My wife and I have been eagerly waiting for the water to warm up so the fish would be on the prowl.  Thursday, March 25 was a really nice day...so we couldn't wait any longer.

Picked up a bucket of live shrimp at the bait house at the downtown St. Marys ramp around 7:30 am.  A quart of live shrimp for 10 bucks...what a bargain.   Launched the marsh boat at our ramp on the St. Marys River between Crandall and the I-95 bridge.

There was a pretty good chop going in the river, so it took us about 30 minutes to make the run down to Bells River.  (This is about a 15 minute run from the marina area in a slow dinghy.)  Back up in Bells River are some 35 ft. high banks.  There was a pretty good South wind blowing and I figured we would be sheltered by those banks.

It was about 2 hours before low tide and it was running strong.  Too strong for my trolling motor to easily hold us in position.  So, we had to go to a likely spot and anchor.  Water temperature was around 58 so I really didn't think we would get any bites...and I was right...for about two hours.

Around the banks there are basically 3 types of structure you look for.  #1 is trees that are down and partially in the water.  #2 rocks (there are very few oyster beds in there.) And #3 hard sand on the beach which indicates a hard bottom in the water.  We were targeting Redfish and Trout with a popping float tied between the fishing line and the fluorocarbon leader, a small weight halfway down the 2 ft. leader and a #1 circle hook at the end.

I take a shrimp and pinch off the tail flukes. (Real men bite them off.)  Then I barb the circle hook up through the bottom of the end of the tail and out the top...through the shell.  Then I try to get that bait as close to the bank as possible and then drag it out to a spot about three feet from the bank...and let it drift with the tide.

Well, for two hours we motored and anchored...motored and anchored...motored and anchored.  No fish.  No bites.  Then, just as the tide was slowing to dead low my float went under and I had a good fish on.  Turned out to be a 26" redfish...a very nice fish.

Bells River is in Florida.  In Florida you can only keep one redfish per day.  And, it has to be between 18" and 27".  So, I had my limit of redfish and it was about as big as you could keep.  Sweet!

Anyway, I told my wife to get her bait out there because there would probably be a few more redfish around.  Five minutes later she hooked up and landed a really nice 27" redfish. (She always out fishes me.)

Three factors were at play. .. Structure, tide, and bait placement.  It is always a learning experience.  Go fishin!