Fall Fishing Season Heating Up!
Plan your fishing trip to Franklin County this fall and take your pick from a wide variety of fishing hotspots: from the Apalachicola River basin and the estuary system to wetlands, barrier islands and oyster bars to sand flats and seagrass flats to bountiful artificial reefs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Fall is a great time to enjoy inshore fishing for Redfish and other perennial favorites such as Speckled Trout, Tripletail & Flounder. Take your pick from a wide variety of inshore fishing hotspots: from the Apalachicola River basin and the estuary system to barrier island bay shallows and oyster bars to sand flats and seagrass flats. Need a guide? Click here for a list of experts.
Offshore, there are more than 80 artificial reef sites located off the Franklin County coastline stretching from Alligator Point to Apalachicola. And the list is growing! The Apalachicola Artificial Reef Association and Tallahassee's Organization for Artificial Reefs were each recently awarded $60,000 grants from FWC for new reef deployments scheduled for summer 2027. The two organizations are combining the funds into one deployment in the new Franklin 30 Mile Reef location near the S-Tower and Exxon Template sites. The deployment will consist of at least Ten 15' tall concrete super reefs each weighing 16tons. One of the structures will be dedicated as a memorial to the late Gregg Stanton. Long involved with the Florida State University dive and marine biology communities, Gregg was also instrumental in the exploration and mapping of several underwater cave systems around North Florida. The proposed location for the Gregg Stanton Memorial is N29 16 .978 W84 35 .674 with deployment tentatively scheduled for July 2027.
A complete list of coordinates and more detailed information about the area's artificial reefs, can be found at the OAR website at oarreefs.org.Click here to find maps and reef coordinates through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.