishing in the Hooked on Heroes tournament, so let us know if you want to participate.
This should be great month. March is one of the best months of the year as waters warm and fish are hungry. Come stay with us, rent a boat or a guide, and catch some fish.
It’s going to be a great month to fish, and remember we have rods, reels, tackle, lures and live bait…. everything you need, including rental boats, so come see us and catch some fish.
CAPT. KYLE SKIPPER MARKER ONE FLATS CHARTERS http://www.m1fishing.com
February was a great month for fishing here in Steinhatchee, but March is normally one of the best. The flats are slowly warming up and the bite will do the same. I still have a few days available in March if you want to come see the bite for yourself.
