Lighthouse road and East River access

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Fyrewalker
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Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by Fyrewalker »

On the west side of Lighthouse road there is a parking are that is a short walk to, what appears to me to be the upper part of East river. Has anyone had any experience with putting in there and heading south? Just not sure how shallow it gets on low tide or if it should be avoided altogether.
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JimH
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by JimH »

There would be water but maybe not easy to get to at low tide. You can have a short but fun slide down a mud bank.
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BigIrish
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by BigIrish »

It is well worth it if there is water, just look for a mid moon tide and you should be good. It makes it easier if you use a buddy or two and one of you parks at the LH or boat landing, it is a long paddle back.

This is not a Hobie mIrage drive type trip. :lol:
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by kikstand454 »

Many times I have put in at east river pool, paddled/ topwater bass fished across, then portage over the dyke into east river. Right there you can catch bass and reds. If you head right,, the bass get more numerous. That dead ends at the overflow dam for the lake.

Heading left will take you out to the river. Tons of oysters and reds. And gators. Big ones.
Now would be a good time to hit that area. .. just watch the tides as mentioned. ..
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by Fyrewalker »

If the gators are bigger than the ones in Stoney, I may just pass on this route!
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by Reel-Fin-Addict »

I paddled up there a few years ago and what looked like a 14' Mama gator come off the bank and started bellowing and water boiling off her back :evil:
I turned around and fished the other way :20
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Dutch
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by Dutch »

Sorry about the long post but wanted to give others a little more intel about this spot. . I wish people would post more about their trips so I'm going to do better at posting mine.

About three weeks ago on the Saturday of the rock the dock tournament I finally decided to launch at the top of the east river by the levee mentioned above and look around to see what was there. I've been thinking about going in there for a while now since I originally saw this post. In my mind I was scouting for the FCKA tournament which was to come in a few weeks. The wind was howling so I figured I would try here in an attempt to get out of the wind and everyone else that was fishing the tournament. It was supposed to be a low tide but the wind was pushing water into the river with whitecaps. The water was way into the grass so it definitely wasn't a low tide water level. I knew I would have to paddle into the wind the entire trip south but wanted to have a look around. The visibility was about a foot and fresh. It wasn't salty even with no water coming over the spillway. A few things I should have done are:

1. I should not have gone by myself in there.
2. I should have thought twice when an 8ft gator watched me launch and then just went down about 50yds from me. I HATE when they do that! I'd rather them just take off so I knew the general direction they were headed.
3. I should have left when something cleanly bit through a 30lb leader with no tension at all on my retrieval in deep water to steal my brand new gold ADL.
4. I should have just cut the anchor line. . . I'll get to that in a minute.

