Inns/Lodges/Resorts
Apalachicola, Florida
An Old Florida fish camp with flair.
June 2020
If you are planning a fly-fishing trip to the Forgotten Coast, the Bay City Lodge in Apalachicola is hard to beat. It is centrally located between the ends of this piece of Sunshine State shore that stretches from Mexico Beach east to St. Marks.
The lodge complex offers a variety of accommodations, ranging from motel rooms, stand-alone cottages, duplex and triplex units, all the way up to the T.W. Davis Lodge that sleeps 15, with six bathrooms. That latter house was at one time the angling getaway for Tine Wayne Davis, one of the four brothers of the second generation of owners of the Winn-Dixie grocery empire.
The historic Davis Lodge can house up to 15 guests. Photo by Jimmy Jacobs.
Bay City owner Jimmy Mosconis has been running the facility for more than 40 years to provide a touch of home, and fishing vacations from which dreams are made. Bay City is an Old Florida fish camp, but offering a modicum of modern convenience.
The grounds of the lodge have been utilized since the 1700s. Native American were the first to encamp here – Florida has recognized it as a prehistoric Indian site. Then in the 1800s up through the mid-1930s it was part of the lumber industry. The property retains artifacts from both of those eras.
For anglers, Bay City operates a marina with access to the Apalachicola River, a bait, tackle and clothing store and dry boat storage, as well as boat motor sales, repair and maintenance services. Additionally, they have licensed fishing guides available and even a fish cleaning service.
The onsite restaurant, renovated in 2012, specializes in fresh local seafood and will even cook your catch from a day on the water. Open daily from April to November for breakfast and dinner, you also can arrange to have them pack you a lunch to take on the water. In December to March, they are open for dinner only on Thursday through Saturday.
The Bay City Lodge is billed as the last business of its kind and is considered to be situated on Florida’s last fishing frontier.
