Hello SpaceFish,

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season – and Merry Christmas. My family went to Georgia to spend the week with family for our Thanksgiving break. I took the opportunity to fish two places I have never fished before. I fished one on the way up, and one on the way back. This is the season where people may find themselves traveling up and down I-95, so I wanted to share another place that is within a few miles of the interstate, but have an off the beaten path feel and experience. I detailed Tomoka State Park in Volusia County a few weeks ago, today I will talk about the other place I visited, this time in the Jacksonville area, Four Creeks State Forest.

Where I launched: Thomas Creek Fish Camp – 17198 Ethel Rd, Jacksonville, FL 32218. This is a small park with a kayak/canoe launch and small boat ramp. There are restrooms on site as well.

My Fishing Report: I had a slow day fishing here personally. But the weather was not doing me any favors, it was cold and dreary for most of my outing – in the low 60’s at mid day to the mid 50’s closer to dusk. I was able to catch a few Bass, and also threw around some smaller stuff like the Beetle Spin for Bluegills. The nice thing about this place is wind protection. I fished Thomas Creek, which is a tight, winding creek. It is absolutely gorgeous back in there! It is a blackwater tidal creek that is a tributary of the Nassau River. While this is a freshwater fishery, it is subject to tidal flow. The water is very tannic and dark. My most effective bait on these tidal Bass was a Culprit Ribbontail Worm in Junebug (Black/Blue). This is kind of the go to color for this color of water. They didn’t want anything that wasn’t moving slow that day.

I didn’t catch anything that made me say wow by any means, but it was a really cool place to check out, and I spent a few hours on the water to break up a road trip. It was absolutely gorgeous scenery, and it was hard to believe this place was roughly 15 miles outside of downtown Jacksonville. I think that on a better weather day this place could fish well, because I just got the vibe that this was not a super pressured fishery. It is ideal for kayak anglers and I think a Gheenoe or canoe would work really well back in there as well.

Conclusion: I did not get out and fish locally this weekend, Christmas shopping, yard work, and cooler weather kept me off the water. Everyone bundle up, it looks like we’re in for some really cold days ahead. My plan is to get back on the water over Christmas break if we get some warmish weather. If not, I’ll catch ya’ll on the warming trend!

Merry Christmas, Joy to the World and Peace to All!