Upon launching I could see two different gators and some bait spooking towards the south on the edge of the river. With the water being so dark I decided to throw top water and let them find it. With no takers I set off to the south fishing every opening and dragging a shrimp behind me under a cork. I was about 10ft off of the edge of the grass a half mile or so into the paddle and had about an 8 ft gator slide out of the grass within 20 feet of me. It stopped half way in and I changed direction for the deeper water towards the middle and didn't stop paddling. As I got closer it went out towards the middle, deeper water and as I judged the speed I realized it would intercept me perfectly as I passed. I kept paddling and watching but no gator. Once I felt I was safely away I looked further down the river and right at an upcoming s curve on the left side saw what was very close to the largest one I've ever seen. It saw me, displayed (raising itself all the way out of the water) and then just went down. I had a very large alligator come by me at Rhoden Cove last fall and display three different times on his way out to the middle of Jackson. That was the first time I was truly scared in my kayak. He was longer than my kayak and he knew it. You just don't forget having an animal that big ten feet from you and knowing you were in about 6ft of water with no weapon other than a paddle. I'm sure the people in the houses around Rhoden Cove wondered what I was cussing at while he passed by me. Figuring I wasn't on the menu this day, I went on the opposite side of the river and passed. A few curves later I stopped and dropped the anchor to keep myself in place to fish a while by a small grass island. Several lures later I tied on my new gold ADL and threw it all around thinking I'd have to snag one to catch one as dark as the water was that day. I threw out in the middle one time and on retrieval the line went slack with absolutely no pull at all. I reeled it in the rest of the way and the 30lb leader was cut to a point. I also reeled in that shrimp I was towing to find it was a clean hook. Moving on and getting within sight of the lighthouse I came to a point where I could go in two different directions and wasn't sure which way went to the opening of the east river. The water was so high I couldn't tell what was a creek mouth or the river and of course the phone was useless with no coverage. I chose one way and went another hundred yards or so. I was tired of paddling into the wind and ready to fish some more. Frustrated by the wind, I threw the anchor out which I normally never do and fished for about another 30 minutes. The wind was relentless and I hadn't anything close to a bite so I decided to pack it up and leave. I pulled on the anchor line and it didn't budge. Normally if it catches on something I can yank it and it comes free. This time it wasn't moving. I pulled myself over it and started pulling it up real hard with the anchor line going straight down. Something was coming up real slow and all I could think of was that video of the guy catfishing over in Louisiana in his kayak that came out a few weeks before this trip. Not willing to see that next to my kayak and since the line was connected to my kayak, I let go and the wind pulled me away from it and pulled the ring on my anchor trolley to the front while I tried to figure out what to do next. I decided to paddle right over it as hard as I could and let the line get pulled from front to back and see if it would pull free. It didn't and stopped me in my tracks so I grabbed the line and yanked real hard. On the third pull it came free. The spot I got snagged is in the pic.
I let the wind push me all the way back to the launch site and was impressed at how fast I was going. I may have paddled 5 times. All I did was steer with the paddle which was very nice. A couple of hundred yards from the launch site there is one spot where the woods meets the river on the west side. There is a tree hanging over the river and I thought I should throw something around it once I get closer. About 40 yards from it something took off in the woods. I thought maybe I jumped a deer or something until I realized the sound was coming towards the river and about a 7 foot gator shot out of there and into the river. He was running through some palm limbs on the ground and probably spooked himself. I don't even know how he saw me. I could tell he was going away from me by his bubbles in the water. The water was about a foot higher when I got back to where I launched. The small pile of rocks at the launch site was just about under water.

So no fish to show and 11 gators that trip was a wrap.

That place is no joke folks. If you go, take a friend. Or two, and keep your head on a swivel...
East River Anchor Snag.png
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jsuber
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by jsuber »

Im pretty sure the consensus is there are gators there. If you liked that, try the fenholloway. Those gators in St Marks would be scared to be in the Fenholloway.
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by Baja Bob »

Thanks for the post
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by kikstand454 »

This story is 100% my experience as well. Like I said above, there's big gators there. My friend and I launched there one low tide, super early in the morning, just at first light with some dense fog. It was one of the scariest things I've ever done. Every bend had a large gator sitting in it that would just sink down, and you had to paddle over it. It had us spooked all day. We were in a spot, and Walt was anchored up, and we caught a few reds, and the n I hear Walt screaming and water thrashing......and then laughing. I look over, and Walt had had a manatee come up to the side of his kayak he wasn't facing, and put its face on the side to say hello. The water sound and kayak being bumped made Walt think one of those gators was finally taking him.
Lol.

That manatee followed us all day, and we caught a few fish and had a good time.

Seriously......no joke, don't go there alone.
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Dutch
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by Dutch »

jsuber wrote:Im pretty sure the consensus is there are gators there. If you liked that, try the fenholloway. Those gators in St Marks would be scared to be in the Fenholloway.
I'll be checking that place off my list of places to visit then. In a boat, no problem. A yak, no thanks..
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by fishinbug »

Think about rigging your anchor differently. Tie the anchor line to the front ring on the anchor and run the line along the shank of the anchor. Secure the line with zip tie/s to the ring on the shank. Link with more pics below.

Image

https://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/vie ... 45&t=66299

That was a heck of a story too! 8O
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Dutch
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by Dutch »

Now that's a cool idea. I just have a small 1 1/2 lb anchor which works fine except for a sandy bottom and wind. I don't know if I can tie on that end of my anchor. I'll play around with it and see if I can come up with something then post some pics. If not, I have a reason to buy another anchor. .

Thanks!!
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by jholden »

Paging Gary Droze! Had some good times kayaking all in the Refuge. And by good times I mean close calls with rattlesnakes, moccasins and gigantic reptiles.
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Re: Lighthouse road and East River access

Post by BloodyChamp »

This will sound dumb but does the East River...like...flow? Or is a giant mess like Lake Miccosukee which has a smaller but conceptually similar dam that has stopped it from feeding the St Marks River? I've never been and I've always wanted to check it out but if it's just a still sitting gator farm I'll pass.
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